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His first live one!

I can't actually watch the video at the moment, but I assume (since we're in the health and feeding forum area) that it's showing his first LIVE feeding?

If so, is there a specific reason you're feeding LIVE? Frozen/Thawed (F/T) is the commonly agreed upon best way to feed, followed by Fresh/PreKilled (P/K), with live feeding as basically the last resort before force-feeding.

The reasoning is that there's lots of potential issues and risks with live feedings.
 
My thoughts....
I won't watch that video, my day has been bad enough already and I don't get off on watching one animal kill another.

I don't understand WHY anyone would feed live if their snake does fine on thawed.
I can be dangerous to the snake, not only because of a bite but because of parasites.
It is cruel to the mouse.

So to me, the only kind of people who would do such a thing are the kind of people that value their sick "entertainment" over their snakes safety, or a painless death for a small creature that is capable of fear and suffering.
 
If you look in my albums under my animals, you will see my Adult Female, who was fed live, up until I got her. I fed her live once... If you look closely you will see the scar on the side of her neck where a live mouse has gotten her (long before I purchased her) and if you look at the scales on her head, you will notice a little black/brown spot. That was from the one live feeding that I did, where the mouse bit her. It happened in a split second, and I will never feed live again. A little lower on her head, she could have lost an eye, a little harder of a bite, she could have lost her life.
 
The consensus on this forum is to feed f/t. Many firmly believe that feeding live poses a great deal of risks to the snake. Many, myself included, also feel really bad for the poor mice that are fed live. For instance, if I were to watch your video, I would probably cry like a baby! Just be aware that you might not get a lot of positive feedback on your feeding on this site.

I understand that there's a genuine curiosity towards witnessing a snake kill a mouse first hand. I don't fault you for that, nor do I think you're a bad person. I guess if you're going to do it, make sure that you're snake is monitored, and that he is able and willing to constrict. The mouse shouldn't suffer any more than he already has to by not being killed via suffocation.

Also, I hope you consider making this an isolated experience. You don't want to get stuck in a situation where your snake has a preference for live. It will only become more dangerous for the snake once the prey gets larger. Also, I can't imagine dooming myself to a sentence of picking up a live mouse every 7-14 days. I'm burdened enough with thawing the things; picking up a live one that often sounds like work!
 
while i see your point of parasites i do not think it is sick entertainment. this is what they do hunt and stalk prey its nature. i grew up and watched my dad kill chickens to feed us when times got bad.
 
cassie 16 thanks for your feedback and im not trying to entice that everyone should feed live. i made this choice and i know the dangers of it. as far as genuine curiosity i got youtube for that.
 
guagerage said:
while i see your point of parasites i do not think it is sick entertainment. this is what they do hunt and stalk prey its nature. i grew up and watched my dad kill chickens to feed us when times got bad.
Click to expand...

Yes, they stalk and hunt prey in NATURE. Living in a box in your bedroom and having a mouse thrown in once a week IS NOT NATURE.
Is this snake a pet or a wild animal?
And if it is a pet, why not let your other pets live "naturally"....
Your dogs and cats can catch their own food and die from rabies, distemper, coyotes, starvation, heavy parasite loads and other wonderful natural things.
 
guagerage said:
while i see your point of parasites i do not think it is sick entertainment. this is what they do hunt and stalk prey its nature. i grew up and watched my dad kill chickens to feed us when times got bad.
Click to expand...

1) Hunting and stalking prey in the wild is completely different than being thrown into an Arena with prey that could potentially kill you. (Yes, mice have killed snakes before, it takes a split second)

2)I grew up on a farm and have killed, cleaned, and put my fair share of chickens/ rabbits in the freezer. I have helped do this sort of thing since I was roughly 10, and have witnessed it being done literally my whole life. It did not matter if times were rough or not. If we had too many roosters or male rabbits, we would cull them and make stew, or other tasty foods.

3)The parasite risk is very real. Nanci, one of the mods, has actually posted links to study's on the parasites transfered to snakes from live food.

4) The reason that Starsevol posted the "sick entertainment" thing is because many people who feed snakes that readily take F/T do it because of morbid curiosity.

I hope you see my points as reasons why your opinions on the matter are mute, and not a direct attack. Sometimes I come off as a harsh individual.

Personally I would feed F/T, it is safer for the snake. Your snake does not benifit from live feeding. And honestly, neither does your wallet.

