Live or Dead?

[Grael]

what do you feed your snakes?

i just tried for the first time a live mouse with my 3 foot boa, it was very exciting and i found it quite enjoyable as sick as it sounds.

its not that much expensive then frozen food which i found confusing so i might stick to it.

 

[Joe]

Frozen/fully thawed is safer than live. There's always a chance your snake could be bitten, or in the worst case, killed by the prey.

Joe

 

[Immortal_sin]

I've never fed my little guy any live prey. When I received him, he'd only been fed live, but the seller said it wouldn't be a problem switching him over, and it wasn't. He used to strangle his dead mice, but now he doesn't even bother to do that

 

[pategirl]

You found enjoyable this one time, but what happens when the rat/mouse decides to fight back? Your snake could be severely injured or killed. The freezing of the mice eliminates more than the risk of injury; parasites that the mouse could carry are killed in the process.

 

[Phillip]

Frozen has a lot of advantages over live. Far less risk to the snake, it generally makes for a calmer snake with less biting, easier to keep mice in the freezer than to feed and clean up after them, and cost is far cheaper. If you didn't see a large difference in price you either weren't buying several at a time or were being raped on the price of the frozen.

Phil

 

[Beardo]

what do you feed your snakes?

I feed all of my snakes frozen/thawed rodents.

i just tried for the first time a live mouse with my 3 foot boa, it was very exciting and i found it quite enjoyable as sick as it sounds.

You fed a 3 foot boa mouse? I assume you are talking about a Boa Contrictor (BCI).....a Boa of that size should be eating rats no doubt about it. And you are correct, your enjoyment of feeding a live rodent is quite sick.

its not that much expensive then frozen food which i found confusing so i might stick to it.

Umm, not quite sure what this statement means....In my experience f/t is MUCH cheaper than live. I also don't see how f/t is "confusing"....perhaps you could elaborate?

 

[Grael]

Originally posted by DavidBeard


Umm, not quite sure what this statement means....In my experience f/t is MUCH cheaper than live. I also don't see how f/t is "confusing"....perhaps you could elaborate?

confusing that live food wasnt that more to purchase then frozen, i paid 3 pounds for that live mouse, and i pay 1.25 pounds for my frozen.

and thinking abou it now, i dont think its sick, you surely have watched a nature program with the predator killing its prey and found it very interesting and enjoyable? i just kinda took it to my bedroom.

 

[Beardo]

confusing that live food wasnt that more to purchase then frozen, i paid 3 pounds for that live mouse, and i pay 1.25 pounds for my frozen.

Not that much more? It sounds like frozen is less than 1/2 the price of live....so why feed live? There is no reason for it. Snakes do not need live prey and it is much safer to offer f/t prey....it decreases the chances of your snake being injured/killed by the rodent (Yes, this can happen!) and it also eliminates the possibility of parasite transfer.

 

[xalbinox]

I've got some nice pics of live feeding I'll post em as soon as I develope the film

 

[Grael]

Originally posted by DavidBeard
Not that much more? It sounds like frozen is less than 1/2 the price of live....so why feed live? There is no reason for it. Snakes do not need live prey and it is much safer to offer f/t prey....it decreases the chances of your snake being injured/killed by the rodent (Yes, this can happen!) and it also eliminates the possibility of parasite transfer.

yea but ive always had to dangle frozen for him anyway.

i dont see how its any differant from crickets and tarantulas, they both have a heart, they are alive, yet people seem to think its sick and cruel to feed live food to a snake, yet a cricket to a spider is oviously utterly and totally differant, ofcause i think what matters most to people is most people find mice cute.....so they sympathise with it, they dont find crickets cute so its no skin of thier nose if thier insteads are metled down and sucked up......

 

[atavuss]

I have to feed live prey to my ball python, it will not take dead prey, does not matter if it is FT, or live and freshly killed. it has to be live and moving. my BP will not take white prey items either, has to be multi-colored, finicky bugger it is.
my other snakes get rat pups live, no chance of the rat pups hurting anything.
Ed

 

[Phillip]

Frozen doesn't eliminate the chance of parasitic transfer. It lowers it greatly and is certainly the way to go but there are parasites that freezing doesn't get rid of.

Phil

 

[Beardo]

Originally posted by Grael
yea but ive always had to dangle frozen for him anyway.

i dont see how its any differant from crickets and tarantulas, they both have a heart, they are alive, yet people seem to think its sick and cruel to feed live food to a snake, yet a cricket to a spider is oviously utterly and totally differant, ofcause i think what matters most to people is most people find mice cute.....so they sympathise with it, they dont find crickets cute so its no skin of thier nose if thier insteads are metled down and sucked up......

