Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My late '06 king constricted her first mouse today.

Out of the egg - she did have a few live pinkies but has been on f/t almost her entire life since then, and she does not constrict her f/t prey (some do - IE the brooksi I got from tom has been on f/t and puts nice beautiful coils on them)

Anyway - she's not as strong as I would like so I'm feeding her live. She looked quite surprise when she grabbed at it and it ran away. Then she chased it around the tub - it took her about 3 minutes of repeated strikes before she figured out that to eat it, she was going to have to constrict it. I feel bad for the mouse - but she finally figured it out, and now she has perfect coils around it.

Hopefully switching her live will increase her muscle tone, from everything I've heard it should.
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I decided my old sig was too big.

aww sounds cute.... when my snakes dont have enough muscle tone.... i also dip their food in calcium.. seems to work really well for me
~kin
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~Sober Serpents~
www.freewebs.com/soberserpents
Corns, Creamsicles, A Black Rat, Thayeri, Cal Kings, A Jungle Corn(Just A Pet), A Ball Python, A Bearded dragon, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping turtle, and a white cheeked mud turtle

This is a VERY dangerous thing to do. Taking a snake that does not know how to constrict prey and throwing it in with a live mouse is begging for the snake to get bit. If you want to feed live (and I don't know why you would) you must start the snake off with rat pups or large mice fuzzies so that it does not get hurt while it learns how to constrict effectively.

If you feed frozen off of tongs and you move the prey around and tug on it when the snake grabs it you will get the same constriction/exercise without the danger.

Other ways to excersize your snake are to build a climbing tree or to let them swim in the bathtub.

I was there the entire time, and did not leave until she was constricting it. I never leave a snake alone with live prey.

Instinct was clearly still there, it had just been put on the back shelf out of learned feeding laziness. She constricted just fine once she figured out the rodent wasn't just going to sit still for her.
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I decided my old sig was too big.

If you feed live long enough you will eventually find yourself rushing to the vet with a bleeding snake and you will realize that it was not worth it. I promise.

For me it happened years ago in high school while feeding a rat to a dumerils boa. I was stunning prey at that point. Well I guess this rat wasn't stunned enough cause when the snake grabbed it, the rat bit right through her eye. You standing there guarantees nothing.

Rats are much more dangerous prey item than mice.
Rats are predators that themselves will prey upon reptiles (and birds and even rodents).

I have had the oddball mouse that has bitten a snake - usually the snake kills and consumes it anyway and is no worse for the encounter. When a snake isn't hungry and doesn't consume kill a rodent, the rodent is removed and placed with a snake that is hungry (or returned to the pet store if all have eaten).

The problem is almost always rodents left with snakes unattended. And then, it's almost always rats. I don't think I've ever heard a first hand account where it was a mouse.
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I decided my old sig was too big.

You could always put a bib on your snakes as well and make real [BLEEP] OUT OF THEM !!!

I have one snake that eats live mice, if the mouse bites him and he doesn't want to eat...off to the snapping turtle he goes!!!

CRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

(SMILES)

>>Rats are much more dangerous prey item than mice.
>>Rats are predators that themselves will prey upon reptiles (and birds and even rodents).
>>
>>I have had the oddball mouse that has bitten a snake - usually the snake kills and consumes it anyway and is no worse for the encounter. When a snake isn't hungry and doesn't consume kill a rodent, the rodent is removed and placed with a snake that is hungry (or returned to the pet store if all have eaten).
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>>The problem is almost always rodents left with snakes unattended. And then, it's almost always rats. I don't think I've ever heard a first hand account where it was a mouse.
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>>I decided my old sig was too big.

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Roberts Realm Of Reptile Research
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Thanks,

I opened my mouth and out flowed a melody black.

I saw a mouse bite the tongue off a corn snake. The snake died because it refused to eat without being able to spell its food.

Do whatever you want.

At the same time I will add that I feed only live, sometimes stunned mostly not. If you know your snakes, it can be benificial, but there certainly can be some risk involved. I don't throw them in, they are dangled and the snakes come-n- get 'em. I find it fine for you to voice your concern, but please don't try to make this a you'll be sorry eventually post from feeding live, many do and have done so with no incidents. Him being there can prevent things from getting out of hand. My opinion, do what you think is best.

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Todd Hughes

If you keep snakes long enough and feed live long enough I can guarantee that you will have an incident. Period.

I am sure that over the years you have had snakes get bit and I am glad that none of them were serious. However I can tell you from experience that things can get serious very quickly. Working in a vet clinic I have seen time after time what can happen. Even from well intentioned people who stayed and saw the whole thing happen. (don't even get me started on people who leave snake alone with live prey)

So please don't act like nothing is ever going to happen. It does. and the snakes and your wallet are the only ones that suffer for it.

Every person has there own level of risk assessment. call me paranoid if you want but after what I have seen its not worth it for me. Others can do whatever they want. Just my .02

...Of a time a couple weeks ago when I had bought a live hopper mouse for my Saharan Sand Boa (she will only strike at live mice, so I give her a small live one and then trick her into eating a large adult frozen), but I didn't know she was about to go into blue. She just ignored the mouse, so I removed her and put in my largest female Kenyan Sand Boa (27" long and very thick). The last time she had seen a live rodent was probably as a hatchling at the East Bay Vivarium, so her reaction was funny to watch.

She smelled the mouse for a couple seconds, then opened her mouth wide and slowly advanced towards it to swallow it. Naturally, the mouse freaked out once the snake touched it and ran to the other side of the container... It was like that famous Fat Bastard and Mini-Me scene ("GET IN MAH BELLEH!!"). The boa appeared dumbfounded that her food ran away and just sat there for a few seconds. I guess she was "thinking" the situation though, because after that she successfully struck at the mouse and constricted it.

Funky, did you try to get the snake to constrict FT prey? This is what I do with all of my snakes, since I don't feed live (except for that one boa). Once they grab on I shake the rodent with the tongs and they will almost always throw a few coils around it.
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- Natalie
(San Francisco Bay Area)

1.0 Banded California King
1.0 Mexican Black King
1.0 Bay of LA Rosy Boa
0.1 San Ignacio Rosy Boa
0.1 Ortiz Rosy Boa
2.3 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1 Saharan Sand Boa
1.2 Rubber Boas
0.1 Pickering's Gartersnake

Some of my snakes will constrict f/t prey but some will tug on them to see if they are alive, and then tug-a-war is as much as they will do.

I've not tried it with this girl.
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I decided my old sig was too big.

I don't recommend feeding live mice/rats at all. They pose too great a threat to your snake. You can get your snake to constrict by gently wriggling the mouse/rat with some feeding tongs. Prior to this year, I haven't moved the prey at all, and my Cal king has great muscle tone (according to my herp vet). Personally, I like moving the prey. It's funny to watch her try to strike it...and miss...Her aim is REALLY bad.