Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok well i dont hasve a job currently so id rather sepnd 3.50 a week on live rats then buy 70 bucks worth from rodentpro...plus i dont have a big freezer to store them on.....So now hes gonna get samll rats live until he goes to rabbits when hell switch back to frozen....hes the nicest 3 ft burm ever i can literlly kiss his head.....Do you think aFTER switching to live that hell get aggresive?

dont feed live. pre kill the rats. no, he would not get agressive IF he was fed live. but, live prey can cause harm to him. please pre kill. i quick thump aginst concreat will do the trick

(JMO)

good luck,
Greg

I disagree with the post above, feeding live in my opinion does make for more aggresion and a MUCH stronger feeding response. If the burm knows he must KILL the prey, wouldn't you assume a more aggresive personality especially while close to feeding? By feeding dead prey you calm the feeding response along with keeping your burm safe during feeding. It may sound goofy but I believe feeding live keeps the wild instinct in your burm. When you begin feeding rabbits and your burm won't take F/T what will you do then? Always stick to frozen thawed unless you have NO other choice.

in my experance. i fed my ball python live, and she was a verry sweet snake. she just wouldnt take pre killed.

JMO

Why won't you just kill the rats first? About them not taking p/k I bet I could get it to. All you have to do is get it excited about the live prey and then quickly kill it and there you go. After the snakes have got excited about live prey they will take anythign that moves just about unless it's temp is way down or hads a bad smell. you just hsve to use mmore caution
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Justin

well, thats fine. but, she wouldnt take pk for me.. i no longer have her but, my boa does take pk luckley

If it was eating FT why wouldnt you kill the rat first

15 years of experience with dozens of snakes of all types has taught me that feeding live doesn't cause a snake to be more aggressive. If your snake is in feeding response mode you really shouldn't be reaching there anyway. If it does happen to make a snake's feeding response more aggressive in someones case then I don't see how that will make it more aggressive over all. Most snakes I have had which ate prekilled attacked and constricted the prekilled rodent, even though I was not moving it.

To each his own, but I'd be much more concerned about bite damage to the snake than the snake becoming more aggressive.

I kill my rabbits before I feed them to my burms, not because I'm afraid of them becoming aggressive, but have you seen what a rabbit scratch looks like on an albino? I usually strangle them myself, or too avoid getting sctatched, I have a mini hangmans knot in the garage that I hang them from until they stop kicking.

That's an odd way, But I guess what ever works. I just grab them by the back legs and either swing them and know them into the cement or Hold there back legs up in the eair and there head on the ground and stamp the head
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Justin

I used to put them in a bag and place something very heavy on them. It pretty much did the same thing the snake would have done. I just could never bring myself to snap a rabbits neck with my hands.

Oh yes, rabbit feet can be brutal.