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#199018
Skink owner
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 Feeding live
is it illegal to feed ball pythons live mice in uk i have wanted to for soem time but iam unsure
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12/14/04 2:42pm
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#199084
BoaBabe448
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Message To: Skink In reference to Message Id: 199018
Feeding live
I think its legal, but you shouldn’t feed any snake live mice, you should feed them frozen.
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12/14/04 5:27pm
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#199308
Pelota
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Message To: Skink In reference to Message Id: 199018
Feeding live
I’m not sure on the legalities in other countries. I just don’t understand why you’d WANT to feed your snake live for some time now. I mean, sure, you can feed your bp live, but you have to know of the risks you run when doing so. If you feed live, you have to watch every second of the feeding to make sure the prey item is killed and doesn’t harm your snake. Have some tongs or something to keep the mouse from biting your snake.
If you ask me, unless you’re a big breeder that has hundreds of snakes to feed, prekilled or frozen thawed is the best way to go. Especially for "green" snake owners. It’s up to you though. I trust that you know to do whichever you feel is safest for your snakes health. Also it’s cruel for the mouse to die in such a suffering just so you can watch it die, or whatever reason you want to feed live....
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12/14/04 10:34pm
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#199523
Scott14
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Message To: Pelota In reference to Message Id: 199308
Feeding live
Yeah well its up to you we cant stop you but you need to think of your snake! Im sure roachy56 will put the image on this thread of a mangled bp that had been eaten by a mouse/rat.
Scott15,
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12/15/04 10:19am
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#199979
Pelota
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Message To: Scott14 In reference to Message Id: 199523
Feeding live
Yeah, but that picture often comes with the wrong message. The message told is usually "Don’t feed live or this can happen" when it should be "Don’t be stupid and leave your snake with a hungry mouse or rat for days on end or this can happen". When feeding live, and watching it properly, it can be done without problems. But just dropping a live rodent in a cage and walking away is how accidents happen.
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12/16/04 5:46am
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#200638
Meanddave
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Message To: Pelota In reference to Message Id: 199979
Feeding live
We were feeding live until 2 feedings ago when the rat bit Zoe. He’s OK, didn’t break the skin. The rat was a little bigger than usual (a small/medium) and I think it scared him a little so he didn’t go for it immediately like he usually does. However the rat was not afraid of the snake, because he went right up and bit it. It did not take more than 10 seconds of being in the cage. After he bit him, Zoe "got" him. But we really learned our lesson, now we are feeding fresh kill (they do it for us at the reptile store) He took it the first time, with no problem!
My point is, even though you feed live and watch to make sure nothing happens, it could happen and it is so fast that there is nothing that you can do. Don’t feed live!!!!
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12/17/04 4:03pm
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#200791
Munkyboy
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Message To: Pelota In reference to Message Id: 199979
Feeding live
I agree with Meanddave. The only advantage to "watching closely" when feeding live is that you get to watch your beloved friend getting bitten by a rodent that you put in there with it. Kinda makes you fell sh&^ty about your decision. I also found that out the hard way. 
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12/17/04 9:22pm
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#200802
SNAKE EYES
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Message To: Munkyboy In reference to Message Id: 200791
Feeding live
All of my snakes eat live rodents and don’t get bit, I also don’t just leave them in there. As soon as i drop it in there bam it’s dead, So maybe
that means my snakes are not weak.
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12/17/04 9:40pm
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#200935
Pelota
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Message To: Meanddave In reference to Message Id: 200638
Feeding live
"Don’t feed live!!!!!"Tell that to the breeders who have hundreds and/or thousands of bp’s to feed and don’t have the time to dangle the prey item to entice the snake to eat it. Believe me, a month or two ago I was preaching the same way you guys were. I thought feeding live was the worst thing a person could do to their snake. Then I read through 8 pages of conversation between breeders and keepers at another website and they were discussing feeding live and feeding frozen thawed/prekilled. There was one breeder named Adam Wysocki of 8ballpythons.com who was very much involved in the discussion. He stated that he’s been in the business for 10+ years and has produced and raised thousands and thousands of ball pythons. He stated that in all his years of breeding, he’s fed live, and not had one problem. He wouldn’t feed live to his high end morphs if he thought they were going to be bit and harmed. Especially when some are worth 15 thousand dollars. So yeah, before you say NEVER FEED LIVE, gather information and consider the pros and cons of both sides, then put together your opinion. I believe if you’re smart and know what you’re doing, you can safely feed live. I’m not saying that’s what you should do. I’m just saying you shouldn’t tell people to never feed live. Everyone has their own opinions and choices with snake keeping. You can’t badger someone for feeding live.
