Thinking about feeding LIVE? Welcome to the Live Pile

[BWSmith]

I do not think that he was advocating it as much as mentioning that there are no hard and fast rules for herps. The 1% of the time where f/t doesn't work was not illustrated. Which was not in the scope of this thread anyway. Just many instances of miscommunication and misinterpretation.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.

[TekWarren]

Originally Posted by pathfinder36

She doesn't have to "get the point". We could all care less that you say you don't feed live. Fact is that you are advocating a highly discoruagd practice in the herp world on a herp lovin' forum. You're going to catch some highly motivated flack from a TON of people on this site for just that.

That's just it...I'm NOT advocating it. I'm trying explain that making people feel they are using improper techniques without following up with improved precautionary methods can and will cause problems in itself.



ah!...I can't stop, I have no hard feelings I'm just frustrated with what seems to feel like singling out and not being able to get the whole and complete message across.

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[louise]

one more thing. you disable your rat for your snake....do you know that rats have been swollowed by snakes and has eaten thier way right out of the snakes stomack? what if your diabled rat became undisabled and that happened? there really is no way safe way to feed a live rodent.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[BWSmith]

Louise, as long as there is still constriction the rat will die. All my boas still try to kill the thawed rats

[TekWarren]

Originally Posted by louise

one more thing. you disable your rat for your snake....do you know that rats have been swollowed by snakes and has eaten thier way right out of the snakes stomack? what if your diabled rat became undisabled and that happened? there really is no way safe way to feed a live rodent.

Yes thank you I am well aware of what can happen and I have been feeding reptiles for several years...not 40 by any means...but long enough to know there are variances in feeding responces and methods. Believe me when I say I would not put any of my animals or anyone elses in harms way. The methods I mentioned before while may be considered cruel ultimately end in death...there is no "waking up" nor have I ever even had a rodent vs. reptile issue.

[louise]

Originally Posted by BWSmith

Louise, as long as there is still constriction the rat will die. All my boas still try to kill the thawed rats

mine do to. but chance has never constricted. but there is a story about a rat eating its way out of the stomack. i will try to find it. jluiasqueezer constricts the dead rat like crazy then if she moves it she thinks it is still alive and starts over killing it. lol

[pathfinder36]

Originally Posted by TekWarren

ok...I'm sorry but this is just WAY uncalled for. WHY on earth wwould one feel the need to have a topic dedicated such horror stories...and images! I had alot of thoughts shared on another topic about live feeding and how people try and tell others its wrong. IT IS NOT WRONG! if an animal will not eat any other way...feed it live. If the owner is responsible enough and takes precautions...it is not wrong. I absolutely HATE when people try and force this "rule" on others. Yes I to would RECOMMEND PK or FT but to tell someone they are wrong is just out of line and I for one am completely appalled that someone would endorse a dedicated threads to pics of this nature.

When individulas see this thread, they are IMEADIATELY detered from feeding live... regardless of what the pet store or their buddy told them. IF by some STROKE of bad luck their snake won't eat, they come to the HELP! thread and ask for advice. From there we can guage the issue and find a resolution. 99.9% of the time, this does NOT include feeding live. I say 99.9%, but in all honesty I have yet to see a situation where a snake just won't take F/T if the situation is handled properly. Are we saying there are NEVER any exceptions? I'm not but I do believe it is THE ABSOLUTE last resort. I don't think that the individulas that need to look at this thread have the experience to guage when "last resort" has come.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.

[captrob]

Well you can now say this forum is working. I have always fed my snakes live, but tonight when I feed them I will P/K the rats.

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[captrob]

Can someone please give recommendations on the best place to order frozen from.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[pathfinder36]

I'm a big fan of www.rodentpro.com

Check out my boa sticky for a TON of good info including some other popular places to buy frozen feeders: Click Me

[wreckwriter]

I always believe in learning from the mistakes of others and, to that same end, I try to be willing to share my own mistakes so that others need not repeat my screwups. That what these forums are all about and this is one of the best.

In this thread the mistakes of others, and the pain caused, are clear and unmistakable. Just in the last day there have been several posts from folks who said they were changing their feeding methods because of it. Does that make it worth the hassle and the arguing? Yup, worth all that and more.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[TekWarren]

i'm not sure why there had to be personal attacks on me to make it worth it...but ok that's done and over with. And I do agree that it is good to see that people are taking a look at their feeding methods and it reinforces my point above...unless these people have the knowledge and have some idea of how to change over it would be nice to have included info on methods for transitioning. Not every animal is going take FT out of the blue all the sudden when its owner decides to make the switch. I realize that is not what this topic is specifically about but it is directly related and people can ask for help when they hit a problem. I for one would chose to lay out as many suggestions/options and methods as possible before hand.

I appologize to you as well WW but you really hit me with some low blows but I should have kept cool about it.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[louise]

Originally Posted by captrob

Well you can now say this forum is working. I have always fed my snakes live, but tonight when I feed them I will P/K the rats.

you seriously cant even imagine how happy that makes me. i thank you and i am sure your snakes do too.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[captrob]

Well my 2 BCI's took P/K with no problem. The female immediately took to it, and my male waited about 15 minutes with the first one, but immediately took the second one.

	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

[louise]

Originally Posted by captrob

Well my 2 BCI's took P/K with no problem. The female immediately took to it, and my male waited about 15 minutes with the first one, but immediately took the second one.

congrats

	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

[wreckwriter]

Originally Posted by TekWarren

i'm not sure why there had to be personal attacks on me to make it worth it.............

I appologize to you as well WW but you really hit me with some low blows but I should have kept cool about it.

Dude, you insist on keeping this going on a you/me level, huh? OK, can do. Apology not accepted because your comments make it clear its not sincere. You want to win this argument, ain't gonna happen because you're wrong, way wrong.

Here's the facts: You started it. You came in to our perfectly happy thread and inserted your viewpoint with righteous indignation. I really liked the way you tossed in CAPPED WORDS here and there so we'd know exactly where we were wrong according to the "Gospel According to TekWarren". For anyone that missed it, here's the post:

Originally Posted by TekWarren

ok...I'm sorry but this is just WAY uncalled for. WHY on earth wwould one feel the need to have a topic dedicated such horror stories...and images! I had alot of thoughts shared on another topic about live feeding and how people try and tell others its wrong. IT IS NOT WRONG! if an animal will not eat any other way...feed it live. If the owner is responsible enough and takes precautions...it is not wrong. I absolutely HATE when people try and force this "rule" on others. Yes I to would RECOMMEND PK or FT but to tell someone they are wrong is just out of line and I for one am completely appalled that someone would endorse a dedicated threads to pics of this nature.

By the time I saw the thread you had a good friend of mine so P.O.'d that she was concerned about getting banned if she continued to interact with you. My post was pretty mild compared to the first one I had written out.

I think my subsequent posts, in reply to your hissy fit, were pretty mild too. If there were personal attacks on you, which I really don't see, they were pretty gentle compared to your original rant.

If you're concerned about your reputation, and I don't mean the points, I really think its a good time to retire this issue. How bout you?

[PythonGuy24]

thats cool that your using this forum seiously captrob. You don't know how many people i've heard say "you guys don't know anything and i'm goin to a place with people who know what they are talking about," and they just qiut rtb.net. But thank you for at least trying some advise and i hope you continue to p/k the food items. Thx again.

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[captrob]

I definately will. Not only is it better for the snake but it will save me a trip across town every week.

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[PythonGuy24]

Yeah definitly. How did you do it did you just drop it in or did you wiggle it in front of their face?

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[captrob]

just dropped it in and let the snakes do the rest.

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