Rico's chow time again!

[Lucidht]

So as some of you know, I LOVE to live feed my snake (I'm very against dead feeding). Let's him strut his expertise and primal instincts!
So once again I have pics of Rico being the beast he is.

I fed him a larger rat than usual and as always he took it like a pro:

Perfect catch as always, no chance for the rat to bite him:

Yummy Yummy:

Going....

Going....

Gone!



And now it's time to rest:

[mr86mister]

Cool pictures. Look's like he love's his meal!

[Drew87]

Cool play by play pics haha

[ViciousBliss]

hehe what a heffer. i love watchin the strike and feed. my snake is a hog as well, and despite his crappy conditions before i had him, he's yet to miss a meal. lil moo moo.

hopefully by next week my Snikolas sheds so he is shiny and new looking for the first feeding pix i take. if not i will postpone to the next week. i am also kind of partial to feeding live.... just because i don't think any snake would find a thawed out rat in the wild and i'm weird like that i dunno i always watch and make sure everything is safe and if i even think for a second that my snake and the teeth of the rodent are going to make contact i have a stick that i let the poor lil rodent chomp on instead of chomping on my snake. only had to do that once. and i think i was being paranoid. ne who i am hi jacking this thread derrr.... lol sry!

LOVE the pictures! you are very inspiring, hopefully i can snap some next week for YOU to enjoy!!!

[stangs13]

I am just currious as to why you are against f/t or "dead" prey?

[Lucidht]

I am just currious as to why you are against f/t or "dead" prey?

Well, I have spoken a number of times to the guy who owns the pet shop where I buy my snake stuff, I like to talk to him about various snake stuff and this is one we talk about a lot. He is a big snake enthusiast.

I have a couple reasons why I am against dead feeding:

I feel like it lets them flex their natural predator instincts when they can hunt it down (I don't feel like dangling a dead one gives them the same rush)
A dead rat will just lay there when it is caught, but a live one will fight back. It will squirm and wiggle, kick and make noise; this makes the snake fight back harder, squeeze and bite harder to kill the rat. This way it ends up being stronger and happier because it is killing something instead of not having to put any real effort into eating.
Also when you have a dead rat in the freezer the rat loses its natural vitamins and minerals that it has while it's living (I guess one could argue that you can put the vitamin powder on the rat to substitute)
Also I have seen snakes become less active and even depressed when they have been fed dead rats for their entire life.
Also (a point to be argued) it makes the snake less aggressive overall towards non-food organisms. My snake has NEVER struck at me once in the 2 to 3 years I have owned him. It's kinda like cats who don't destroy the furniture in their home because they are outdoor cats and they get to get all their aggression and scratching out of them outside the house.


There's a couple of my reasons, lol.

[muddoc]

This way it ends up being stronger and happier because it is killing something instead of not having to put any real effort into eating.

Also I have seen snakes become less active and even depressed when they have been fed dead rats for their entire life.

I am a bit curious by the comments made in these two statements. The first thing that I noticed that was common in these 2 statements is the metion of emotion. How do you know that your snake is happy or depressed. I only ask because I have never been able to detect emotion in any of my snakes.

Secondly, I would like to see some data that proves the theory stated in the last comment. I have never really encountered an active Ball Python. They typically spend 75% of their lives coiled up in a hide (or burrow if in the wild). How do you know it is less active?

Now with all of that said, I am not questioning your choice to feed live, as I myself feed live. However, I see nothing wrong with feeding F/T, I just feed live due to time constraints. It would take me more time than I have to feed my collection from tongs

[Lucidht]

Well, as far as being active: He does spend a good amount of time in his hide, but he also likes to wander around his tank (more than average, especially during the night). Also when I take him out to handle him, instead of being in a ball he gets really active and loves explore.

Like I said some of the stuff I said can be argued... but I have seen snakes that are fed F/T that will not be active at all when handled and also don't come out and explore even during the night.

I guess he just seems a little more....comfortable with everything than the average ball python.... but you could say it's just my snake, and its not the live feeding that does it. That maybe I just got lucky with a very curious and active snake.

I don't know, it's just a hunch I have... I guess you could just say I'm crazy if you want

[mr86mister]

I do see your side. I do believe you received a great curious snake. I myself have a snake that loves to explore when I take her out and when she is all done, she curls up and lays right next to me (most likely for the warmth). At night she is very active, I watch her poke her head out of her hide and she watches my movement and goes and explores for a bit and then goes back into her hide when done. She has always fed on F/T so I would have to say this would be just a larger discussion going both ways with neither side being proven to the opposition.

I love wild animals, it is so hard to prove their habits. I think this is why most of us own animals is because we think, "Hmmm...I wonder what they are thinking right now."