Python feeding video

[kidfixer]

Got bored and videoed the girl eating a live rat.

Video link removed for foul language.

[alessia55]

She looks great :)

As per stunning the rat, it would be far more humane to use a CO2 tank. You can simulate a make-shift one by putting the rat in a tank/box with dry ice. It'll knock it out in a far less painful way. Stunning by knocking the rat against the side of your shower wall several times is bordering on cruel. I understand you don't want your girl to get bit or scratched by the rat... My older BP used to only eat live (he's transitioning to f/t) and I would let him take the mouse live, and I'd hold the mouses legs or whatever was necessary while he constricted it so it couldn't scratch or bite my snake in the process, and wait until I couldn't feel the pulse and then I'd let go.
Another way to kill the rat is to break it's neck. Put a towel over the rat, and twist it's neck the way you would wring a damp towel. You can put one hand around its neck, and the other hand around its body, and twist your hands in different directions. The rat should die the instant you snap its neck.
Also, if she normally eats f/t, it's dangerous to give her live since she might refuse to eat f/t after that. They can get "hooked" on eating live and not want to switch back over. Hopefully you won't have that problem. If you're out of f/t rats and can't get some for a few days, she'll be OK and can wait. It won't hurt her and she won't starve to wait a few more days than the normal wait period between meals.
Lastly, are you feeding her two f/t rats? It looks like she could go up a size instead of eating two prey at once.

Don't take my post to be a judgement on you, but rather just trying to help you out. I feel pretty strongly about humane treatment and killing of animals, even if they are just to be eaten by a snake. :)

[aj099]

man that rat was having one bad day.... nice burm!!!

[Shmoges]

Its not very practical to head to the grocery store in the hopes they have extra dry ice to suffocate a rat when its feeding time and you can't really store the stuff.

Whats practical is F/T rats

[alessia55]

Its not very practical to head to the grocery store in the hopes they have extra dry ice to suffocate a rat when its feeding time and you can't really store the stuff.

Whats practical is F/T rats

I offered it as an option since he says in the video that she usually eats f/t but he was out of them. It was just a suggestion :) F/t is definitely the most practical ;)

[kidfixer]

I like the towel suggestion...I will have to remember that in case I ever feed live rats again.

In fact, I will probably go to live again once she is large enough for rabbits...I dont have room in my freezer for a bunch of frozen bunnies. However, I dont think rabbits pose the same risk as rats do, so I will just toss em in and watch her go.

[alessia55]

Live rabbits can cause just as much damage to your gorgeous burm as a live rat. They still have teeth, and they still have claws, and they'll bite and scratch just as a live rat would.

[KORBIN5895]

Actually a rabbit has much longer and stronger legs than a rat so it could potentially cause evisceration.

[kidfixer]

Actually a rabbit has much longer and stronger legs than a rat so it could potentially cause evisceration.

Whoa. I take that back...I will be breaking some rabbit neck!!

[Rogue628]

She's a pretty burm! :D

[Kiljosh]

Another way to humanely kill a mouse is to grab it by the hind end, place the end of a ruler at the back of it's head on the base of it's skull(where the spine meets the skull), push the ruler down hard enough to keep it in place and just tug on the mouse while it's pressed against a table. If you can picture that. It instantly kills by severing the spinal cord.

[infernalis]

Drop it in an old pillow case, and slam it down like you hate it's guts.

One quick blast and it's over with.

[SnakeyJay]

Drop it in an old pillow case, and slam it down like you hate it's guts.

One quick blast and it's over with.

Should be instant... Like us jumping of a skyscraper :D

[KORBIN5895]

You could also make it kiss the curb.

[alessia55]

Another way to humanely kill a mouse is to grab it by the hind end, place the end of a ruler at the back of it's head on the base of it's skull(where the spine meets the skull), push the ruler down hard enough to keep it in place and just tug on the mouse while it's pressed against a table. If you can picture that. It instantly kills by severing the spinal cord.

The time I tried this it only stunned the mouse by paralyzing it but didn't kill it (heart still beating and still breathing). I'd go with the other faster methods if I had to. But then again, I'm not adept at killing rodents like some of you are lol :p

[Lankyrob]

Rats, rabbits and chickens can all be instantly killed with a strong grip and a quick twist, same theory as the ruler method above but should be 100% successful.