Quote Originally Posted by elusivereptiles View Post
I personally don't think it's morally wrong to feed a ball python "live" prey. It's called "nature" in my opinion. It is a natural instinct for them to feed on live prey. Regardless of whether or not they are captive they still have the drive to feed on live prey.

As goes for feeding in the tank or out. I feed outside of the tank. All of my snakes are used to it, and it doesn't seem to bother them. I usually wait to remove them from the feeding container until they move around quite a bit after swallowing. But the BIGGEST reason I feed outside of their tank is because if you continue to feed in the tank they will associate food with thier home. I would rather not try to pick one of my snakes up and them mistake me for food.
I can see the reasoning here but with frequent handling (so putting your hands in the enclosure for reasons other than feeding), feeding inside an enclosure should not turn your snake into a hand hungry monster. But this is not the topic here and I am not trying to debate just pointing out the other side of the story.

When I told my boyfriends mom what I feed my bp she freaked out, but she was still interested. After several talks with her about WHY I HAVE TO feed my bp mice/rats, she understands that the snake and his set up cost alot of money and to decide at this point that "oh that pooor little mouse, I think I'll let my bp starve and save that poor little $2 mouse" would be throwing away a lot of money (she didn't care much for the "but I love him so much feeding him a mouse makes me happy because I know he's healthy" explanation) She is also terrified of snakes but slowly coming around.