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My female sonoran gophersnake eats one live adult mouse every week- week in a half. And since I took her off frozen thawed she has been much more lively and healthier looking is this normal with live feeding?
Jeremiah's Reptile Garden

My snakes never really showed any evidence that they liked it more. Feeding live will hurt you in the long run, especially if you end up with a massive sonoran that eats rats. Better chance for bites and parasites. But it is your decision. It is however somewhat inhumane for both the snake and the rodent to feed live if you don't have to.
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Andy Maddox
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The Reptizone

And the sign says "No long hair freaky people need not apply." So I put my hair under my hat and I went in to ask him why. He said you look like a fine outstanding young man I think you'll do. So I took off my hat I said "Imagine that Huh Me working for you."-Tesla

Although I agree with prekilled feeding there definatly is a behavioral aspect of live feeding. Often this can be simulated with moving or twitching a prekilled prey item in and out of striking distance. With diurnal active hunters (as opposed to ambush hunters) this mental stimulation may be more critical. The fact that you've seen this extra vigor may indicate a insuffiency elsewhere in your snake's habitat. A theory, but it never hurts to re-evaluate all of your husbandry practices and ask if you can immitate the natural environment better in any areas.

Well my gopher is in a very quarentine like set-up but I plan to rework it into a natural setup (when I get a job).

I do prefer feeding live mice though because it seems more natural and less like captivity for the animal. I mean the mouse is going to die anyway by suffocation (Carbon Dioxide) or By a violent whack to the head. Plus the mouse is killed within about 1 min.

But I forgot to mention that I do sit and watch the mouse at all times.
Jeremiah's Reptile Garden

Well I don't need to argue my opinion against feeding live prey in captivity since that's debated every day and I"m sure you know and understand the pros and cons of both methods.

I did think you might find it interesting that the latest research shows that the prey animals actually die from a heart attack due to the collapse of several arteries from the pressure. This explains why the prey is dead sooner than would be expected from suffocation. The tests were done on large boids so its still debatable with smaller colubrid constrictors

>>I did think you might find it interesting that the latest research shows that the prey animals actually die from a heart attack due to the collapse of several arteries from the pressure. This explains why the prey is dead sooner than would be expected from suffocation. The tests were done on large boids so its still debatable with smaller colubrid constrictors"

I always thought this was pretty obvious. Suffocation could take as long as twenty minutes and even then some would recessitate(sp?) themselves after being released. Not that that's not sometimes the case. I've seen where thay don't get a good wrap and have to wait several minutes for the prey to die from suffocation.
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Martin Whalin
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