Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After reading all of the topics about having to kill feeders before giving them to snakes, it made me wonder, How do snakes survive in the wild? I mean, it seems that having to eat a live mouse must be possible, so why is it so important that people kill them? I think that the snakes would miss the natural instinct to eat live animals

i guess it all depends on your point of view..

lets ask ourselves this question. If you had a $15,000.00 ball python.. would you throw a live rat in the cage knowing full well what it COULD do to your animal?.. the same goes true with your $40 cornsnake. Just because you CAN feed live does that mean you SHOULD?

Also i think the desire to feed 'pre killed' has alot to do with the inherant(sp?) wussyness of people today.

When i was raising snakes as a kid, noone offered PRE KILLED food.. you either had to suck it up and DO it.. or you didnt own a snake. Plain and simple.

All in all.. i dont think the snakes "loose" anything by not hunting their food.. i feed all my animals "stunned" prey and they all bite, constrict and do the whole process themselves. Ive fed "pre killed".. and they still strike, and constrict.

just my 0.02 cents

The other thing is this..In the wild the snake can actively seek out avenues of escape from a live prey item once it decides whether its hungry or not...In captivity..they don't have that option. And when they aren't hungry..they won't kill..so the rodent gains confidence and eventually gets hungry itself..or defensive and starts biting the snake. And the snake can't get away if its in an enclosed area.

Have you ever caught a snake in the wild and taken a good look at its condition? I think that even in the wild the snake takes a good bite now and again while constricting or otherwise killing its prey. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a rodent eating snake in the wild that is without battle wounds.

The fact is, as has already been stated, captive snakes are just that, captive. Does your dog or cat miss the hunt? Does your bird miss hunting for insects? Would you rather display a nice snake that is without scars or one that is beat all to heck?

My 2cents!

Marcia

when I first met my wife, she owned snakes (a ball python and a rock python) and I had never been around a snake in my life (in captive conditions at least). Neither of us had ever heard of feeding frozen thawed so live was the only way to go. Soon after getting together, I became the snake feeder because she couldn't bare watching the whole ordeal. She is a total animal lover and watching a rat get constricted and eaten was too much for her (she would literally have tear-filled eyes watching) and her nervousness of the rat biting her snake (which of course she also loved to death) was too much for her. I can't tell you how many times she would be screaming, "Get the rat away, he's going to bite my snake!", which would happen on occasion. Eventually I came across this whole internet thing and learned about the whole f/t thing. What a piece of mind not having to worry about the snake get bitten and watching the rat struggle to get free. I'm not going to lie, I found it completely fascinating (and morbid at the same time). I will say this though, if I have a new snake that has gone months and never fed f/t for me, I don't think twice about throwing a live one in there (and watching closely, of course). I had a dumerils boa that no matter what I tried it just wasn't interested in f/t rats. After 2 or 3 live meals, it just started taking f/t and we've never looked back. Take care, Scott.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

ive been down that road myself.. loving the rats.. but loving the snakes at the same time just as much!

my nieces and nephews are just finally starting to figure out why uncle dan raises mice and rats.. and he also owns SNAKES!.. LOL.. my nephew thinks its the best thing ever.. my niece however is a total animal lover.. and just cant stand the idea that i would do such a thing! LOL kids are cute

glad i brought memories back to someone!

>>After reading all of the topics about having to kill feeders before giving them to snakes, it made me wonder, How do snakes survive in the wild? I mean, it seems that having to eat a live mouse must be possible, so why is it so important that people kill them? I think that the snakes would miss the natural instinct to eat live animals

I think the points made so far are great. I think the whole point to me is that I am keeping these animals in artificial conditions. The rodents can't escape, the snakes are limited in their 'hunt' since they are all enclosed in a small area. It is my responsibility as the keeper to make their conditions as safe and healthy as possible. Now if I could keep them in a large room and let them mimic hunting in the wild that would be one thing. But I can't. I have them in a limited space where it is a proven fact a rodent will feel trapped and will fight back.
There is also the entire issue of humanity to the rodent. Though I suppose you could argue that it is natural for the rodent to get killed by the snake and they should therefore look at it 'naturally'. Maybe they would 'miss it' like the snake? I don't think so. I don't think an animal that has never been wild can miss something it has not experienced.
I lived on a farm growing up. We had cats. A great many of them. Cats, it is constantly argued, want to run free and hunt. Funny how these free and hunting cats would instead opt for the bowl of food in the barn and laze around in the hay.
Instinctively an animal choses to sustain itself in the manner that uses the least energy, that is why they eat the sick and young or old....easier prey, less energy wasted.
Personally too, I have snakes that won't take live prey. They simply would be the snake to let the rodent chew them up. Again, I think it is the whole artificial environment thing.
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Sonya

I wasn't trying to criticize or critique anyone, I have never had any personal expiriance with rodent eating snakes. I was just curious. THe reasons so far make sense. THanks for the replies.

It`s kinda of like when we were in the wild we had to kill things to eat .Now days you can get a pre killed hamburger.heeeheeeheeeee

There are a few other considerations that I have not yet seen posted on this thread. the first is aggressiveness. If a snake is fed live and moving prey, it will get used to striking at the little wiggly thing you just put in it's enclosure. It is far more likely (at least in my humble oppinion) that a snake who is used to striking at a moving meal will make a mistake someday, and strike at me while I'm putting the critter in there. Maybe I'm a wuss , but that doesn't sound like a good time, and it would be, after all, my fault. That is also why many people suggest that you feed your snake (even if you're feeding f/t) somewhere other than in the enclosure it "lives in". If the snake is conditioned to know that there is never food in THIS enclosure, it may be less likely to strike at something new (like my hand).

Another reson for the frozenthawed food is the health of your snake. One of the (many) reasons many people prefer captive bred snakes is that wild caught animals frequently have internal parasites. Rodents also get parasites. Freezing the rodent kills the parasites they carry, protecting that $5,000 snake.