f/t or live - Page 7

**Aaron_S** · 04-01-12, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

No that happened in like less then three second when I dropped the the rat in. I never thought it could happen to me.

Dude, you should be selling those rats to hollywood. Make bank on that kind of crazy mutants!

mattchibi · 04-01-12, 09:47 PM

Here is an interesting thread I read a few weeks back. Proper supervision is key. This is not an anecdote to scare people away from live feeding, just what could happen if you dont supervise. But if done correctly, there really is zero risk. Please read the description of what happened before you jump in and say "See? It could take out your ball pythons eye in a matter of seconds!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by that_dc5

Before you scroll down and view the picture please read my story first. Now before I begin explaining the horror that has happened to me, let me tell you how I feed my snakes. I pick up the rats usually in the evenings, which means the snakes are in hunt mode, I go home and just drop them in. All of my snakes are great eaters, if they haven't struck in the first 5 minutes it's because they don't want to eat. So when I feed I hang around until everyone has swallowed their food and move w.e has been eaten to a hold bin for a few days and try again.

Well last night was feeding day, I went out grabbed my feeders, came home and placed the rats in the snake tub. Everyone except my male Pastel Lesser & Mocha had eaten. I figured he didn't eat because he's in breeding mode and I figured she didn't eat because I think she's gravid. So I grabbed her rat in gave it to one of my normals. I couldn't do the same for him because my only other snake thaat could eat a rat that large was still swallowing her current prey. So I waited...

Then all of a sudden an emergency came up where I had to rush over to my grandmother (she lives in the same house). About 2 hours later, everything was said and done and I go back to my room. I lay down in bed and hear some noise coming from the rack. I jump out of bed, turn the lights on and see a rat in the corner of the Pastel Lesser's tub still alive. So I went to get him out and place him another tub, when I saw the horror! In just a few short hours, he chewed my Pastel Lesser like if he hadn't eaten in days and was desperate for food. You have no idea how sick to my stomach I got when I saw the damage. Mind you this was just in a couple of hours, I can't imagine what would have happened if I had let him stay for a few more hours.

I NEVER leave rats in my tubs with the snakes, NEVER! I've seen what can be done, but unfortunately an emergency popped up and this one rat slipped my mind. As of now, I cleaned out his tub, put him on paper towel and showered him with hydrogen peroxide. I'm letting it dry so I can apply an ointment like Neosporin on it. I don't know what to do. The tip of his tail is so chewed up that I don't know if it will stick back together or if he will just end up losing it.

First things first, I have to make sure all the wounds scab so the wounds close. From there I'll just continue treating him until the scabs are gone and the wounds are closed. This puts a huge stop in my breeding plans as he is my only male breeder, but his health comes first. Poor little guy...

For those of you who feed live, this is a perfect example as to why you should monitor feeding at all costs. This happened in just a few hours, imagine what could have happened if I would have left him over night or a full day.

Just as a side note, the OP figured out quickly that betadine was better than hydrogen peroxide.

infernalis · 04-01-12, 10:05 PM

Here is some variables to consider.

Not everyone is completely forthright in their stories.

Not all rat suppliers are created equal, in other words if this did in fact happen in just a couple hours as described, then chances are that the person/place that the rats came from had not fed the rats in a while.

I breed my own rats, and I used to sell quite a few to a pet shop down the road, until one day I stopped in and there were several rats feeding off the carcass of another rat.

I was infuriated, I asked what the hell happened, and the owner of the pet store blamed an emplyee who "forgot to top off the food dishes"

Needless to say, I refuse to sell any rats to them now.

Even though my rats are bred as feeders, I take care of them like pets, they live damn good until that fateful moment.

Heck, I am guilty of spoiling my rats, they get pampered better than most people's hamsters do.

