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Registered User
Live Feeding Q...
Got a couple questions on live feeding my new bp. I'm feeding live a couple times because he was beeing fed live, once he is eating good in his new home i'll switch to f/t.
1. Wheres the best place to get live mice? I highly doubt I should just go to a local pet store.
2. He was eating hoppers, when feeding live hoppers do I need to stun it or is it safe to just throw it in.
I've seen this question asked alot and seen a bunch of different answers, should I feed in his tank or in a seperate container. Now my thought on this is that I should feed in a seperate container for 1 reason which is that he was beeing housed and fed in a plastic container so that might make it more natural for him. Any other downfall to feeding that way besides him just freaking out and going on a hunger strike?
1.0 Hypo RTB - Kotex * 1.0 Spider BP - Master Chief * 1.0 Pastel BP - Snakey * 0.3 Normal BP's - Cortana, Baby Girl & Straga
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BPnet Veteran
Re: Live Feeding Q...
That's a tough one. It will interested to see how people with lots of experience reply. But I have a feeling it might be hard to step back to F/T if he is used to live.
Our guy seemed to be on a hunger strike (refused two F/T pinkies, then a F/T adult mouse) before and after his shed for a total no-eat time of 3 weeks. Last night, my husband gave him his first live adult female mouse and Mr. Snake took it.
We will try to go back to F/T next time, but don't know if it will work, so let us know how it goes.
You mentioned stunning the mouse. I have a question about that -what is the best way to stun the mouse w/out injuring it fatally - in case the snake doesn't take it to save it for later?
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Re: Live Feeding Q...
I'm not big on stunning live prey. I figure if the snake can't handle it's prey live then you should be feeding frozen/thawed or pre-killed. Most healthy snakes can handle an appropriately sized live prey animal, though f/t and p/k are both perfectly good methods of feeding. Stunning is to me a bit inhumane to the prey animal. As well if it suddenly comes to, you've got a disoriented, hurting animal in there with your snake. That is just not what you want to be doing really to either of them during a feeding.
As far as where to get live prey.....where'd you get the snake? If they were feeding live prey, are they local and can sell you some? Some pet stores sell live feeder mice and do a good job of it, some do a horrible job of it or only sell pet mice. This is something you should have looked into before getting the snake but that being said, now the best you can do is quickly find a good supplier that will sell you top quality mice.
Feeding live safely is not about "just throwing the mouse in". You need to make sure the snake is used to eating that particular size live, that the snake is awake, aware and ready to hunt, that the live prey animal is itself fully hydrated and well fed and not particularily freaked out. Introduce the live prey as far as possible from the snake so your snake has a chance to set up it's strike safely. Stay close but don't hover over or you'll distract/put your snake off it's hunt. If the prey animal isn't taken within 15 or 20 minutes, remove it, feed/water/house it appropriately and wait for next week.
If you feed live you will have the occasional refusal so you need to plan ahead and have supplies on hand to house the rat or mouse until the next week's feeding attempt.
Melissa, you can't stun a rodent then expect to have it recover and save it for next week...that's cruel dear. Also I wouldn't suggest you switch methods of feeding week to week or types of prey. That will throw off your snake and only encourage it to refuse to eat for you. Ball pythons are creatures of habit and routine, they like what they like when they like it....change that up to much and they will simply refuse to deal with food, you or much of anything.
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Registered User
Re: Live Feeding Q...
