Some say it can lead to aggressive behavior and others will say nay.
The number one reason to NOT feed live is
RIGHT HERE!
Also live feedings do lead to internal parasites, even fresh killed has the eventual problem of parasites.
Frozen is best, but if there is no way to keep frozen, then you have to do what you can.
To kill them, several ways can be employed.
The cleanest ( for the squemish ) is with a CO2 chamber.
It's only cost effective if you are doing a lot at once.
Pillow case method.
You put the mouse/rat in a pillow case and whack it on a hard surface such as a sidewalk or counter top.
Cervical dislocation.
Take a steel rod and pin the rodents head to the floor or a counter top, pinning it at the neck. Grab it's tail and give a strong yank straight up.
If you hear a crunch, ya did it right. Granted, sometimes the feeder is twitching for a few minutes afterwards, but no worry, it is feeling NO pain. It's only nerv energy being used.
A variation of this is to put the feeders head under your heel and pull up the same way.
And last but not least, welcome to Redtail, Silly Wabbit!
[addsig]
