First off, let me begin by saying that I would be a hypocrite if I criticized you for this post or practice as I have done this very thing in the past. This was back in the 80's and I was quite considerably younger and thus not very bright. But I used to go out almost every night to the local deserts to "night drive" for rosy boas and numerous rattlesnake species and countless other indigenous snake species.... and while doing this would come across many many freshly killed kangaroo rats and desert jack rabbits and cottontails. Some were smashed and unusable, but a good percentage were dead as a result of wind turbulence tumbles under a passing car and were completely undammaged. I didn't take any of these for the first year or so, having plenty of money, having two food suppliers and breeding a lot of my own rats and rabbits at home, but one night a girl that often went with me pointed out all the "free food" on the roads and suggested taking some home. I was apprehensive about it and chose not to at first. But she took a bunch home and fed them to her pythons and boas. Time went by and the snakes all seemed perfectly fine, so I "saw the logic in it" (at that time) and began to pack glad bags on our snake hunts so as to always bring back oodles of food. It made sense to me then. Now,... this is NOT something I would do today. Certainly not. Not because anything bad ever happened. It didn't. But when I look back on this I seriously think I was taking serious chances with possibly transmitting unknown internal parasites to my snakes. I would never take this chance now, and not only because my snakes are "worth more", but because I care about them and just wouldn't do it. But on a last note about all that back then,... there was one very good thing that came of it and I feel it actually saved some snakes' lives, believe it or not.... But I had a bunch of imported ball pythons that were the most finicky eaters I had ever seen. They would actually die before accepting domestic rats or mice, chicks, etc. Some took on to gerbils, because I was lucky enough to know a gerbil breeder, but most JUST WOULDN'T EAT!,... Until I brought home those dead kangaroo rats. They mowed down on them and I honestly feel that this saved their lives. So,.. just a point to ponder as a positive note on this subject. In this scenario I would not be adverse to feeding your snake something of wild origin. But for a snake that willingly feeds on domestic rodents,... never. What for, you know? It isn't worth the risk.


>>I just threw this out there over on the anaconda forum in response to a question about a stubborn feeder. I mentioned there that I'd like to get some feedback about this method, and afterwards I decided to post it here as well. I have from time to time over the years fed my snakes prey I procured from nature. I started doing this when I was in college after I spoke with a veterinarian who was also a big boa breeder. He said that there was nothing wrong with feeding captive snakes wild caught prey as long as the prey item wasn't poisoned or shot (even with steel shot). He told me that snakes do not contract diseases from mammals. He said road kill was even OK, as long it hadn't been sitting out in the hot sun for an extended period. I must confess that I have from time to time done this with no problems to speak of, though it has been a while since I last tried it. The last wild animal I fed a snake was a small squirrel that fell from a tree and died. I found it soon after it fell, offered it to a small burm, and he gobbled it right up. This same burm has eaten road kill squirrels and rabbits. Just curious if anyone else has ever done this or if this is even a recommended practice. FWIW, I also have used pre-killed wild rodents to get stubborn baby snakes to eat. For whatever reason, several snakes that wouldn't eat captive bred rodents would feed voraciously on wild mice/rats. I haven't done this a lot, but some, and with no problems so far. Just curious about your experiences.
>>
>>RP
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It isn't "Ideas" that fail or succeed,... it is the "Sytstems" which are instilled to launch and sustain the idea that either fail or succeed.>

[ Hide Replies ]

• Feeding Burms Wild Prey - RobertPreston, Fri Jun 27 09:22:09 2003
• RE: Feeding Burms Wild Prey - meximullet02, Fri Jun 27 11:09:18 2003
• RE: Feeding Burms Wild Prey - JDP, Fri Jun 27 11:36:40 2003
• RE: Feeding Burms Wild Prey - RobertPreston, Fri Jun 27 13:34:05 2003
• RE: Feeding Burms Wild Prey - JDP, Fri Jun 27 15:29:16 2003
• Dude you Have issues - Rottenweiler9, Fri Jun 27 11:43:08 2003
• RE: Dude you Have issues - RobertPreston, Fri Jun 27 13:17:56 2003
• Ooops! - RobertPreston, Fri Jun 27 13:22:51 2003
• Here are MY thoughts on this,..... Sorry, very long post..... - BrianSmith, Fri Jun 27 15:12:57 2003
• Many thanks . . . - RobertPreston, Fri Jun 27 21:37:24 2003
• In a word, "No," Here's Why.... - tango, Fri Jun 27 16:39:08 2003
• Ok... my actual experience... - meretseger, Fri Jun 27 17:56:37 2003
• Lots of opinionated people w/out any evidence.... - Carmichael, Fri Jun 27 18:56:17 2003
• I am on a mission now - Rottenweiler9, Fri Jun 27 21:24:47 2003
• RE: I am on a mission now - ball_boi, Sat Jun 28 19:14:03 2003
• Thats true - Rottenweiler9, Sat Jun 28 21:42:05 2003
• RE: Thats true - ball_boi, Sun Jun 29 15:36:55 2003
• RE: Lots of opinionated people w/out any evidence.... - pinatamonkey, Sat Jun 28 01:32:24 2003
• RE: Lots of opinionated people w/out any evidence.... - JDP, Mon Jun 30 10:53:32 2003
• Ah the idiots come from all angles!... - Carmichael, Mon Jun 30 19:12:53 2003
• And all levels of experience apparently... - JDP, Thu Jul 3 20:35:41 2003
• It's not a snake, but... - Ryan Shackleton, Sun Jun 29 00:07:14 2003