Saved a baby rat

[ladycrotalus]

Quote:
An adult mouse was left over night in that ball pythons tank. The full story is on proexotics website. Ball pythons are known to be finicky eaters. I have one that won't eat all winter. It isn't my temps. He is perfectly healthy and starts right back up eating on a regular basis in the spring.
The reason for my first reply is because they are leaving a live rodent unattended in with the snake covered upfor 5 hours .

 

[Sumatra503]

Question the Idea, Not the Person!

So you are questioning the Idea of feeding live, not the fact that the OP feeds live.

 

[Sumatra503]

The snake was left unattended in a covered tank for 5 hours. It probably took hours for the mouse to do that to the snake.

A normal, healthy snake being fed the correct size rodent and being properly observed during feeding will be just fine being fed live food.

Feeding live is a good way to feed a snake. Not doing it correctly is what turns it into a bad way to feed.

 

[ultasol]

I talked to a friend that works for an exotic animal vet and former main vet at a large zoo. I was told feeding live should be the option of last resort used only if dead feeders are never taken. Risk for injury is is there even when supervised.

 

[Sumatra503]

Zoos always feed dead food to everything. If they do get any live feeders they just kill them and use those.

Many who feed live, myself included for a time, breed thier own rodents to cut down on the cost of buying them.

 

[ultasol]

You can kill them first... even if you raise them.

 

[ladycrotalus]

I raise my own feeders for my snakes. I used to feed live and when my boa grabbed the rat, it bit her lip causing her to bleed. It only takes one bite to the head or neck of the snake to kill it. Or the snake could lose an eye or develop a nasty abscess from a rodent bite.

I just acquired a 6 ft boa that refuses to eat anything unless it is prekilled because she was bitten by the rat that my ex-coworker fed her.
As well as a 4 ft boa that has scars on his tail from rodent bites.

If the person is gonna feed live then they NEED to watch the situation like a hawk, ready to intervene if it turns ugly and the prey NEEDS to be removed if the snake doesnt eat it in at most 15 minutes.