feeding

[thetupak]

I just want to know who feeds there snakes live pray and who feeds prekilled and what they think about live vs pre killed>(

[ohh_kristina]

oh no..not this again. :p

I feed pre killed. I have a rescue ball python who has scars on the top and sides of his head from his previous owner feeding him live. This snake is BEAUTIFUL and an absolute doll, and the fact that he had to go through that breaks my heart.
So, my opinion is: never feed live unless absolutely necessary.

[thetupak]

ya but if the snake is hugury than the rat do'snt have a chance i feed live but that is my opinion and everyone is intitaled to there own but what i do have a problem with is people that say it is cruel to the rat i seen this one care sheet that said that they feed prekilled and how they killed them was putting them in a pillow case and hit them against the wall they said it takes a couple minutes for the rat to die but my snake can kill them faster than that and it ant cruel but i do see an advantage to pre killed if u get them frozen that most parasites are killed when frozen

[RepTylE]

The rat has a chance to take a piece out of your snake before it is completely constricted. I used to feed live to my BP and he suffered a bite from a young rat. Fortunately, the skin wasn't broken so risk of infection was minimal but I stopped feeding live soon after that incident.

You make your own decisions. I just think that you'll find that most herp keepers are sold on the frozen/thawed idea.

[Bartman]

i dont want to start an argument but i think that live is a dumb choice..ive seen some pictures that are quite disturbing. Everyone is entitled to what they want..i feed my frozenthawed once a week..doing good so far :)

[ohh_kristina]

I just don't see the point in taking the risk.
Whatever floats your boat, though. It's your snake..:rolleyes:

[burmer]

What reason is there to feed live? There are too many risks involved in feeding live. There are just too many stories and pics of live feedings gone bad.

[thetupak]

it is natural to feed live because its in there nature i dont want to take that away hes already in a cage why sould i take anything else away from him and about the stories and pics these are probably the kind of people that just throw the rat in the cage and leave i ALWAYS watch and if you think i just like watching him kill the rat its not that at all

[ohh_kristina]

natural? well, for one, keeping snakes in cages is NOT natural. does that mean you're going to stop doing it?
feeding live is irresponsible, IMO. but, it sounds like you've got your mind made up..since you know all about what's natural and not natural :p :p

[thetupak]

ya that is what i said and yes i do have my mind made up iv been feeding live for three years and nothing bad has happened yet and i dont believe it is going to happen and what is irresponsible about feeding live i watch to make sure nothing happens plus i didnt want to know if i should feed live i wanted your opinion i like to hear people argue about this>(

[ohh_kristina]

just wait until the day you put a live rat in there and it bites your snake so bad that it loses an eye. And guess what? It will happen before you have a chance to pull it away!

[thetupak]

i only feed my snake during the day and he is in his hide box and every time the rat gets near the box he has it and it ant going any where plus have u ever had it happen to u if u havent then how can u say it will happen to me i bet theres alot more people that feed live on here than u think

[ohh_kristina]

you're right. there are a lot of people on here that feed live. but my opinion still stands.

[Oliverian]

i like to hear people argue about this
Ah... I see. So you WANT this to be a flame thread? I suggest that if you're really interested in what has to be said, do a search for "live vs prekilled" I don't really think we need to go over all of this again just so you can hear us argue.
-Tammy R

[thetupak]

ya i know i just like to get things going u got it right u think what u want and ill think what i want thats whats so great about being free everone has a right to there own opinion its been nice talking to u

[snakehunter]

well its happened to me, and it scared the sh*t out of me, i was so scared, horrified, and embarassed that i put my snake in that situation. one day it will happen to you, or someone you know, and THEN it will hit home that f/k p/k and f/t are the way to go. we see TOO MANY ' my snake got killed last night by a rat/mouse " threads, and i would just hate for it to happen to you, or any one for that matter. thats my opinion
-jacob

[Tim and Julie B]

I think that if you are going to ask peoples opinions on something then you should respect the answers you receive. I am not criticizing you for your beliefs, but it is very important to take into consideration what everyone is saying. Most of the members here are avid keepers and really do know best. Not that everyone knows about everything, but many are very well educated. There are a lot of risks involved with feeding live. CB animals do not have the exact requirements of wild, many of their instincts are diminished by their captive care and precautions should be met and maintained to keep their best interests in mind. Unfortunately there are many irresponsible keepers who feed live solely for entertainment and that is imo (and others) very cruel. If you are feeding live because you cannot get the animal to switch to pre-kill or f/t then that is another story. We have a young snake that only takes live pinkies, and although there is almost 0 risk with a pinky we always supervise feeding. And we constantly try to get it to switch for it's own good. All in all there's pretty well no need to call people out just because they disagree. This is a decent forum with amazing members and it will remain so-case in point-if you rub people the wrong way it will come back to bite you in the bender.:D

Julie

[maiden_canada]

what are you talking about whacking it against a wall, if you dont want to do that then buy them frozen. people like tupak who do things they KNOW are wrong piss me off so much. there is NO reason why you should feed live instead of f/t or p/k. even if it's ''cooler'' seeing ur snake strangle it (even though some snakes still strangle if its dead). why do you bother making this thread if you already know everyone will tell you what im telling you, it's fairly obvious. imo, all you are is a snake keeper that is very irresponsible, and doesnt give a crap about the actual snake, you just do whatever makes you happy

but anyways, you can do whatever you want

[Oliverian]

Well said, Julie. I agree, if you ask for advice, you should take it or at least consider it.
-Tammy R

[sapphire_moon]

It's natural to feed live?
Well as ohh_kristina said. it's not natural to keep them in a cage. Are you going to let her/him go because of it? Since you are the snakes caregiver keeper owner whatever you want to call yourself it is up to you to provide a safe enclosure, with safe food! It only takes a milisecond for a rat to take a BP's eye out. And I'm sorry I don't think your that quick.

[snakehunter]

actually, human reatin time is two tenths of a second, and have you seen a rat run or jump, those things are insanely fast, thats why they still live today, if only we could geneticly produce toothless wonder rats, with no teeth and claws, and just suckled their whole life!

pardon my rambling i just think funny things, untill then, rodentpro.com has got my buisness

[ohh_kristina]

I just find it sad that even with horror stories & awful photos, people still continue to ARGUE that feeding live is best for the snake. I am not arguing or trying to make a point about this just to make it, you see. I am saying all of this for the well being of the serpents we all love.