My BP is not doing so great with live food...

[bearhart]

I read one thread by a member here that feeds F/T but was able to obtain live only at one point. IIRC, she fed F/T because she was squeemish and so decided to let her snake do the job. Everything went OK but she noticed her BP was much more excited about taking his prey than usual.

I guess I'm kind of in "its the way its meant to be" camp. That being said, I feed my corn F/T because he just swallows his pinkies with no constriction - live or dead. With him, F/T just feels right so I do it despite the fact it grosses me out. But, with my two pythons, live definately feels right. Everytime I feed I feel a bit sorry for the prey and I fret a bit for my snakes, but that doesn't really make me want to switch.

[serpents-prey]

ok i want 2 jump in again even buying f/t somewhere at some point in time u realize that the mouse or rat was killed don't u honestly humane inhumane u ppl argue over some of the stupidest things common sense should work in this situation rats need to be prekilled horror story comin' on a friend of my mom's fed his boa constrictor rats prekilled had it trained to hit the rat as soon as it hit the floor it was prekilled he would hit it with the handle of a hammer i don't know why he wouldn't use the metal side but one day he missed and the rat bit thru about a half- inch of wood that could be your snake ok not saying it will go for an eye but lip, nose, body, tail. u pick but plz stop fighting over something as senseless as prekilling if u do u don't deserve to own a snake because your defeating yourself

ps second or third person who replied to this u look like jidanbo on bleach now all u need is a couple of axes

[bearhart]

did you just say something?

[frankykeno]

Maria, I respect and honor your committment to your feeding plan, as I would ask you to respect and honor the committment others have to doing it another way. Personally I feed live from rats I personally breed and raise in humane and healthy conditions specifically for the purpose of live prey animals. I have in the past also fed F/T and would do so again should it be required for a specific snakes needs.

We have 21 snakes here - some of them are rescues. None, not one, carries a scar from a rodent bite. They do however carry the scars of man's inhumanity to them. One has extensive dorsal scarring due likely to exposure and skin degloving from contact with a hot unprotected bulb inside her enclosure. Another carries the scars of a cat allowed to jump on and off her mesh lidded enclosure until one day it burst through and scratched her badly with it's claws. Another carries old wounds that were most likely incurred when she was hooked out of her burrow back in Africa.

Scars are ugly and no snake deserves them. In my experience however the scars my snakes carry are not from live feeding - they are from uncaring, ill informed humans. If one makes the choice to live feed it is or should be with the time, research and knowledge to do so safely. I will never say it's 100% safe - nothing can be 100% safe - not live feeding, not frozen/thawed not pre-killed. All anyone can do is know the snake, know the prey and know their own level of experience when it comes to any aspect of responsible husbandry, at least in my opinion.

[MikeC1212]

ok i want 2 jump in again even buying f/t somewhere at some point in time u realize that the mouse or rat was killed don't u honestly humane inhumane u ppl argue over some of the stupidest things common sense should work in this situation rats need to be prekilled horror story comin' on a friend of my mom's fed his boa constrictor rats prekilled had it trained to hit the rat as soon as it hit the floor it was prekilled he would hit it with the handle of a hammer i don't know why he wouldn't use the metal side but one day he missed and the rat bit thru about a half- inch of wood that could be your snake ok not saying it will go for an eye but lip, nose, body, tail. u pick but plz stop fighting over something as senseless as prekilling if u do u don't deserve to own a snake because your defeating yourself

ps second or third person who replied to this u look like jidanbo on bleach now all u need is a couple of axes

That has to be THE longest sentence I've ever seen. I think I just lost IQ points.

[serpents-prey]

sry midnight rant . . . they happen to me alot

[serpents-prey]

ok i want to jump in again. Even buying f/t somewhere and at some point in time you do realize that the mouse or rat was killed don't you. honestly! humane, inhumane, you people argue over some of the stupidest things. A little common sense will go far in this situation. rats need to be prekilled (horror story comin' on there's no popcorn smily). a friend of my mom's fed his boa constrictor rats prekilled and had the snake trained to hit the rat as soon as it hit the floor. he prekilled with a hammer and would hit the rat with the handle of the hammer. we bieng my mom and i don't know why he wouldn't use the metal side but one day he missed and the rat bit thru about a half- inch of wood. that could be your snake ok. not saying it will go for an eye but lip, nose, body, tail. u pick but plz stop fighting over something as senseless as prekilling if u do u don't deserve to own a snake because your defeating yourself.

ps second person who replied to this u look like jidanbo on bleach now all u need is a couple of axes and where do you get lesson learned always feed prekilled that has to be the dumbest logic yet

hope this makes a little more sense.