Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Being a new snake owner, I have lots of learning to do. My husband thinks if you feed live mice, your snake will tend to be more aggressive and mean. I have heard that with other reptiles, but not sure on snakes. Thanks for your help.

Shawnon

I have been feeding my 4 year old albino motley female live mice and she is one of the more alert snakes I have but not the most aggressive. I feed my 6 year old male (a big lug at 880 grams) live rats and he is the most docile corn I have seen - he very rarely gets in a defensive postion and have never struck. I feed my year old sub adult corns frozen/thawed mice and they tend to nip me bit more nad rattle their tail very often..

From my experience, it is a combination of handling them between feedings (letting them out and slither around your hands and arms) and thier personalities. They have personalities like us and that can influence how aggressive they are as well as how much you interact with them.

This is a question I've seen come up a lot in this and other forums. From what I've read - not speaking from experience since I'm a vicarious snake owner. Not allowed a snake in the place I am renting, but plan on getting one as soon as I can - its not so much whether your snake is more aggressive, but whether you want to risk the possibilty of your snake being injured by its prey. Both mice and rats can bite and bite hard. Have a search through the forum and see what's been said on the subject, its been argued over and over. Personally I doubt I'll risk feeding live when I get my snake, although its actually illegal to feed live over here in the UK anyway.

Anyhow's I'll now step aside and let the more experienced folks answer

Yvonne

But all of the snakes I presently keep are on F/T. It is easier to get them and cheaper when you buy bulk. They keep longer, and you don't have to deal with the mess and smell of live rats or mice. But the biggest reason, is the injuries that could be caused by feeding a live rodent to your snake. I have a BP that would only take live mice when I first got him. After seeing the damage that rodents can cause, and being nervous everytime that I fed him (I wouldn't leave the room until the mouse was dead and gone) I quickly got him switched to F/T. I guess there are some out there that will not switch, but I sure am glad that mine did. This is just my 2 cents.
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SpardaWolf
Corn Snake Addict
"Always Learning"

The food you give a snake makes no difference in its temperment. The way you feed your snake does, as feeding with the wrong technique can cause the snake to confuse you with its food. In this case the snake isn't being aggressive, just misguided. I've been learning this the hard way with a 6 foot asian rat snake.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Just wanna know so that I can do it correctly.

Thanks!

Would make it any more aggressive than its personality would allow it.

Once a snake goes into feeding mode, it can be aggressive. Feeding it prekilled, F/T, or live does not matter. My male black rat has been fed F/T or prekilled ever since he was big enough to take hoppers. I used to be able to hand feed him as a juvenile, but now that he as grown considerably and reaching adulthood, I wouldnt dare hand feed him. When he goes into feed mode, its all about the food. He has a very aggressive feeding response, but once he is done and given adequate time to get out of feed mode, he is his normal big baby self.

The only reason to feed prekilled or F/T is because of the dangers associated with feeding your snake a live mouse.

A mouse has, like all rodents, large incisors and can put a nasty bite on a snake. You have to remember, the mouse is fighting for is life, and will not pull any punches, so to speak.

The bad thing about rodent bites, is they dont look too bad, because they are small bites. However, they are a puncturing wound that can go very deep, even penetrating a snakes vital organs. They can get infected and cause necrosis, or if the snake gets bit or scratched severely enough in the mouth, mouth rot can set in. Even if your snake doesnt get a severe bite, he can have some scales bitten or scratched off and scarring will develop. I personally take too much pride in how healthy my animals are, both physically and visually, and spend too much money on letting a mouse ruin a snake.

Take a look at the link and see how nasty some bites can be and you alone can make your own decision.

These views are of course only my opinion.

Besides, F/T are alot cheaper and easier to maintain.
Good luck and happy herping.
Brian
Feeding live prey

WOW, those are some nasty images! I feed f/t myself, and now for sure will not ever switch to live.
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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
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Well thank you...that was nasty. The best arguement for not feeding live that I have ever seen. What's that saying...A picture is worth 1000 words? Yeah that's the one.
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Anna

The Zoo
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I also feed F/T, but i think that picture is a bit excessive. The reason I say that is becuase that did not happen to that snake from a feeding. That happened from someone putting a mouse in the cage with the snake and walking a way for a long time.

That is just plain stupid. So I wouldnt use that picture to say that live feeding is stupid, I would say that whoever owned that snake is stupid.

Also, my 2 cents on the matter. Let me recall an experience. I have fed live prey a couple times to my snakes. The first time was just to see what happens, the other 2 were when the pet store did not have any frozen feeders for over 3 weeks. In those experiences, there was one time when the snake coiled around the mouse, but left the head of the mouse exposed, so the mouse tried to bite the snake (but once once until the snake adjusted and crushed the head) - but the snakes skin actually protected from that bite - there was no cut.

My conclusion. I would not feed live anythign bigger than a mouse. Defintely not a rat or anythign like that. If the rat had bit my snake, it could easily have cut it in half, as rats have very powerful mouths. Mice on the other hand, from one bit probably would not be able to cut through snake skin. although I think it could cause a cut or laceration if it was able to bit repeatedly. But nothign like that picture.

>>My conclusion. I would not feed live anythign bigger than a mouse. Defintely not a rat or anythign like that. If the rat had bit my snake, it could easily have cut it in half, as rats have very powerful mouths. Mice on the other hand, from one bit probably would not be able to cut through snake skin. although I think it could cause a cut or laceration if it was able to bit repeatedly. But nothign like that picture.

You are absolutely wrong if you think a mouse's teeth can't penetrate a snakes skin.
Grab a mouse and pester it until it bites YOU. They can run those teeth all the way to the bone.
Then tell me those same teeth can't penetrate a snake's skin.
Other then the morbid factor there is no reason to feed a live mouse to a snake.
Granted there are some problem feeder hatchlings that may need live pinkies to trigger feeding but once you have a snake feeding on a regular basis it is easy and safer to feed pre-killed or F/T.
Everyone has seen what can happen......why risk it.
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Remember, my posts are MY opinion only.
Jimmy (draybar)

and walking away.

However I have seen a few snakes that the owners fed nothing but live prey. One was a ball python and the snake was full of scars, it was 7 or 8 years old and had been fed live all of its life. The guy wasnt too concerned, as he would put neosporin on it and shrug it off.

He was luck it never got any infections.

Good luck and happy herping
Brian

You just sealed my belief of NEVER feeding my corns live prey (even the pinkies are F/T). Just looking at those pics made me cringe, I would NEVER want that to happen to one of my babies.
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Chantel a.k.a. sillygirl
"I came, I saw, I adopted"

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I use to buy frozen in bulk but ive noticed no matter what they get freezer burn and that and my snakes will only eat them after going on a foodstrike.I use to tease feed my guyana redtails but that was a mistake.Now im Mr.Food to them.It's always exiciting here now around cage cleaning time.Im trying to deprogram all my snakes now and feeding freshly dispatched rodents is working out pretty well.I just drop there bodies in the far side of the enclosure and lock up and walk away....Paul.