how safe is LIVE

[dsirkle]

[QUOTE=

i am just wondering how safe live woud be and if you have any other ideas on how to get her goping it woudl b much apreciated


thanks Alan[/QUOTE]

Unless your bp is just a baby the struggle with a mouse should be over in a few seconds

[Sparky1]

Yeah i have to agree to Rabernet if they can destroy bones and fur i dont even worry about substrate!

[frankykeno]

i have a spider bp and to start she struck fed great, then she went of her food for about 6 weeks and i finaly got her to eat by assisting now she wont eat unless i assist her but it is geting closer to the time when i am thnking of breeding her and i do not want to breed her if i have to assist feed. the only time she has ever refused is that six weeks i spoke of and the last 4 weeks when i just let her starve to see if hunger would get her going agin but i had to assit her again the other day. i am trying to get a hold of multimammate mice to see if that will work

You are assist feeding an adult female snake???? Perhaps I misunderstood your post.

I just hold mine by the tail. Do you have to use tongs?

Holding live prey in your hand in front of a snake in feeding mode is going to get you bit. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but it will get you bit.

Personally, I restrain the mouse for peace of mind and because of a past bad experience seen with feeding loose live at the zoo. It makes me feel more comfortable to have control over the mouse so it can't hurt her.

Like Robin explained and I'll second that, restraining living prey is in my opinion presenting a more frantic, hyped up and aggressive prey to your snake. When you restrain a living rodent, it freaks out. The last thing a live feeder wants for their snake is a freaked out live prey item. Unless you've got that mouse's jaws wired shut you aren't really doing anything other than scaring the mouse and making it more likely to bite, not less.

A healthy snake with it's natural instinct to take down live prey, presented with an appropriate prey size in a proper live feeding situation will deal with it's prey as it was designed to do so. That being extremely quickly, extremely efficiently and in a manner that presents little risk to the snake.

Nature didn't design these snakes to be inefficient predators believe me. I feed live and I watch snake after snake hit the rats I raise for them, usually before I can even slide the tub back in or replace the lid...it's that fast and it's over that quickly. I rarely if ever hear a rat make even a squeek before the amazing act of constriction has done it's job.

[bcampos]

It's how they eat in the wild isn't it? I don't really understand restraining a live mouse.

[elevatethis]

Like Robin said, restraining the rodent will just antagonize the rodent further and when the snake does strike, it will be much more likely to put a fight and injure your snake. A rodent that is gently placed in the snake's enclosure will just begin to explore and usually never knows what hits them.

Holding the rodent by the tail with your hand is just asking to be bitten by either the rodent or the snake. Classic newb move in my opinion.

[West Coast Jungle]

Feeding BP's takes patience and correct husbandry. If they aren't in place problems begin.

[Patrick Long]

the only reason, i hold it by the tail and lower it in, especially with larg rats for the big boas, is to make sure that the head is hit, so they cannot bite the snake. ive had to do the whole hanger in the mouth to prevent some nasty nasty bites.

[SiscoReptiles]

There are large-scale breeders that do not handle the rodents by hand, they use long tongs. I assume this is to avoid getting their scent on the rodent and to avoid accidental strikes from a hungry snake. I suppose if you use tongs the snake will not be able to strike the rodent that is walking away either (hense a rat getting struck from the wrong end).

One of the large breeders, off the top of my head, is Colette and Dan Sutherland of The Snake Keeper (ballpython.com). The rodents are kept under control with the tongs and they are much more calm then you would expect. I would even say that a rat picked up by the tongs is generally less spastic than a rat picked up and dangled by the tail.

I am not saying using tongs is better than using your hand. I am not saying live is better than prekilled (or visa versa).

I personally do not use tongs because I weigh each food item prior to feeding it to my snakes so I need to handle each rat twice and I am more adept as grasping with my hand than with tongs.

Everyone does things the way they do things and as long as it works and the snake eats safely, that's really all that matters..

Now.. I do think Coke is better than Pepsi, I like Chevy over Ford, I think the Red Sox rock the Yankees, I choose Snoopy over Bush, and if I must lift the damn toilet seat, my wife can do her part and put it down herself! (My point, in the end, is it is all just a matter of opinion)

Rick

[Adam_Wysocki]

Now.. I do think Coke is better than Pepsi, I like Chevy over Ford, I think the Red Sox rock the Yankees, I choose Snoopy over Bush, and if I must lift the damn toilet seat, my wife can do her part and put it down herself! (My point, in the end, is it is all just a matter of opinion)

I agree 100% ... with all of it!

-adam

[Patrick Long]

hahahaha