Another Reason why not to feed live.. *warning Graphic pics, tempers will flare*

[ReneeB]

I was browsing thru a bloging site I'm a member of (http://www.livejournal.com) , and found this site in a post to one of the communities I'm a part of..

http://www.homestead.com/koalaskritters/livefeeding.html

These are the pics that made my tummy turn the most

http://www.homestead.com/koalaskritters/files/freezerbait5.jpg

Before Removing the dead tissue
http://www.homestead.com/koalaskritters/files/freezerbait_prior_to_debriding.jpg

Afterwards
http://www.homestead.com/koalaskritters/files/livebait_after_debridamation.jpg

[Oliverian]

Yikes.... I'm guessing he died?

Is the swelling from an infection? That's really nasty. Poor little guy. I hope any of you feeding live for the thrill of it take a look at these...
-Tammy R

[Zoe]

It should also be stated that such injuries happen from leaving rodents and snakes together unsupervised. While I do not condone live feeding in any way, with supervision, injuries as severe don't occur.

I too, would like to know what the swelling is from.

Zoe

[SerpentLust]

I see feeding live as a last resort, but at least, as Zoe said, if you MUST, supervision at ALL times is required.

Jenn

[C.m.pyrrhus]

Some of my snakes get live, i.e. crotes and Thamnophis. I keep watch during these feedings of my crotes, just for safety. My Thamnophis get live fish, they can't really bite back. I use stunned prey at times, which can still bite of course, for newly aquired and finicky wild snakes. Again I keep an eye out to make sure all goes well.
Otherwise, almost anynsnake will eat F/T or pre-killed prey with little or no problems. There are those that do need some work, but in the end it is a better pay-off.

BUT--- I also feel it is more than just as simple as live feeding as the problem. For these snakes to have been hurt so bad, somebody would have had to of thrown the meals in the tanks/cages and walk away without attending to the snakes. This is part of the problem as well. Could have been that these snakes were fed to much and not hungry, could have been stressed out snakes without appitites, etc etc. When snakes come out to look this bad, it is more than just one problem. There are many underlying problems that factor in this. This is why information needs to get out to those that do not know about the complex husbandry needs of herps. Poor little buggers......

[Oliverian]

I agree pyrrhus... they can't be in that great of condition in the first place if the owner doesn't know enough to watch their snake with live prey.
-Tammy R

[marisa]

Another thing is while THIS incident might have taken hours for a mouse to accomplish while someone wasn't watching, sometimes even the SMALLEST of bites or nicks from a prey item can cause a very serious and damaging infection which can definitly cause wounds like the ones above, even though the bite was fast and small.

Marisa

[ChokeOnSmoke]

that is nasty
that swelling is pretty severe it mst have been infected for quite some time

[C.m.pyrrhus]

Actually my first boa was from a friend. Sad to say his methods of keeping were not good. She was in good health, but thing was he would throw live rats in for food. She had the tip of her tail bit good and small parts on her back. When I got her, she took right away to F/T, like she knew they would not bite back. Since then she has grown well and her scars have just about disappeared. Luckily her bites were not as severe.

http://hometown.aol.com/beauconstrictors/images/ramirez2.jpg http://hometown.aol.com/beauconstrictors/images/ramirez1.jpg

[snakehunter]

SICK

[mark129er]

boggles the mind how some people treat their pets.

[liltattyprinces]

It really disgusts me the way some treat these maginificent creatures. I have one BP that i was told would only eat live, well 3 F/T feedings later, she is doing just great. Just takes a little patience and time. :) those pics made me feel sick to my stomach to think someone could be that thoughtless and irresponsible uggg i just want to throttle stupid owners like that

[nolagurl]

Which live journal community did you find that on? I'm on herpers. Same username. :-P

[Lisa]

Live feeding should be avoided, I'd rather force feed then feed live. I've seen snakes eat their prey live, with out constricting first (fortunately it was a pinky).

Even supervised live feeding can result in death, a single bite can cause an infection that can kill a snake. A rat can chew through concrete, imagine what it can do to your snakes spine.

How long does it take for a rat to bite? how long would you take to interfere between the rat and your snake?


I know I'm not going to change anyone's mind that is sure live feeding is fine. but hopefully some one is persuaded by this posting.