I myself choose to feed my ball python frozen thawed. In my situation, it’s much easier to just thaw a rat out once a week and feed. However, in the coming years if/when I get into breeding, I may change my mind and start feeding live. It’s impossible to expect someone to thaw out hundreds of rodents, then dangle the prey for who knows how long for each snake until they grab it. Especially when some snakes will never take to frozen thawed or prekilled, and will always only accept live.
So in conclusion, don’t scream "DONT FEED LIVE EVER" until you’ve been in the shoes of others, such as breeders and people with stubborn bp’s. 
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12/18/04 3:11am
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#201361
Munkyboy
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Message To: Pelota In reference to Message Id: 200935
Feeding live
The only thing you left out was to keep some Polysporin on hand just in case. My only particular concern in this conversation was to prevent someone else from having a couple of extra unwanted holes in their snakes. Mine got it right on the nose from a mouse who whacked him as soon as he got close enough to flick his tongue at it. Mind you, this particular snake is blind, and I’m quite sure that had plenty to do with it. However I would hate for someone else to have to treat the wound/wounds daily for a couple of weeks, as I did, because I did not share my experiences, for fear that I may be trashed for replying to a thread that is titled "Feeding live". If You were a large scale breeder, of course it may not be practical to feed frozen thawed prey, but then again, you would probably be having this conversation with other commercial breeders at that other forum. I appreciate you sharing what you learned from this conversation at the breeders forum, but the very fact that they were discussing it validates that it definitely has it’s pros and cons. For the rest of us who have more options, I’d go with the safest course of action for my snakes. F/T. Just My humble opinion.
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12/18/04 8:51pm
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#201547
Pelota
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Message To: Munkyboy In reference to Message Id: 201361
Feeding live
I totally agree with you. For me, frozen thawed is the easiest and safest way. I just didn’t want anyone saying that live feedings are horrible and you should never do it or anything like that. That’s not fair to the people who do feed live responsibly.
I’m not trying to tell people they should switch to feeding live. I’m just trying to show that it’s not wrong or impossible to feed live. As long as you take the right precautions and do it as safely as possible. :)
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12/19/04 5:56am
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#201591
SCSnakeman
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Message To: Pelota In reference to Message Id: 201547
Feeding live
I agree with Pelota. I feed both frozen/thawed but I do have some that pretty much refuse to eat them so I feed them live. I watch until the snake at least constricts the prey and then I leave them in privacy. I don’t worry to much about my hots but I do wait until they strike. I hope they don’t dry bite but then I think that dry bites are mostly defensive and not directed toward their prey.
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12/19/04 10:12am
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#202002
Munkyboy
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Message To: Pelota In reference to Message Id: 201547
Feeding live
Cool, good to know that we are on the same page. I may have misunderstood you a bit. sorry. Thanks for clarifying. Please keep researching/ sharing info., as I will as well. It seems that you as well as I are researching your self crazy. Keep up the good work and don’t believe everything you read. LOL! Just a reminder. There seems to be as much bad info. available, as there is good.
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12/19/04 8:56pm
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#202211
Amy&Isabella
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Message To: Munkyboy In reference to Message Id: 202002
Feeding live
I’ll admit i fed Isabella live 3 times. the first time i missed feeding her due to some school craziness so when i did feed her the prekilled she wouldn’t take it even though i knew she was really hungry so i went to the store in a panic (as i usually do) got a mouse, cried all the way home (yes i know I’m pathetic) and got my friend to put it in. It actually wasn’t bad but the second time i had to feed her live the mouse was a spunky one and almost bit her! and once again i panicked the third time i ran out of mice, it was late and she was hungry, no problems that time either. but ya having the second mouse retaliate sure gave me a real eye opener!
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12/20/04 10:18am
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