I think you've got me confused with someone else.....my concern is not for the mouse but for the SNAKE. Its in the SNAKE's best interest to feed dead prey.....I have witnessed snakes KILLED by live prey and in the past I had one of my snakes injured by a mouse....I'm not one of those PETA hippies who wanna protect the furry critters. I just want whats best for the snakes. Once you see past your pseudo-machismo attitude about seeing your snake do something "cool" maybe you'll understand my point.

 

[Beardo]

Originally posted by atavuss
I have to feed live prey to my ball python, it will not take dead prey, does not matter if it is FT, or live and freshly killed. it has to be live and moving. my BP will not take white prey items either, has to be multi-colored, finicky bugger it is.
my other snakes get rat pups live, no chance of the rat pups hurting anything.
Ed

Your snake WILL take dead prey.....I can guarantee you it will. I have had a few snakes that I *thought* would never take dead prey let alone f/t....but they are all on f/t now. It takes patience on your part.....snakes are designed to go for long periods of time w/out food and if your snake misses a few meals because it refuse what you're offering, it won't hurt it at all....in fact dead prey is better for all parties involved in the long run. You just have to work with your snake and not give up at the first sign of resistance.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Your snake WILL take dead prey.....I can guarantee you it will

I agree. After my ball python got bit and I switched everyone over to pre-killed prey, it took two months of refusing food, but she finally came around. Just be persistant.

 

[Crotalus]

I usually feed dead but on occassion live. I never had a injured snake for 20 years due to a prey fighting back, but yes it can happen. Usually if you feed the snake to large prey items in a small cage unsupervised.

/Lelle

 

[Beardo]

I think too often we downplay the severity of feeding live......A couple of years back, I witnessed an adult mouse *totally* decapitate a corn snake.....the snake was HEADLESS afterwards. This feeding was supervised, but in the blink of an eye, there is nothing you can do if that mouse decides to defend itself or gets an angle where it can cause damage. Supervision in reality is meaningless. All it takes is a splt second and your snake can be injured or dead. Definitely not worth the "cool factor" if you ask me.

 

[Dessicata]

some of my snakes should eat lizards and stop eating for months at a time. Rather than feed them live mice to trick them, i just wait until theyre hungry enough to eat defrost again. They wont get ill from not eating, so it's not really worth taking the chance, unless its pinkies.

 

[Crotalus]

Originally posted by DavidBeard
I think too often we downplay the severity of feeding live......A couple of years back, I witnessed an adult mouse *totally* decapitate a corn snake.....the snake was HEADLESS afterwards. This feeding was supervised, but in the blink of an eye, there is nothing you can do if that mouse decides to defend itself or gets an angle where it can cause damage. Supervision in reality is meaningless. All it takes is a splt second and your snake can be injured or dead. Definitely not worth the "cool factor" if you ask me.

I dont know the details of that incident but to me it sounds like a small snake and a large mouse. And perhaps even a small sick snake.
Most injuries comes when the snake got the mouse in a grip but the mouse manage to bite the snake in the head.
I cant say how many times my corns got live mice and never ever did the mouse turned on the snake. Didnt have the chance to do so.
Supervision is not meaningless, if you see the mouse manage to bite the snake , just make sure he wont do it again. One bite probably wont kill the snake but unsupervised the mouse can continue and hurt the snake bad.
Mice arent superpredators the kill a snake in a split second.
Who was talking about any "cool factor" here? Not me. I give live mice mostly if the snake wont take dead (happens alot with WC snakes or juvenils).
It sounds that you dont know really what you talking about.

/Lelle

 

[Beardo]

Originally posted by Crotalus
I dont know the details of that incident but to me it sounds like a small snake and a large mouse. And perhaps even a small sick snake.
Most injuries comes when the snake got the mouse in a grip but the mouse manage to bite the snake in the head.
I cant say how many times my corns got live mice and never ever did the mouse turned on the snake. Didnt have the chance to do so.
Supervision is not meaningless, if you see the mouse manage to bite the snake , just make sure he wont do it again. One bite probably wont kill the snake but unsupervised the mouse can continue and hurt the snake bad.
Mice arent superpredators the kill a snake in a split second.
Who was talking about any "cool factor" here? Not me. I give live mice mostly if the snake wont take dead (happens alot with WC snakes or juvenils).
It sounds that you dont know really what you talking about.

/Lelle

Ummm, No. This was an ADULT Corn (4-5 feet) and in perfect health. And the person who started this thread stated that he "enjoyed" watching his snake kill the mouse for entertainment value....thatsw what I meant by "cool factor."

I also have had many WC snakes switch over to f/t......sometimes it takes effort and time but I've never failed in getting a snake to eat dead prey.