Quote Originally Posted by blackcrystal22 View Post
Not all snakes in captivity have the ability to kill mice and rats as they would in the wild. ALL of the other 'wild' factors have been eliminated which means feeding live because its the 'natural' thing could become dangerous. It can be done responsibly yes, but you should not consider that the environment you have for your snake is 'wild' because it is not. This is captivity and is much different.
As said before, my corn snake couldn't kill a live mouse and would be bitten to death every week, she's very lazy about it so I feed her f/t and fresh killed.
My ball, I don't know. I have to feed him live to get him back on track, then maybe we can see if he will move to f/t because its conventionally easier for me and a tad bit safer for him. :]
I'm not saying keeping my snakes in a tub is like being in the wild. I'm saying that snakes are designed to catch and kill their food. For the most part most snakes know how to do that. Yeah there are ones that don't for whatever reasons. And yes they have to be fed whatever they will eat to keep them alive and healthy.

I have bred corns and If the babies are started out on live then for me 95% of the time they had no trouble killing their mouse/rat. I don't know what if anything the snakes get out of hunting for their food. I would think it benefits them in some way even just a little. Yes I feed live I have also had a few little bites here and there. Nothing to bad and I know it can be bad.

Some will say killing a mouse/rat is wrong or whatever. Even if you feed live in a way your still killing the rat/mouse if you think about it. Or at least assisting a bit. I guess what I was trying to say was. The snakes are designed to catch and kill their food. So why not let them? If they will take live.