Feeding live mice and rats is dangerous... Wives tale?

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Lets settle this thing once and for all.

You should not leave your snake alone with a live rat or mouse. The Rat / Mouse should not be bigger around then the thickest part of your snake. If you drop the rodent in, and watch to make sure your snake kills it within 20 minutes, the rodent will not hurt your snake.

So here is the question. Has anyones snake ever been bitten during the struggle of the snake constricting the rodent? If your snake was bitten, was it a cut that quickly healed? Did it leave a scar? If so, please post a picture of the scar as proof for all to see.

I belive it is perfectly safe to feed snakes live rodents as long as it is done correctly. Prove me wrong if you can.

Mike

[Icatsme]

The only time I've ever had a problem with live was when the rat's teeth got lodged under scale and when the snake constricted it pushed the teeth into the flesh. Some antibiotic ointment and a shed later and he was right as rain.

I try to get all of mine on F/T, since it's easier/more convenient for me.

I have seen photos of BPs that have been "chewed" on by prey, but don't have any firsthand experience with problems feeding live, so this should be an interesting thread.

[GirDance]

Here's the thing: People can't really prove or disprove this - it is very much a matter of opinion or preference on the part of the owner.

Yes: unsupervised tossing a live rodent or one too large in with your snake injuries and accidents have happened, however - with knowledge of appropriate prey size, pre-feeding and hydrating the rat or mouse, supervising the 'dinner hour' (or minute in some cases) a lot of those 'accidents' can be avoided.

Yes: some captive animals may seem to have a weakened feeding response, which may cause them to not kill their prey quickly and a bite could occur...

However: Snakes eat live prey in the wild - they're hungry when they strike the prey, they kill it, they eat it - and they survive through it all the time...

There are also just the plain irresponsible pet owners out there where these incidents become more cases of 'neglect' - it's the same principal with how snakes end up becoming rescues with burns from heat elements that shouldn't have been used or were unregulated... Does it mean we shouldn't use heating equipment appropriately and responsibly? Definately not.

I don't feed live because it is very difficult in my area to find appropriately sized feeders live, and I don't have enough snakes for breeding my own to be effective. I have a great supplier of frozen rats, and Kitty doesn't seem to mind at all that they are already dead. Even so, if I'm in a pet store and they happen to have a live rat of an appropriate size, she'd get one as a 'treat' - and at feeding time I would be standing close by with the lid off her tub until the rat was dead, but it hasn't happened yet!

[herpmajor]

I have seen snakes get bitten while constricting the rodents. Some of the places were the face and neck. I am not for or against live or frozen. I use frozen myself.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Ok, I forgot to mention one key rule for this thread.

I AM ONLY LOOKING FOR FIRST HAND EXPERIENCES HERE. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE READ, OR HEARD, OR WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FRIENDS SNAKE. I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES, FEEDING YOUR SNAKES, FIRST HAND.


THANKS.

[FL0OD]

I have fed snakes everything from baby pigs to pinks, all live, never had a problem. The chances of your ball getting bitten by its prey is far less than the advantages they receive from ingesting live prey. My opinion.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Well I don't keep counts of what I have fed, I know I feed 21 snakes every weeks and none of them as ever sustained an injury.

It's all about being knowledgeable and feed responsibly.

This is MY experience

[frankykeno]

Lets settle this thing once and for all.

You should not leave your snake alone with a live rat or mouse. The Rat / Mouse should not be bigger around then the thickest part of your snake. If you drop the rodent in, and watch to make sure your snake kills it within 20 minutes, the rodent will not hurt your snake.

So here is the question. Has anyones snake ever been bitten during the struggle of the snake constricting the rodent? If your snake was bitten, was it a cut that quickly healed? Did it leave a scar? If so, please post a picture of the scar as proof for all to see.

I belive it is perfectly safe to feed snakes live rodents as long as it is done correctly. Prove me wrong if you can.

Mike

Mike, we aren't going to "settle this once and for all" in any thread any where on any forum on the net and no one is likely going to "prove" anything one way or the other.

In the end this site supports all responsible feeding decisions when it comes to type of prey or method of presenting that prey for feeding. That's one of the many things that makes BPNet a very special place, as far as I'm concerned.

[Tosha_Mc]

I have had snake get bitten and scratched during live feeds - it takes a split second whether you are feeding responsibly or not - if you think it never happens you are deluding yourself.

Over the years I've gotten many snakes into my rescue that have lost tongues and eyes and have gotten sever infections due to untreated rodent bites. I had one that was turned over to the vet with a rat dangling out of it's mouth - it had bitten through the bottom of the snakes mouth during constriction - the owner didn't want to be bothered with the vet bill so decided to relinquish the animal instead. If you don't think it never happens you are deluding yourself.

I have paid good money to top breeders to receive snakes with obvious rodent scars - people post pictures on line of their beautiful snakes - they have obvious scars - what you think we don't notice them? People post pictures of their snake bites all the time - look under the "what is this?" posts.

If you think it never happens ....

[Adam_Wysocki]

Ok, I forgot to mention one key rule for this thread.

I AM ONLY LOOKING FOR FIRST HAND EXPERIENCES HERE. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE READ, OR HEARD, OR WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FRIENDS SNAKE. I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES, FEEDING YOUR SNAKES, FIRST HAND.


THANKS.

If this helps, I feed live every week ... on average, over the last 10+ years I have gone through approximately 400 live rodents per week (this year I'm feeding over 700 live per week, 10 years ago it was 100 - 200 ... so 400 is an average over the last decade) ... I feed every week out of the year ... so if you figure; 400 rats per week x 52 weeks per year x 10 years ... that's 200,000+ live feedings over the last 10 years and that is a conservative estimate ... with all of those feedings, I have never had a single bite, scratch, or mauling.

Hope this helps.

-adam