Feeding live rats (somewhat gruesome story beware plz)

[gmcclurelssu]

If her snake will eat f/t like all the rest of her snakes then why shouldn't she go to f/t? You will find lots of opinions on here about it and my snake is just as healthy eating f/t as he would be if I was feeding him live.

i didn't say that f/t is any more or less healthy. and yes there are a lot of opinions about it- but they are still opinions, with many feeding live and f/t. if the snake in question will switch to f/t as the op wishes, they good for them. they will save some money and not have to risk being grossed out again. my opinion is to feed my snake live if i can, not to keep someone from feeding f/t if they so choose

[littleindiangirl]

Thanks Connie, I'm trying to find a fill valve for a paintball CO2 tank so I can set up an actual CO2 chamber. I've used the vinegar and baking soda method on crawlers and it works well but I have yet to try that on a larger rat and it would just be so much easier if I'm going to just do one at a time for a PK feeder.

I believe we ordered our whole set up online.

[anendeloflorien]

How many snakes do you have? Most of my animals take FT AND live. I can honestly say that if the UK and Europe can feed the vast majority of their snakes FT or Prekilled, it can't be so hard.

I have 6 BPs, 3 juvies (300-500g) 2 babies (100-200g) and the one adult (1600g+) 1 sub adult king, one adult corn and 5 baby corns. My original BP takes either f/t or live but lately I've been feeding her solely f/t with a very occasional live rat fuzzy or pup. The two babies will both eat a rat fuzzy but I always feed them PK (if I gassed a group the same day) or f/t

[littleindiangirl]

I have 6 BPs, 3 juvies (300-500g) 2 babies (100-200g) and the one adult (1600g+) 1 sub adult king, one adult corn and 5 baby corns. My original BP takes either f/t or live but lately I've been feeding her solely f/t with a very occasional live rat fuzzy or pup. The two babies will both eat a rat fuzzy but I always feed them PK (if I gassed a group the same day) or f/t

Sorry, that wasn't directed towards you, but good to know anyways.

[SecurityStacey]

I have 6 BPs, 3 juvies (300-500g) 2 babies (100-200g) and the one adult (1600g+) 1 sub adult king, one adult corn and 5 baby corns. My original BP takes either f/t or live but lately I've been feeding her solely f/t with a very occasional live rat fuzzy or pup. The two babies will both eat a rat fuzzy but I always feed them PK (if I gassed a group the same day) or f/t

For what its worth - I think she was aiming that question at spokism when he said that he didn't condone f/t feeding.

BTW, I think it got lost somewhere in all this but I'm really sorry that happened. Yes, nature is gruesome, but that doesn't mean it doesn't bother us when it happens. Especially if you breed your own rats, that's gotta be rough. Good luck with going to f/t or prekilled.

[anendeloflorien]

I believe we ordered our whole set up online.

Do you remember where you ordered it from? I've got a foam cooler that I've been using for a CO2 chamber which works well because if it ever gets torn up it's like $1.50 for a new one but I might try and make something a little more permanent and maybe a bit smaller. I'll look around online though and see if I can find parts to make it.

[RoyalGuardian]

OMG! Kyros my ball pops their eyeballs too! Its soooo gross! He does it about 3 out of 5 times feeding him. so i would suppose its normal! Sorry for your bad experiance! I hope my feeding day goes ok today * crosses fingers*

[SoCaliSon]

Snakes are Predators...Not scavengers... When you choose to keep a predator as a pet, you have to suck it up and accept that this kind of thing will happen now and then. I am not going to get deep into the FT vs Live debate again... But I know that hunting and killing live prey is one of the main Instinctual behaviors that snakes have... but once again here we go changing the way they live, actually the way they hunt and eat, for our own convenience....I don't agree with it. I don't keep hundreds of BP's but if I did, they would all eat live food, cause that is how. I am trying to mimic a natural environment for my snakes as much as possible, not trying to train my snake to live within my convenience and comfort.

I personally have respect for every living animal. And it does get hard to think of all the rats I have sent to their deaths, and supervising these feedings can get tough over time to. But I chose to keep these snakes, so I have to learn to deal with the fact that as predators...they should be allowed to hunt and kill live prey.

[Muze]

It all depends on your snake's feeding response. I have 12 BPs, 9 are solid F/T (all converted fom live, btw. The first few times took a lot of patience on my part, but now they all take their food eagerly), but 2 of my F/T eaters went on a hunger strike, so after a few meals missed, I tried live. One of them took, the other one still has not eaten (3 missed meals so far). These two do not have strong feeding responses at all. They didn't back when they were on live, and they don't on F/T either. The 3rd BP is new,and was feeding live, so I waited a week & tried live. She struck, but did not coil. So we are on week 3 of not eating for that one. I am considering ASF's for her because I got her already underweight, so I have to try whatever to get her feeding again. Fecal was negative, btw.

Point is, snakes can be conditioned to eat F/T. Don't let anyone tell you it can't be done. You have to be careful where you get the frozen from (if you are breeding your own, then no issue there) in case they've been thawed out & re-frozen, etc. However, you will come across a few that will eat F/T sometimes & live other times, and some that will never eat F/T. I hate feeding live, but if it is definitely the only way that a particular snake will eat, then I will feed live.

Pay attention to your snake, and what it needs. I also advise that you try freshly pre-killed with a snake that does not have a strong feeding response before trying F/T. And when you do switch them to F/T, use tongs or tweezers (long ones). You will be performing puppet shows. Also, pre-scent the room. This helps immensely.

I consider myself pretty succesful with the F/T conversion issue, so hang in there.

[norm]

Yeah, that's pretty much what happens when you feed live. They don't die from suffocation at all. They get squished into oblivion.