Though there are some people who would try to convince you that F/T causes the snake to loose its "instincts". That sentiment is not true either. If you get some tongs and do the Zombie Snake Dance with the mouse, the snake will still constrict. I do it from time to time with my snakes, which is proof that their constricting instincts have not been lost.
 
And, because I am sure that you will not go look at the picture I directed you to earlier....

picture.php

As you can see, a pretty large scar on her neck, and right above her eye is a fresh wound from a live mouse... The only live mouse that she has had while in my care.
 
The mouse thrown into the enclosure is unatural. A mouse in the wild would be able to run, the snake would have to ambush it, not simply corner it.
 
did i miss something on not to feed live? i just want someone who does feed live to see if he is doing ok or see if i should do something different to help with the choice i made.
 
Alright. I will comment on the saftey. He is not a very aggressive feeder and he does not eat head first. If this diet continues he is in more danger than most corns on live
 
If you want to continue this diet I will be respectful but I would suggest you feed F/T until he becomes more aggressive with feeding.
 
guagerage said:
This is his first live one and i want to know what eveyonr thinks? tips and pointers are welcome due to this is my first cornsanke.

http://youtu.be/dWzzOZirnOk
Click to expand...

I think we are all snake owners here and are well aware of how snakes kill and eat their prey. Yours is no different. Tips and pointers would be, why the heck do you want to feed live if you don't have to? But- no one listens to reason, you have your "rights," so as you were...
 
guagerage said:
did i miss something on not to feed live? i just want someone who does feed live to see if he is doing ok or see if i should do something different to help with the choice i made.
Click to expand...

Apparently you have missed ALOT of things....
and yes you should do something different...like NOT feed live!!!

Unless of course you like parasites in your snake, and the possibility that he could lose an eye someday, and you like going to the pet shop every week and spending alot of live when thaweed is much safer, cheaper and easier.

Unless the spectacle gives you some sort of psycho-sexual thrill that matters more to you than your pet's health, and if that is the case you are just a selfish pet owner that is beyond any kind of help.
 
The topic of feeding live has become a source of heated debate on this site. It's a hot button issue, the "abortion" of cornsnakes.com. There isn't a middle ground; those who are against it will not be swayed, and visa versa.

Most people on this site passionately and wholeheartedly disagree with the practice, and are equipped with well-thought, documented forms of argument against it. If there are regular users who feed live, I assume they refrain from discussing it. Those who bring it up usually find themselves at odds with everyone. I would say not to let that discourage you from gleaming knowledge from the wonderful users on this site.

I guess it's like my relationship with my coworkers- I adore them, gain a great deal of insight from them, but refrain from discussing religion/gun rights/capital punishment with them, because I would hate for our relationship to be marred by a difference in opinion.

I personally don't see any benefits of feeding live, and that's that. I also really don't think anyone who does it is a "sicko" or engaging in sick entertainment. If I told my boyfriend right now, "go pick up a live mouse- this is going down", he would jump at the opportunity, and I don't fault him for that. (Although I wouldn't let it happen! We would end up with a pet mouse, not a meal for the snake!)

I can respect the sport of hunting, although I would never engage in it myself. It's sort of the same thing to me. It could be argued that hunting doesn't put your pet in danger, but I'm ignoring that :)
 
I feed live, but ONLY to animals that will absolutely not take frozen thawed. I do it for corns and ball pythons. I have done it for years and years. I've seen the damage a rodent can do.

You can see in the first few seconds of the video, your snake is clearly used to eating frozen thawed. It had no clue what to do with a live prey item. If that rodent was a size that had teeth your snake WOULD have been bitten and bitten badly.

Based on the reaction of your snake, it's a bad choice to feed him live. He tried to start eating it just like a frozen/thawed item.

If you must feed live, pre-kill them.

There is no reason on earth why your snake can't eat pre-killed.
 
Guagerage,

While we (mostly) all here advocate F/T over Live, in the end it is your choice to make. We don't think it's the right choice, but it is your choice.

However, your initial post didn't read as "I've made my choice to do live feedings and want to get tips and tricks from other live feeders as to the best way to go about it".

Your post:
"This is his first live one and i want to know what eveyonr thinks? tips and pointers are welcome due to this is my first cornsanke."

Which (to me at least) reads more like "I'm looking for info from other keepers as this is my first snake, oh and I just fed him a live mouse [probably doing as I was told to do by the pet store guy]"
 
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