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Another Example Of Live Feeding Gone Wrong (Very Graphic)

pridecity said:
With my little rescue ATB, I've tried dead and pre-killed. It took a very active small fuzzy to get her to eat. That and three hours. I was terrified of leaving even a fuzzy in with my ATB because of the thin skin on the snake. Ball Pythons feel like steal compared to ATBs. I was lucky enough that my ATB had a good experience. I'm not eager to feed live again and I had to stop myself from staring at the box until she ate the last one.

I see no reason to cause so much stress to myself and the mouse. Then again, I don't even like feeding crickets because they chew on the animals that are supposed to be eating them.
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Well, many of you already know how downright nasty I can be when it comes to this issue! It is one of those things I feel quite passionate about.

But Halley, if your ATB refuses to switch over, it might reduce the possibility of something like this happening if you can somehow make water and a small amount of food available to the mouse. That way it won't chew on the snake due to hunger or thirst.
And in the meantime, keep on trying to switch! :)
 
Always Bethany. I've been contemplating switching to lizards, but haven't thought too much after getting her to eat them. Move to pre-killed? Then move to lizard scenting pre-killed mice? Who knows.
 
pridecity said:
Always Bethany. I've been contemplating switching to lizards, but haven't thought too much after getting her to eat them. Move to pre-killed? Then move to lizard scenting pre-killed mice? Who knows.
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There is always lizards and lizard scenting after that.....plus, she is an ATB, so maybe something bird scented or chicken scented might just appeal to her.
 
I agree you should never feed live except in certain instances where the snake will not take FT. THEN you can try live, but under supervision.

I have seen snakes with way less severe injuries than this one have an enormous struggle to survive, even with antibiotics and neosporine etc.. Its sad to watch them.. And then if the wound heals, it becomes redisturbed everytime the snake sheds, and the wound then re-opens. And for a snake that young, it will shed quite often. I hope, if they do try to save it, that it does heal well. Unfortunately, I do think the odds are stacked against it, but anything is possible. I personally would euthanize it though, but then again, I wouldnt have put the snake in that situation to begin with.
 
Jdog3131 said:
:(( Thats can all be blamed on one person...
How would you like that on your shoulders?
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I cant say for sure, but I have a suspicion they dont really care. I know when I feed my snake ( Again its MY snake, not the pet stores) I watched him like a hawk when he was still on live, thank God he switched over quickly to f/t.
 
Allalaskan said:
I cant say for sure, but I have a suspicion they dont really care. I know when I feed my snake ( Again its MY snake, not the pet stores) I watched him like a hawk when he was still on live, thank God he switched over quickly to f/t.
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Well true.
 
It sounds like the employee who was fired did not supervise this live feeding, which was very foolish. However, I think live-feeding is all right, but only if you're going to be a responsible breeder and supervise, and step in, should something go wrong.

Putting a mouse/rat in a snake cage for entertainment is just like starving two dogs and getting them to fight each other. It's gruesome, the things that 'entertain' some people...
 
We sold a mouse to some teens the other day, When I asked them what they were feeding and if they ever tried F/T, they said "A caiman, and he eats F/T all the time, we just want to see him eat a live mouse." I then asked them if they have ever heard a mouse scream in pain.... They said no, and I let them know it is not a good memory that I have...
 
lilwing89 said:
It sounds like the employee who was fired did not supervise this live feeding, which was very foolish. However, I think live-feeding is all right, but only if you're going to be a responsible breeder and supervise, and step in, should something go wrong.

Putting a mouse/rat in a snake cage for entertainment is just like starving two dogs and getting them to fight each other. It's gruesome, the things that 'entertain' some people...
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Don't take but a second for a mouse to blind a snake or damage nerves with single bite. Sure, it takes hours to completely de-nude a snake of it's flesh, as this one did...but it only take a split-second to pop an eye, remove a nasal septum, or cause nerve damage from a single bite.

Truth be told, I don't care diligent you are, you ain't fast enough to stop that from happening when a mouse decides to bite back.

Don't get me wrong...I am not anti-live-feeding. I believe that every individual has the right to feed their pets however they choose. It ain't my animal, it ain't my choice. But let's not poo-poo the risks involed. They are real, and it happens all the time.
 
Outcast said:
We sold a mouse to some teens the other day, When I asked them what they were feeding and if they ever tried F/T, they said "A caiman, and he eats F/T all the time, we just want to see him eat a live mouse." I then asked them if they have ever heard a mouse scream in pain.... They said no, and I let them know it is not a good memory that I have...
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And considering you can just find that on Youtube, WHY? What's the point?
 
That has to be the most disturbing pictures I have seen. Makes me wonder why pet stores won't go to the small amount of effort to put their stock on f/t.
 
tyflier said:
Don't take but a second for a mouse to blind a snake or damage nerves with single bite. Sure, it takes hours to completely de-nude a snake of it's flesh, as this one did...but it only take a split-second to pop an eye, remove a nasal septum, or cause nerve damage from a single bite.

Truth be told, I don't care diligent you are, you ain't fast enough to stop that from happening when a mouse decides to bite back.

Don't get me wrong...I am not anti-live-feeding. I believe that every individual has the right to feed their pets however they choose. It ain't my animal, it ain't my choice. But let's not poo-poo the risks involed. They are real, and it happens all the time.
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Don't shoot the messenger - I'm just saying, hey, if you're going to feed live, then supervise. If the employee had done this, the snake would probably be alive right now. I think we can agree on that, right?

I'm not advocating live-feeding. In fact, I'm stupefied that a pet store would ever feed live like that.
 
Our Petco told us that they put most of their snakes on F/T, especially the corns. They push the F/T fairly hard. But they don't usually try getting their Ball pythons to take it. As it was explained to me, it can take several weeks or even months to get them switched and generally there are going to be a lot of missed meals in that time. They think it's better that the snake is eating something consistently than having it starved while they have it in their care. And also, ideally they want to be keeping these animals the shortest possible time, they want them sold as fast as they can. So if that works out, they probably wouldn't have the time to get it switched over anyway. I'm not sure I agree with them, but I can kind of see where they are coming from.
 
I've never had a BP. Is it really that difficult to get a neonate to eat a F/T? The carpet breeders I've spoken with have all told me that carpets readily take F/T, the difficulty is to get them to switch from mice to rats or vice versa.
 
That seems to be it. Carpets love to eat, but are wary of new foods. BPs, it really, really differs from one to another.
 
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