Feeding "Live" VS Feeding "Not Live"

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Do you feed "Live" or "Not Live" animals to your reptiles?

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M

madwhitehat

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 13, 2007
210
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Florida
As requested, this topic is being started to allow MFK members to present their arguements as to whether feeding "live" rodents/birds to their reptiles is good practice.

Note: The word LIVE here is being defined as completely awake, aware, and unaltered. NOT LIVE is defined as pre-killed fresh, pre-killed frozen, or live incapacitated.
 
Personally, I have always knocked out any rodents that I have fed to my reptiles. A quick thump to the back of the head does the trick, incapacitating the rodent but still allowing the snake or lizard to see it as alive.

I would much rather commit to this process than risk losing a pet to a rodent bite. I have seen it happen before with friend's reptiles. A 10 foot brum who's eye is swolen shut from an infected rat bite is not a pretty site....nor is what comes out when they lance the abscess. :(
 
To my Bichirs and my other fish I like to use pellets and the general healthy stuff. I might toss in something live every once in a blue moon but that'd be mostly for a treat.
 
i fed my boa dead rats to provent bite marks and scratches.
 
When I can I will always feed frozen to my reptiles. However the main reason for this is convenience. I think it's easier than keeping live, and the cost of rearing my own feeders is yet not going to save me enough with the collection I have. If I have to feed live though (no other way), I will have no problem doing it.

People feed live and have no problems with it, and good for them. I will always feed the pre-killed/unconcious over live though if I can. Also when breeding, I'd rather get young on pre-killed, as most people want them feeding that way (a plus point for selling them).

I think what is just as interesting is at what size is not ok... mice is ok? Are rats ok? What about Rabbits and large birds? People who feed larger prey items than rabbits? Feeding geckos and other lizards? Feeding other snakes to snakes? Just wondering if thats all ok too, because they aren't rodents, I know a lot of people who seem to be contradicting themselves when it's an animal they like that they are watching being killed via constriction.

Another topic... live feeders for venomous? Can't imagine some of them are a nice way to go with some of the different components in some species venom. Views?

Anyway, will enjoy watching this thread :popcorn:
 
i only feed unconscious mice to my hognose. when i used to have ratsnakes and kingsnakes i would sometimes give them live usually frozen. frozen mice are less expensive at the shop i go to.
 
davo;1956319; said:
I think what is just as interesting is at what size is not ok... mice is ok? Are rats ok? What about Rabbits and large birds? People who feed larger prey items than rabbits? Feeding geckos and other lizards? Feeding other snakes to snakes?
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For me, it comes down to the ability of the prey item to cause physical harm to the reptile.

For instance, when I had a Beardie I had no problem feeding it live crickets. I would give her as many as I knew she would eat within a few minutes, then I would check back for survivors. I also always left one or more prepared food items in the enclosure for any leftover crickets so they would have something to eat, and would not have to resort to chewing on my lizard. I also had no problem feeding her the VERY occasional live pinkie mouse as a treat. I did not consider these a threat to her at all, so I did not pre-kill or knock out these mice.
 
davo;1956319; said:
Just wondering if thats all ok too, because they aren't rodents, I know a lot of people who seem to be contradicting themselves when it's an animal they like that they are watching being killed via constriction.
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I don't have that problem at all. That prey item would be being killed that same way in nature. The difference is, as a pet owner, it is my job to protect the best interest of my reptile.....not it's food. I could care less if the rodent dies by being sqeezed to death or by being flicked in the back of the head by me. In my opinion, the latter is the better option for my pet because it poses less of a risk of injury to the reptile during feeding.
 
I've always fed frozen rodents...never had an issue. Convinience, safety, etc. I probably wouldnt consider feeding live and avoid animals that require it.
 
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