OKay different people are going to tell you different things, especially about the whole feeding in or out of their enclosure issue. When deciding upon feeding in or out, you have to kind of experiment a little, see how well your snake does in or out, and also it can be based upon your own preference too. I myself feed my girl live and in her enclosure. She won't eat f/t for me and has eaten much better for me in her enclosure. I think that she just feels safer in her enclosure, which makes her more relaxed and ready to eat. I get my feeders from local petstores, although I guess maybe I am a little lucky and have found a number of smaller family owned type petstores near me that have much better quality feeders. In that issue you just kind of shop around a little, ask to see the feeders before you buy them since a lot of times stores will keep their feeders in a back room. There is one store near me that keeps their feeder mice in a tank where anyone can see them on the salesfloor. When choosing feeders just make sure that they don't look all sickly. They should have nice coats, nothing running out of their noses or near their eyes, and have quite a bit of energy. I also get my feeders a few days beforehand, I have a tank set up for feeders so I can continue to watch them to make sure that they are healthy (I have had feeders before look good in the store and then just die overnight....I don't buy my feeders from that store anymore..) and also I make sure that they are well fed.
When it comes time for actually feeding my girl, I usually will hold the mouse with some tongs until my girl starts poking her head out of one of her hides. I can tell when my girl is ready to eat, she gets her striking pose all ready (S shaped neck, tongue flickering alot, extremely focused) and that's when I release the mouse in the tank. I don't stun my mice, my girl can take care of them very well on her own. Usually she's got the mouse in a couple of mins. and then it will be completely gone shortly after that. Make sure you are always watching though while feeding live. There's always a possibility that 1. she won't take it (with my girl she hasn't ever refused live, but I would take the mouse out if she hasn't gotten it in about 20 min) 2.the mouse could try to hurt the snake then you would have to step in and prevent your BP from getting hurt
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Registered User
Re: Live Feeding Q...
frankykeno - I wasn't planning on feeding live, when I picked my BP up the sales guy @ NERD said that he was eating live and if I wanted to feed f/t that would be fine just to wait 2 weeks (no mice at all) and feed him a f/t. Then someone on the boards suggested to keep feeding live a few times to make sure he is doing ok in his new home, which makes sense. As far for where to get them I was possing the question to see if local pet stores where a viable source for feeder mice, I can go back to NERD (and probaly will) to grab a couple to last me till I switch to f/t. I would rather go local since NERD is about 45min but it will probaly be worth it. Thanks for the reply
Sunny1 - Thanks for the tips! I will just have to try different ways to see which 1 he likes the most.
1.0 Hypo RTB - Kotex * 1.0 Spider BP - Master Chief * 1.0 Pastel BP - Snakey * 0.3 Normal BP's - Cortana, Baby Girl & Straga
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Re: Live Feeding Q...
Ahhh gotcha (forgot you are the lucky dog that got that lovely snake from NERD...my brain needs more coffee this morning LOL). Well it's really your option, you can either go the live route for a few weeks or do as NERD suggested and wait out two weeks and go with f/t. The only problem with live is if you can get decent mice in that specific size locally to you. Sometimes you'll luck out and find a nice private pet store that breeds feeders themselves and has lots of litters being born all the time. We used to have one like that up in northern MI and boy when we were buying feeders, they were a god send to us.
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BPnet Veteran
Re: Live Feeding Q...
I'd be a bit careful about buying 'pet' mice and rats from a pet shop for feeders, I know some will get very funny about it.
1.0 Normal Ball Python (Monty)
Various fish
0.1 Wife 
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BPnet Veteran
Re: Live Feeding Q...
 Originally Posted by frankykeno
Melissa, you can't stun a rodent then expect to have it recover and save it for next week...that's cruel dear. Also I wouldn't suggest you switch methods of feeding week to week or types of prey. That will throw off your snake and only encourage it to refuse to eat for you. Ball pythons are creatures of habit and routine, they like what they like when they like it....change that up to much and they will simply refuse to deal with food, you or much of anything.
Sorry, the thread asked about stunning, so I got the impression it's something you should do to protect the snake. My bad.
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Re: Live Feeding Q...
Some do stun prey. I just personally think it has a lot of risks associated to it versus benefits of it, that it's not terribly humane to the live feeder animal and that in the end, the snake ought to be able to safely eat live if it's fed live and the owner is knowledgeable about safe life feeding procedures. If not then I believe one should be feeding frozen/thawed or pre-killed.
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