Quote Originally Posted by jim020cricket View Post

Once a boa is moving up to the small rat stage, it's one in a thousand that will not eat a f/t...if that high of a percentage. So why take the added risk at all? I don't understand it at all. It's a risk, whatever way you want to put it....it's still a risk. Why do it?
I understand we're talking red tailed boas here, and this is something else I agree with. Once a rat has some weight and size to them, they can do damage. I feed all of my bigger snakes Prekilled or Frozen/thawed and exactly for the reasons Jimi stated.

Bigger meals means bigger rats. Bigger rats are stronger, and are more of a risk in that one bite can do quite a bit of damage.

But, this being a ball python forum, most people will stand by feeding live to BP's, considering your feeding just weaned rats, and they are not only smaller, but don't have the same jaw power. It may hurt and smart, but it often does not break the skin.