Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok well I can get f/t mice and rats of all sizes from my local herp shop. And latly he has been getting 2 adult live mice a week and does pretty good getting them by the head and constricting safely. I was wonderign if he does now will he be ok when he eats live rats? Thje reason I want to feed him live is beaqcause it is easier for me beacsue my pet shop does not always have f/t prey and they only have live rabbits. And i do not have the heart to kill rabbits. I have talked to many people who feed live and seen their burms and they look great and have no problems and never had any feeding problems. I was just wondering if feeding live is as bad as it seems? I cannot order from opnline cuz i got no storage room for rabbits or large rats. But anyway I was just wonering what to do live or f/t. I know everyone disapproves but i would rather feed live beacause it is easier for me but I want in no way to hurt my presious burm so I want more advise on this.
thanks
Mike

Well.....my opinion is this. Feeding live is ok for your burm as long as you watch the whole thing until the animal is 100% dead. If you just throw the animal in the cage and walk away, you can come back to a very poorly abused burm if he was not in the mood to eat. The biggest part about feeding live to me is the prey animal, and what it is being put through. At the same time, think of the wild. It's a toss up. I feed both. My burm will primarily only eat live. However, I feed my alligator f/t. It is much easier for me to do that for him, not mention he isn't NEAR as picky. The only thing I can say in this matter is if you choose to feed live, make sure you watch very closely and make sure that your snake is willing to eat. If it isn't going for it within 20 minutes, remove it and try another day. It would be a very good idea to have some type of small cage or aquarium that you can keep live rodents in, in the event that your burm is not wanting to eat.

I am not an advocate for feeding live prey in captivity; too many things can go wrong that wouldn't happen in the wild. A snake can feed on live prey for 10 years w/out a single problem and then one day having an eye ripped out, or, worse, a deep, incising bite that leads to secondary infections and ultimately death. There is just no reason to feed live unless a snake steadfastly refuses dead (and in my 20 years as a professional herpetologist, I can't think of one case where a snake could not be weaned on to dead prey; not one!). Seriously, if you can't afford to purchase a small chest freezer, you can't afford to keep a burm....you really can't. Perhaps I misunderstood what you were asking since most of your sentences are very difficult to understand (that means that your grammar needs a lot of work!). Do it the right way or find someone who can; that's my .02 for free!

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center

>>Ok well I can get f/t mice and rats of all sizes from my local herp shop. And latly he has been getting 2 adult live mice a week and does pretty good getting them by the head and constricting safely. I was wonderign if he does now will he be ok when he eats live rats? Thje reason I want to feed him live is beaqcause it is easier for me beacsue my pet shop does not always have f/t prey and they only have live rabbits. And i do not have the heart to kill rabbits. I have talked to many people who feed live and seen their burms and they look great and have no problems and never had any feeding problems. I was just wondering if feeding live is as bad as it seems? I cannot order from opnline cuz i got no storage room for rabbits or large rats. But anyway I was just wonering what to do live or f/t. I know everyone disapproves but i would rather feed live beacause it is easier for me but I want in no way to hurt my presious burm so I want more advise on this.
>>thanks
>>Mike
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

Why dont you pre-kill whatever you are feeding? That way to dont have to store frozen and dont have to feed live.
Doesnt seem that complicated

i tohught of that but how can I kill rabbit I dont think I can do it. Also if i ffed him frozen for a while n then switch to prekilled when hes on rabbits, will he still accept it the same as a f/t

Building a CO2 chamber isn't that hard. Check the feeder forum for tips. If you'd ever been bitten by a large rat(or, worse, rabbit), you might think differently.

you ask a version of this almost everyday i come here to read. you already know 99% of the people here think you need to pre-kill. do not get a mammal eating reptile - or any mammal eating ANIMAL - if you do not have the heart to thump its prey! seriously, throw it in a pillowcase, and beat it against the wall, its not the prettiest way to do it, but since your not going to invest in a 10 gallon tank and some dry ice, this is your best option. i know larger rats need more beatings than say, mice, so imagine so would rabbits. just put it in the pillowcase, using a longer pillowcase is better since it allows more airtime which allows it to hit the wall harder. a cement wall is best, drywall tends to soften the blow, and its only fair to the animal to try your best to kill it on the first thump. you know what, if you wanted to be really cruel you could even put your poor heart at ease and just put it in a box in the freezer till it dies. but you've said your snake isnt even that large? theres no need to feed it bunnies until its very large, and you can pretty easily find petstores that carry frozen rats and mice, simply feed it more items if you cant find a store with the items large enough! do you have any friends? now, i beleive you've claimed to have both parents and a room-mate and different points in time, cant some of them thump it for you? maybe a girlfriend who isnt as heartless to the poor snake as you, who is willing to do it? some petstores will even take care of this task for you, perhaps the guy you traded your burm with? or did you take back that story as well? you in the florida area? i have a nice mini-fridge with enough freezer space for a bag of medium rats you are more than welcome to pick up. i simply cant bring myself to throw out a working mini-fridge. you can even rip out the tray seperating freezer from fridge and turn it all into the freezer.
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1.3 Dogs (max, tasha, kaya, screw)
1.1 Corn Snakes (Ghost Faced Killa - Ghost, Tigera - normal), 1.0 Yellow Rat (Tornado), 1.0 Tiger Rat, 0.1 Central American Boa Constrictor (Achilla), 1.1 Argentine Boa, 0.1 Burmese Python (Big Bertha), 1.1 Ball Pythons (Dip, Dot).
0.1 Rose Hair Tarantulla (Grumpy) 0.0.1 Usambar Starburst Baboon Tarantula 0.1 White Knee / Zebra Tarantula 0.0.1 Avicular Versicolor
2 ferrets (Otis, Milo)
1.2 Emperor Scorpion
0.0.1 Nile Moniter 0.0.1 Tegu 1.0 Horned Mountain Dragon
Jack Dempsey Tank...

