Am I a bad person!

[TanyaL]

Very interesting thread! I picked up a few things along the way at least.

to the OP..I don't think he is a bad person...certainly could have done worse. Would I have done it that way...heck no! Would I have killed a live in any way...heck no, but that is just me. I'm glad my bp takes F/T so I don't have to see the prey die!

Look at the brighter side...OP will walk away with more knowledge and hopefully take a better approach next time.

[blackcrystal22]

I do not think anyone is giving the OP a hard time... they are giving them information. That is a good thing...



I agree with SI on this. Feeding smaller prey. I feed my corn FT but she can take several live crawler rat pups over a larger FT. But out of respect for the pups I do not feed them.

Do they pose a threat to her (?)... not at all.

As far as snakes in captivity lacking a killer instinct. I do not really buy that. Snakes are not domesticated like cats and dogs, etc. I really doubt that this early on we have bred out a killer instinct. And being that snakes are still being pulled from the wild, I doubt the bloodlines are that *clean* yet.

bruce

I should make a video of my corn snake feeding. It's rather amusing.. I don't know if its just because shes been fed f/t or pk all her life but she has never put a tough grip on the mouse.

She grabs it, wraps around it slightly and when I let go of it with the tongs she takes her mouth off of it and it plops over..

She never was fed live, so feeding her live now could be bad. :]


If you know what your doing I don't think whacking is that bad. I personally can't preform a CD.. Its makes sense and when other people do it, it looks easy.. but I don't know why I can't do it.
I've never had a mouse show any living reaction after a whack. It'll twitch and I'll check for a heartbeat and feel none.

[littleindiangirl]

I should make a video of my corn snake feeding. It's rather amusing.. I don't know if its just because shes been fed f/t or pk all her life but she has never put a tough grip on the mouse.

My corn doesn't even constrict FT. I call it "aggressive flopping" as he tries to sit on the rat to death.

But when he's fed live, I make sure he constricts. Easiest way to do that is suspend him in air while he throws more coils around the rat. I prefer to feed him FT because he usually doesn't wait for the rat to pass, and I can't handle that.

[Inknsteel]

To the OP, I don't think you're a bad person at all. You chose to do what you thought was in the best interest for your snake, although your method may have been uneducated and not the best way to go about it. I know a lot of people feel that a CO2 chamber is the only way it can be done, and those people are entitled to their opinions. I personally prefer to feed live, but have had to PK before. If you are not planning to PK on a regular basis, I think building your own CO2 chamber to euthanize a single mouse or rat every now and then may be overkill. I think if you don't have a CO2 chamber, "whacking" the prey is the next best thing. (I personally would be concerned I'd perform the CD improperly, causing pain to the prey...) What I've chosen to do, which seems to work well, is to use two plastic bags (I use two so if the first one breaks, the rat doesn't spill out on the floor, but also no more than two so it doesn't give any significant padding or protection) from Walmart or the grocery store. I drop the prey in and "whack" as hard as I can on a hard surface. The key is to whack it hard enough the first time that a second whack is never required. When done properly, the prey goes from live and unharmed to dead in a split second. Again, this is just my opinion and mine alone, but I thought I would add another perspective to the thread...

[blackcrystal22]

My corn doesn't even constrict FT. I call it "aggressive flopping" as he tries to sit on the rat to death.

But when he's fed live, I make sure he constricts. Easiest way to do that is suspend him in air while he throws more coils around the rat. I prefer to feed him FT because he usually doesn't wait for the rat to pass, and I can't handle that.

Once when I fed her live pinkies she swallowed them without constricting! It was the saddest mistake that could ever happen to me. D:
You could see it squirming in the snake a bit.. which obviously makes me worry for the snakes safety too.. so I never did that again. AGH, dumb snake.

[kjhowland]

To determine if you are a bad person for what you did, you have to ask yourself what your intent was. If you prekilled for YOUR own enjoyment, yes you have problems. If you did it for the snake's sake, no you're not.

As far as the F/T vs live debate, heres my story. I have 2 snakes. A corn that has been fed nothing but live for ten years with no problems. Then I have a 10 month old boa who we think suffered a scratch on his throat from a F/T prey item. I've already spent more time and vet bills on the new boa eating F/T then I have in the 10 years I've owned the corn.

[ama1997]

All I will say to this is: hatchling corn snakes take newborn pinky mice...there is no threat or danger to them with pinks, and they are rather easy to subdue.

If anything, it's being said that adult mice and especially rats are better offered as FT or PK, even better when the snake is a lazy one and either isn't sure how to kill the rodent or doesn't want to.

What I was saying was if a baby corn is started out on live it should not have any trouble taking live its whole life. If they are started out on F/T then later when its older you offer it a live rodent. Yeah the snake could get hurt. Not knowing what to do with a live mouse. My point was if they are started on live they should have no trouble taking live. I wasn't saying that a hatchling corn can take live so why cant an adult corn.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I need you to PLEASE tell me how the F/T killed the snake. Was it too big or something?! I don't know HOW someone could mess that up.. I mean.. come on..

While you might find it funny sadly it is a true story, the owner did not thaw the prey throughly and the snake died...............guess you just learned something today

Again both feeding methods can be done safely IF done RESPONSIBLY.

There is no live vs F/T debate, there are different methods available and it all comes down to chose which one works for YOU without pushing one or the other on people.

Educate yourself on live feeding than educate people on both feeding methods, than it's up to them to make choice.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Once when I fed her live pinkies she swallowed them without constricting! It was the saddest mistake that could ever happen to me. D:
You could see it squirming in the snake a bit.. which obviously makes me worry for the snakes safety too.. so I never did that again. AGH, dumb snake.

Many colubrids will swallow their pinkies and fuzzies live (mine used to do it all the time), however as far as the snake safety goes there is nothing to worry about with preys that size.

Once the prey gets bigger they will constrict the prey very efficiently.

[blackcrystal22]

While you might find it funny sadly it is a true story, the owner did not thaw the prey throughly and the snake died...............guess you just learned something today

Again both feeding methods can be done safely IF done RESPONSIBLY.

There is no live vs F/T debate, there are different methods available and it all comes down to chose which one works for YOU without pushing one or the other on people.

Educate yourself on live feeding than educate people on both feeding methods, than it's up to them to make choice.

Theres also another story I forgot about.
Heated it up in a microwave, it didn't explode, and felt fine, but the internal temp. was over 200F and killed the snake.
Painful stomach burns! :[

I feel it's almost more inhumane being swallowed alive and crushed than being pk by most methods. D: Just my personal opinion there.. ahha.