Now back to the "story" I used to know a young lady (yeah she visited in person a couple times) who spun a yarn about how she killed a whole litter of baby snakes by "taking a phone call"

She cried and cried about how it was only a couple minutes on the forums, but I know teenage girls too well, weather it was her BFF or her BF, she took a phone call that had to have lasted over an hour and then when she got her mind back on to the snakes, it was too late, they were cooked and very dead.

The point I am trying to make is this, people will exaggerate the truth on a forum to make things look "not so bad" for them.

Skumbo · 04-01-12, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by red ink

Nothing wrong with live feeding "if" that's the only way the specimen will take it's prey and done properly....

Something wrong with live feeding if the person that owns the snake is just plain too lazy to even try and switch them over to FK or FT....

Live feeding then IMO is just for "kicks"..... I have no time for people in this hobby who are in it just for "kicks".

/thread? :P

mykee · 04-02-12, 09:55 AM

I think a lot of you are ignoring a very important part of feeding live; the temperment of the feeder.
I breed all my own live stuff for those that prefer live food and with that in mind, my breeder collection is as tame as can be. I can reach into bins and pick up adults, adolescents and even take babies from mom without being bit.
As I mentioned, having fed over 10,000 live rats over my career without a single incident, I must be doing something right.
The key is to have stressfree, healthy, happy rodents.

Snakefood · 04-02-12, 10:01 AM

my feeders are the same, the adults are very friendly (I have been bitten by a weaner being separated)

All my snakes (so far) eat killed food, I hope I am lucky enough not to have to feed live. I am not really worried about the mouse/rat eating the snake like in Korbins pic, but I don`t want to have to deal with even a bite wound or scratch if I can aviod it.

jarich · 04-03-12, 08:04 AM

I think thats all well and good Mykee about your rats being nice to you. They have no reason not to be. However, the same can not be said of their interaction with the snake. And I can believe that post above happened in a few hours. It doesnt look like that snake had much actual flesh taken out of it, or that necessarily the rat did that for the sake of food. You put a rat in with a big snake and the rat is going to know it has to defend itself or die. Your talking about a cornered animal that is protecting its life. It will defend itself with what it has...large teeth and claws.

Ive never had a problem with any of my live feeders either in the years Ive kept snakes. Ive also never gone through the window of my car on those rare occasions when I didnt have my seatbelt on. But the point is the same, why take the risk? All it takes is one scratch across an eye, or as the above post shows one emergency where you forgot, and you have all the reason in the world to make the switch. I generally try to switch my snakes to fresh killed, not because I think they cant handle a live one, but because its generally easy to do and takes away ALL risk. There is no risk from feeding fresh killed. ZERO. There is some risk from feeding live; though admittedly its small, there is still some risk. So if its not hard to do, why is this still an argument?

shaunyboy · 04-03-12, 08:23 AM

if a hungry snake strikes and gets say the body or back end of a live rat,then.....

there is a risk of the snake being bitten by the rat trying to escape the snake

imo,no one supervising the feed,would be quick enough to stop the above,should it occur

the snake strikes,catches the wrong part of the rat,rat bites snake,all in under a second,not even bruce lee was quick enough to stop that

i have no moral issues with live feeding,if all a snake will take is live,then so be it

i'd rather have the peace of mind that comes with,fresh killed or frozen thawed

cheers shaun

exwizard · 04-03-12, 11:48 AM

First off, Im not here trying to convert anyone else into a different way of feeding their snakes. After all, its their snakes, not mine. We have rodent customers who prefer f/t and as a result we vacuum seal and freeze their rodents for them no extra charge. I understand all the arguments on both sides so I really dont want to debate the fact that I feed live. In this case, Im in agreement with Mykee. We breed our own feeders and one of the keys to safer feeding is having pet tame rodents. However there is still risk and I am aware of that but weve chosen to feed live for reasons discussed in other threads and I wont get into them here. I fully respect other peoples choices to feed either f/t or f/k. As I said before, its a personal choice of what to do with your own pets because nobody has a say over what happens to your pets more than you. All other people can do is advise but its still up to the owner to take that advice or not.