Feeding live, then refusing F/T

[King21]

If I was to feed my snake live, just for instance, and then he refused f/t, would he really just starve to death? Wouldn't he, after a certain point, just give in and eat the f/t? That doen't make sense. Everyone always warns that a snake may never want to go back to f/t if you feed live, but won't he be so hungary that he'll eventually go for the f/t?

 

[Tula_Montage]

Are you willing to take the risk?
If f/t is a tried success with you, then why switch?

With live there is always the chance of the prey eating or damaging the snake...

Its just a risk i personally wouldn't take.

However if you did decided to switch to live and then for whatever reason wanted to go back to f/t which your snake then refuses, there are several things you could do to help...

Braining and scenting seem to work the best. If you do a search on both subjects you will come up with bags of helpful information...

 

[King21]

Are you willing to take the risk?
If f/t is a tried success with you, then why switch?

Exactly what is the risk you are talking about?

The reason I am considering switching to live is that my corn has been refusing f/t for the past week and hasn't eaten in three weeks. If I can get him to eat for a while on live, maybe I could get him back on f/t. I dont know.

 

[Baba-Lou]

The risk is. If he won't go back to F/t and you stick to live. The bigger and older the prey item. It'll sooner or later fight back and cause injury to your snake.

Try other methods before resorting to live feedings. Try braining, scenting. all those techniques before resorting to a live feeding.

 

[susang]

I have fed live/stunned for four years, partly because I had an abundance of hamsters therefore, hamster pinkies... I now by feeders stun them and feed. I have had to feed frozen thawed to my two older snakes a few times, and they did fine. I have read some snakes have a hard time going from live/stunned to f/t. And by no means should you ever feed live not stunned, I have seen the damage a mouse did to a sub-adult corn(not mine). It was not a pretty sight.
At first I didn't understand why they had to be stunned as there are no little elf's in the woods stunning mice for snakes, but it has to do with captivity and small spaces I was told. anyway good luck, susan

 

[BeckyG]

The question was not if live mice will hurt the snake. The question was will a snake really starve itself to death if it doesn't get live prey. I've heard that ball pythons will, but I haven't heard this about corns. I am curious to know if anyone has ever had this happen.

 

[susang]

Sorry I thought I was responding to this part of the question

Everyone always warns that a snake may never want to go back to f/t if you feed live, but won't he be so hungary that he'll eventually go for the f/t

?
and this part of an answer

The bigger and older the prey item. It'll sooner or later fight back and cause injury to your snake.

:crazy02: me, susan

 

[bada bing91]

if you feed him f/t now then feed him a live when you feed him the f/t again dangle it by its tail so the snake thinks its alive

 

[nebby3103]

If it's only been three weeks since he ate, I wouldn't worry about him just yet. As far as I know, corns can go quite some time without food. I would stick with f/t for several more weeks. Don't switch to live until the snake is in danger of, well, being in danger. If you switch to live, he may never go back. And, I'm sure you know the risks of feeding full grown live prey. Keep trying f/t for a while. Live should be one of the last things you try.

 

[MegF.]

How old is your snake? He could just be off food for breeding time if he's old enough. Mine has gone off food for as long as 3 months and done just fine. FWIW I fed my female a couple of meals of live small mice to jumpstart her appetite after she laid her eggs. She went right back to f/t as soon as I offered them. I don't like feeding live and prefer f/t so it's worked out fine and she has been fed f/t her whole life. Those two mice were her first live meal in her life as far as I know.

 

[ChrisR:)]

mine did the excact same thing kept refusing f/t so i tried a live pinkie BAM!! consumed within a minute. then fed it live for a bout 5 more times(i feed it every five days) then tried f/t again. BAM! down within minutes didnt even hesitate. i slit the backs to aid in digestion though. hope this helps