The Dangers of Live Feeding

[rocketcrotch]

Hairless, I am not going through this all again just because you waited until now to post.

Johny, you are right. You cannot predict a live animals reaction, either the snake or the prey. You and I have reached an agreement to this thus far. Hairless is trying to kickoff in the fourth quarter, and I was tired of this thread many posts ago.

[Hairless]

Originally Posted by rocketcrotch

Hairless, I am not going through this all again just because you waited until now to post.

Johny, you are right. You cannot predict a live animals reaction, either the snake or the prey. You and I have reached an agreement to this thus far. Hairless is trying to kickoff in the fourth quarter, and I was tired of this thread many posts ago.

I was trying to point out how your 'observation' during live feeding isn't going to take all the risk out. You made the comment: btw, when I do feed live, I do not simply watch. It involves much more than that..........and it wasn't addressed to my satisifaction. So I posted to clear it up for you.

[Kobi Baby]

If you're tired of this thread, then stop posting on it. It isn't as if we need more promotion of live feeding, which is what you're doing, whether you see it that way or not.

[rocketcrotch]

Then, Hairless, it would have been the perfect instance for a PM.

[fire_kat]

I want to thank everyone who has promoted f/t!I appreciate all the pics that remind us all how dangerous LIVE feed is!You all are doing great things for so many animals!!
I must say I feed F/T and will promote F/T always. I raise and freeze my own and have for years. I have now and have had MANY snakes that are rescues/surrenders that were injured by LIVE feed......some of them did not survive because the injuries were so bad.....ALL of the survivors eat F/T and are doing great(it took a while and dedication and commitment on my part)! I have one that I took in 2 months ago(a ball python) that the previous owner put a live rat in and the snake had 57 bites up and down his body!He is doing so much better now and WILL live through this but will be badly scarred....but I LOVE him tremendously!He took F/T the first time I offered,bless him!There are quite a few in my care with similar horror stories.


If you feed live,please switch.....I will help you if you need me and just PM me or I have unlimited long distance and I will call to help you and your snake!!

There is NO SAFE WAY TO FEED LIVE!!!If you say there is,then you should visit the 9 injured/scarred snakes that live in my home!!They will show you that you are mistaken!!!


This is not meant to provoke or irritate,just inform and thank the people who are speaking out for the snakes who can't speak for themselves

[AbsoluteApril]

Originally Posted by rocketcrotch

btw, when I do feed live, I do not simply watch. It involves much more than that.

Hello! I know you are 'tired' of this, but I just read all these post and had to comment since I am speaking from my own experiences.

I used to feed live back in 1998 because I didn't know there were other options. I fed live jumbo rats to my adult boa. I always held the rat by the tail and let her grab the head, I always stayed there to supervise. Months went by, multiple feedings per month, everything was fine. Then, one day, she grabs the rat, coils and goes about her business. She grabbed the rat right behind the head. The rat's mouth was right up against her neck and he started biting her. I started hitting the rat's head with the screwdriver I always held trying to knock it out and get it to let go of my snake. She is just coiled and doing her business. I was not able to knock out the rat and she finally pulled it into the water and drowned it while coiled. I was very lucky the bites were not worse, all she ended up with is some scars. I thought 'holy smokes, well that was crazy!' and kept doing what I was doing. About 4 months later, the same thing happened again. This time I was able to knock the rat out and he only got one bite. The very next day I started researching online and found out they could take pre-killed. Switched to p/k and now f/t. It's been 10 years and never again had any problems.

It only took seconds for that rat to inflict 3 large bites on my boa's neck. I've also heard of a snake (I believe a gtp?) that was fed live, it always took the rat's head and the rat bit the inside of the snake's mouth.

I just wanted to share my story so you might see that there can be issues even with carefully supervised feedings. If you can switch your snake over to p/k or f/t you may be saving yourself and your snake trouble later on. You never know when something unexpected will happen and my thinking is 'why take the chance'? I still hold the feeders by their tails (with tongs now) and wiggle them, make the snakes hunt for them through the enclosure and they all strike and coil to 'kill' their prey just like they do when it's live. I don't think I'm taking anything away from them by feeding f/t except the unnecessary risk of damage.

Good luck!

	Green Tree Python

[louise]

you know for about 5 years i have begged, pleaded and got angry enough to get infractions trying to get people to switch to anything but live. then one day i realized that people who have seen this thread and still insist on feeding live.....there is no hope for. the bottom line is that they just dont care enough about their snakes to switch or that the thrill of live feeding is why they have snakes. it is sad and sickening.

[louise]

Originally Posted by rocketcrotch

Hairless, I am not going through this all again just because you waited until now to post.

Johny, you are right. You cannot predict a live animals reaction, either the snake or the prey. You and I have reached an agreement to this thus far. Hairless is trying to kickoff in the fourth quarter, and I was tired of this thread many posts ago.

and after you started posting i have stayed away from this thread because i dont want an infraction or to be banned. someone with your train of thoughts is hopel;ess and i have to remind myself that i cannot save them all.
good luck to your snakes, they are gonna need it.

[rocketcrotch]

Just an update, I have, thus far, stopped feeding live. Switching to P/K only.

[Kobi Baby]

That is AWESOME!!!!