Live Rodents

[Pituophis]

Hello all,
I would like to inquire about thoughts on live food.
I feed a few of my pine snakes live rodents, which I have recently started to "gut load" with various greens (i.e., alfalfa/Timothy hay/etc..) before offering them to the snakes. Has anyone here done this? If so, did you notice any real differences in growth, vigor, color, and/or overall appearance??
My initial reasoning for doing this was to find a good way of introducing plant matter, albeit a small amount of plant matter, to the diet of my pine snakes. I feel there is/will be some benefit, but quantitatively speaking just how much is what I would like to ask for some thoughts on.
Thanks in advance for your time and input.
--Pit

 

[Will Hayward]

Put simply, It's very unlikely that you will notice any effects from doing this.

That doesn't mean it's not good to do though. Snakes that have gut loaded feeders may possibly be less susceptible to disease or health issues, and may live longer. Not really things you would be able to see occurring unless you were to do controlled experiments.

 

[coura]

keep doing that Very good idea indeed

 

[Louie]

I think feeding the snake well fed mice is great.
Why not kill the rodent right before feeding ,why risk snake being bit ?

 

[Berber King]

I just posted this suggestion on your other thread before i saw this! Excellent idea,a much better and safer way than supplements.Like already said,why not feed pre-killed? Safer for the snakes,and more humane.Pits are not exactly fussy feeders!

 

[Berber King]

Put simply, It's very unlikely that you will notice any effects from doing this.

Of course you will,you are what you eat.Why do think people dust feeder bugs from the pet store-to add vitamins,gut-loadings the perfect way to do it.

 

[Mike D]

i dont see anything wrong with it.

im also not against feeding live either. as long as you are carefull i would think you would be fine. my buddy used to feed his pythons live and he never had one issue. he would just keep an eye on them until they got the feeder down.

and as far as the gut loading goes. keep it up

 

[logo]

Unless you are breeding the mice yourself you need to make sure that the mice are healthy. I had a bad case of mites due to my ignorance at the time. Other then that I am all for it just keep an eye on them.

 

[spaulding]

it's definetly not going to hurt anything.

 

[Pituophis]

Sounds good. Thanks all. I make major efforts in striving to provide my pine snakes with the best food I can. That, combined with a very long hibernation has so far proven very good, as I now have three potentially gravid northern pine snakes. I will keep gut-loading my rodents and offering them to the snakes. I too, think this better than injections for the feeders.
Also, I should mention that while all of my pine snakes are CB, I do still like to offer them live feeders. To prevent very bad bites and wounds, I only use smaller food items. For example, I have a 6+foot female northern pine that still gets only small rats or large mice. I strongly feel that smaller items fed more frequently are better than larger items fed more sporadically. research on feeding and food selection confirms this, as do my own personal observations on Pituophis in nature.
Thanks again for everyone's help and suggestions!!!