Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click for ZooMed
Click here to visit Classifieds

Why not to feed live mice....

crtoon83 Dec 23, 2004 01:47 PM

I found these pictures on another form on why you shouldn't feed live prey to your snakes. The pictures on the next slide are graphic so i'm warning you here and posting seperately.
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon

Replies (10)

crtoon83 Dec 23, 2004 01:59 PM

WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURES FOLLOW

Scroll far down.


-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon

janome Dec 24, 2004 07:32 AM

poor thing! do you know how long the mouse was in with the snake to have done all that dammage? in the wild he could have gotten away. that is why i feed F/T.

Dove_3 Dec 24, 2004 01:21 PM

Thats the exact reason I won't feed live! Pre-killed is one thing but not live. Frozen/thawed is the way to go.

That poor snake! That pic made me cry!

wayne13114 Dec 24, 2004 01:44 PM

yup I learned that lesson about 15 years ago. F/T or fresh killed from then on

crtoon83 Dec 24, 2004 03:41 PM

I think the person who posted that pic said it was just a matter of 30 minutes or so, however i'm not really sure.

This picture was taken at a local vets office before the snake had to be put down.

oh and just an FYI... freezing a warm blooded animal to kill it (such as a mouse.. even a pinky or fuzzy) is a very painful death. Then cerebral seperation (breaking the neck) is very difficult to do unless you know what you're doing and when done wrong this also hurts like hell until its killed.

That's why i only buy pre-killed. I also get mine from big cheese.. I looked into it and they said that they do the cerebral seperation to kill the pinks and fuzzies. Rodent pro just flash freezes. Doesnt hurt any less for a pink to get frozen, just takes less time because of lower body mass.
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon

rick Gordon Dec 27, 2004 01:01 PM

30 seconds is a crock, that ball python was obviously chewed on for several days. Live feeding is not the problem here, its just plain stupidity. Someone drop a live mouse in with this ball and left it in the cage with the snake for days, maybe even weeks without any other food source. These bites aren't defensive they're from hunger, and believe me it takes a long time without food before a mouse considers attacking a snake. I am sure there are plenty of good reason not to feed live, but this isn't one of them, this is an example why not to smoke pot and then feed your snake, or why not to let mentally handicapped individuals care for snakes.

FerrisBueler Dec 28, 2004 12:18 AM

I agree with him. That mouse must've been in the cage with the snake for days. During school one day, my dad bought a live adult mouse on his lunch break at 12. He threw the mouse in with my ball, then went on with his business. When I got home at 5:30 (wrestling prac), the mouse wasn't eaten. I checked my ball, and she got one bite. I'm sure the other 5 hours, 29 minutes, and 59 seconds, the mouse was looking for something different to eat. If a live mouse was in with a snake for a couple weeks, the mouse probably decided that hey, this snake won't touch me, and it's fresh meet. One day with a snake...yeah right.

Go on ahead with the F/T. If I had a pet-shop nearby with cheap F/T mice, I'd sure buy. But this won't stop me from feeding a live mouse to a snake that will last about 5 seconds from the moment it enters the cage.

Ryan

Kerby... Dec 29, 2004 10:05 PM

But that is AN OLD PICTURE. I first saw it on Kingsnake.com over 4 years ago. There is NO CORRELATION between feeding live and the damage done to that snake. That was NOT done by a rodent (rat or mouse), but by animal neglect over quite a bit of time. Irresponsible humans caused THAT, not from feeding a rodent to a reptile.

I feed live (about 5,000 times a year) and have for almost 10 years now WITH NO ACCIDENTS what-so-ever.

Cheers,

Kerby...

venom_2 Dec 29, 2004 04:06 PM

how long was the mouse in w/ the snake?

FerrisBueler Dec 29, 2004 07:42 PM

>>I think the person who posted that pic said it was just a matter of 30 minutes or so, however i'm not really sure.

Site Tools