what is the best Live food?

[rethius]

I must resort to live feeding to get a boa started! What is the best live prey item to use? one that will not naw my boas tail/nose off!

[hip]

Well I was in the same boat for a while With a very stressed, sick wild caught a year ago.He would only eat something still moving.What I did was feed him stunned prey that was bouncing and still breathing (hamsters and rats)They were held with tongs to ensure he got the head everytime and I watched to make sure nothing happened(I was also lucky cause he never got bit) then over time I switched him to fresh killed,then fresh killed referigated then to frozen thawed now he eats like a champ.too bad he has an attitude (has bitten Chris marshell numerous times) lol




Hip

[Gary D.]

I would go for the hamsters.

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

I know that with BPs gerbils work like a charm. No clue with boas tho. Good luck!

[hip]

Something I forgot you could try live chicken chicks or quail(depending on the size of the boa) be prepared fo runny smelly crapola though.I would also suggest lizzard could convince a hard feeder(they do eat a lot of lizzards in the wild for the first 2 years or so.You can try gerbils but I never have (hard to say if they will work or not) I have seen more hard to feed bp's turn their noses up at gerbils than the ones that will take them(some bp's just wont eat till they want to eat )



Hip

[FireFoz]

Rats tend to bite faster and harder than mice, so you could start with a mouse. Always stay with the snake until he has eaten the prey...if he doesnt eat the prey, take the prey out he might start eating the snake!! (for real!)

[ReptiZone]

I post this pic every time I see some one say they have to feed live or the snake wont eat as a last resort I would go with the stunig Idea if you absolutly have to feed live and the snake can't wait 1 more week just to see if it would take dead food next week.

[sydcire]

Thats why you pre whack it then shake the hell out of it with tongs the heat is still emmited from it and should look live to your snake...good luck.

Syd

[Linds]

Well how large is your snake? Live feeding are always risky, no matter what prey item you use... if they don't bite (hamsters, rats, mice) they will surely claw (rabbits, chickens). Whatever you wouild normally feed your snake if it was feeding on prekilled or f/t, is what you should be offering it... but do make sure to stun it and supervise carefully!

[Gary D.]

Hey Jeff. I know you're no rookie, so I won't give you the "only feed F/T" or "never leave it alone" speils that we both know and agree with. But I'm on the same page as you. Sometimes you have an animal that will only take live weather we like it or not. Now we have to deal with it. With wild caught imports, It's not like it's a risk that the animal is unfamiliar with, quite the opposite. Well live rats are obviously not an issue, so what does that leave? For anything of size it is large hamsters, G-pigs, or small rabbits. I myself have not fed live rabbits, but simply killing them before frezing they put up one he** of a thrashing, I can't see why it would be any different in the clutches of a snake. And my fussy male refused g-pigs any way. So that leaves hamsters, so here are my observations on live hamsters. First they are slow, ponderous and stupid, so a WC animal should have no problem taking one on the first strike. Mice can jump very well and can escape, changing the scenario once they are alert and scared and I feel are more of a risk. Also with hamsters, although I have recieved nasty bites trying to wrangle them it is my observation that when a hamster is in shock they throw their head back and open their mouth. Perhaps in an act of defense to bite the attacker, but never have I seen them close. Even when stunning a hamster myself before placing it in the cage they have done this and not closed again until conscious (or dead in the snakes case). As I said above, go with the hamsters.

[Scales Zoo]

Hi Jeff.

Both Rats and Hamsters are capable of really hurting a snake with their teeth.

Rats front teeth are really long - Oh, wait - I just realized that you don't have access to live rats.

The large front teeth (of rats, and I'm assuming hamsters) are easily removed with a side cutters.

Even when very stunned, sometimes a feeder item will try to bite -so to be really safe I would remove the teeth, and then stun.

I always found that doorjams were very usefull when stunning a feeder item.

Ryan

[rethius]

Hey thanks Guys,
- linds- he is about 6 feet long and pretty skinny!!
-I'll try a live hamster today. As for removing the teeth, well I'm no dentist but I do have a good pair of plyers so I'll give that a shot!
I'll keep you all informed of his progress! (his name is Panzer)

[Pixie]

I'm curious as to how one cuts the teeth off a rodent before stunning it? I'm trying to imagine opening the mouth of a rat and snipping off the teeth, I don't think the rat would just sit there and let me do it!!! Sounds pretty hard to do for me.

Pixie

[sydcire]

I agree Ive never even heard of tryin to pull or cut there teeth off



Syd

[mk-ultra]

from what i learned from my experience i only feed live prey if i have no choice an if i do have to i hold the prey by the tail and present it vertically always aligning it with the head of the snake so it can always grab the head .

never ever had any problems with that and snakes seems to get used to the prey coming from the top and switch easily to dead one when fed the same way i also never got bit but maybe my luck will run out soon :)

as for bigger snakes the sooner it stops taking it from your hand the better . im glad that mine now takes dead prey from the ground

well if anyone has any suggestion they are welcome

[Scales Zoo]

When you pull up the lips of a live rat, the teeth (top and bottom) are both exposed. Just snip the 2 front top ones off, then proceed to the bottom 2. Most rats don't seem to mind - it doesn't seem to hurt them.

I've seen rabbits front teeth cut off when transporting males together. They cut the teeth out so that one male doesn't chew the testicles out of another. Doesn't seem to bother the rabbits much either (much less than having their testicles chewed off I would guess)

Ryan

[Scales Zoo]

Also Jeff, I would imagine baby bunnies would be much less potentially dangerous to a snake than a rat or hamster would be.

I'm not sure If I'd be able to feed a cute live baby bunny to a snake, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

[gonesnakee]

I'll just say better you than me Jeff & its funny how Ryan the "Rat Dentist" feels for the Baby Bunnies, cute LOL Mark

[krrc]

I had a snake get bit like that mk-ultra, I held it just like that and the snake nailed it right away but somehow it bit the snake near the base of the head. but... if you have no other options then this is most likely the safest method of presantation for the snake.

[killaclown]

I duno where you guys are geting your mice but the ones i get never bite {they never bit me or my snake}. But its funy th , the mouse gos strait to my snakes face and Before i know it BAMM!!!!!!!!!!!! I got my moneys worth