• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Live or Pre-killed?

EsotericForest

EsotericForest

Night Shadow
I personally feed pre-killed, and I know a lot of people do for safety reasons. That being said, I also know quite a few people who do in fact feed live. So I'm wondering out of curiosity, which group you fall into.
 
F/T all the way for me! If I had a snake that would NOT take F/T then I would go with fresh p/k. I am not doing live unless that is the ONLY option that will save a snake's life from starvation. Would be more willing to feed live pinks to get a reluctant hatchling going than to feed live rodents that are big enough to bite my snakes, then switch to f/t or p/k once the snake is established.
 
Frozen thawed.
I consider people who feed live when the snake will eat thawed or pre killed to be either uneducated, thoughtlessly cruel, uncaring about the risks to their snake, or possibly all three....
 
I only feed F/T or prekilled. The only time I've feed live was for a while to a baby cornsnake who went on a feeding strike until I finally got him to take live (which I eventually was able to switch over to F/T). Same scenario with my GTP would would only take live but I eventually managed to get him on F/T.
 
If a snake won't eat F/T I don't want it.
ack.gif


So you can guess my answer. :grin01:
 
F/T. I've bought some live/PK eaters and they all switched on the first meal for me with no hesitation. I don't think PK is _bad_, (as long as the mice are parasite-free) but I can't imagine picking and killing 20 or 30 mice in an evening. I'd rather open a bag, throw them in hot water, come on here for a few minutes, go back and feed.
 
F/T or PK is the safest for the snake, not to forget a better death for the mouse.
That said, not much people will come here and admit they feed live (other than those with snakes that refuse dead prey).
 
I use F/T for everyone except for my Caulker Cay boa...he's live only (and I've tried EVERYTHING to get him to switch). He may have to go, actually, as I'm not at all a fan of live feeding. It is unsafe for him, unkind to the mouse, and inconvenient for me (which is the least of my worries).
 
I agree that feeding pre-killed is much safer, and the way to go...but I am a little amused by the statements of it being cruel to the mouse. It happens to them in the wild all the time...it's just part of nature, and it's actually a more natural way to die than drowning or being wacked on a counter top ;). Besides, if that's the case, why don't people feel the same sympathy for crickets? They're nearly always fed live, and nobody seems to care because they're just an insect and not a cute furry little critter haha.
 
EsotericForest said:
I agree that feeding pre-killed is much safer, and the way to go...but I am a little amused by the statements of it being cruel to the mouse. It happens to them in the wild all the time...it's just part of nature, and it's actually a more natural way to die than drowning or being wacked on a counter top ;). Besides, if that's the case, why don't people feel the same sympathy for crickets? They're nearly always fed live, and nobody seems to care because they're just an insect and not a cute furry little critter haha.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I'm just spitballing here. I think the main issue with the 'cruelty to mice' thing indeed has to do with captivity vs. nature. Yes, in the wild it happens. But when you then take the scenario and put it into a captivity situation, perhaps "in the wild" arguments do not apply. In the wild snakes do not live in plastic tubs, in the wild they are not supplied plastic dishes of water, etc... So when you take out the "in the wild" argument, I think the next thing you have to go for when dealing with animals in a captive situation is a welfare argument, for all the animals involved. (Note I say animal welfare, and not animal rights). I do not think I would qualify drowning as a proper method of death concerning animal welfare. Cervical dislocation or proper CO2 methods, however, seem more applicable.

As far as the insect...I think it has to do with a sentient thing. Are mice a sentient being? Are crickets sentient? I guess it depends on an individuals own personal viewpoint. Also, it is easy to 'humanely' kill a mouse and still have it be useable as food. It's not quite as easy to kill a cricket and still have it useable for food :shrugs:
 
I prefer frozen a million percent, but when Sprinkle wasn't eating, I didn't hesitate to try two live pinkies to get her going again. Generally I'm not for it though, and I definitely would not offer a food item that was potentially harmful to my snake (like biting back!)!

I don't know if it's true or not, but at the reptile store we go to a lot, the man at the shop says he occasionally gives the young snakes a live pinky or fuzzy, and it makes them more alert? fiesty? for feeding time. The snake I got from him is a GREAT feeder and strikes with vigor. It could just be their individual personalities though, does anyone have experience with that?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top