Ok didnt need the cocky attidude...but none of my friends will do it because those a holes want to see me feed it live....so anyway thanks for the pillow case idea im going to do that, it sounds easier. ANd i do not live in FL i live in PA.

Excuse my injection into this matter....
For weeks Ive been reading posts from this same person over and over.what answer do you want ????everyone here is trying desperatly to give you the correct answer,but you refuse.If you cant care for the snake correctly DONT KEEP IT !or are you just continualy posting ,lies,fiction,repeated questions,different names,etc. etc. JUST FOR SOME ATTENTION ????
Any creature has needs,provided correctly,you should have sucsess,bend and modify the needs,things die and suffer !
I always believed burms were not that difficult,everyone here tried to help you,I even thought you deserved a chance,BUT YOUR CONTINUED RE QUESTIONING,TWISTING THE TRUTH,AND CRY "I CANT DO IT" has made me belive you dont need any snake or pet unless it is a rubber one !even then I have my doubts !Either give it what it truly needs (completely)or get rid of it to someone who can !but all in all,tTHE CORRECT ANSWERS ARE ALWAYS THE SAME !STOP ASKING !
please Dr.Carmichael,and the others,forgive my outburst and intrusion,Ill go back to the retic forum ,,

THE COCKY ATTITUDE????? how dare you !,some of the leading experts in the field have repeatedly tried to help you !THEY DID NOT MISSLEAD OR LIE TO YOU !,the attitude is to you what it is ,because of your refusal to listen !my opinion of you just sinks lower and lower....
Respect those that know more than you,stop waisting everyones time.

my attitude was far from cocky, infact i doubt my own care almost daily, which is why i find this kid umbeleivable... i take hundreds of times better care of reptiles than he apprentally does, and *I* sometimes doubt if they are really happy.... after awile, youd think hed just stop re-phrasing the feeding live question, and just do it, instead of trying to persuade us to tell him its ok. i'm by far no expert, i've only just finally gotten into the snake hobby the past two years (finally got my own house, i wasnt allowed anything but lizards with my mom, hahaha, i LOVE snakes) but GEEZ. i knew two months into my first snake that feeding him live was BAD BAD BAD. i will admit, to this day, i have a cornsnake i sometimes toss live too, but thats because hes so fast i think its faster than my pillowcase method. considering the amount of times this boy posts "feeding problems" i rather doubt his burm would devore it with that ferocity, and i doubt he has the responsibility to stand by the cage until the animal has been fully eaten. not to mention the risk of the animal grabbing the snake with its teeth WHILE being constricted, in a last moment desperate attempt to not die.
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1.3 Dogs (max, tasha, kaya, screw)
1.1 Corn Snakes (Ghost Faced Killa - Ghost, Tigera - normal), 1.0 Yellow Rat (Tornado), 1.0 Tiger Rat, 0.1 Central American Boa Constrictor (Achilla), 1.1 Argentine Boa, 0.1 Burmese Python (Big Bertha), 1.1 Ball Pythons (Dip, Dot).
0.1 Rose Hair Tarantulla (Grumpy) 0.0.1 Usambar Starburst Baboon Tarantula 0.1 White Knee / Zebra Tarantula 0.0.1 Avicular Versicolor
2 ferrets (Otis, Milo)
1.2 Emperor Scorpion
0.0.1 Nile Moniter 0.0.1 Tegu 1.0 Horned Mountain Dragon
Jack Dempsey Tank...

Ok I did not want to read all the posts (as I am fed up with this um....boy, just like the rest of you). Look into buying form an online provider like RodentPro.com or Hare-today.com, or you can just buy live rabbits from the pet store and gas them in a home made chamber (sorry if someone has already mentioned all this). Just get a big rubbermaid and a small rubbermaid or tupperware container, cut a hole int eh top of the small one (about the size of a quarter). Fill the small one half way with warm water and drop a chunk of dry ice into the container with water, put the lid on. Place the small container into the larger one (make sure this larger container is big enough for the small container and the prey), there is no need for a lid because the CO2 is heavier than oxygen. Let it set for 15-20 minutes (or until you cant really see the bottom of the big container), then drop your prey in (you may need a lid at this point, especially if your prey can jump out) and come back a few minutes later and you will have a dead rat/rabbit/mouse.
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1.1 Albino Burmese
0.1 Normal Burmese
1.0 Veild Chameleon
Waiting for more reptiles of any kind