feeding snakes

[Athen]

hey all i have been wondering since i have had snakes about peoples particular preferences in feeding their snakes. my intent is not to come off as insensitive but why is it that some people feel it is inhumane to the food item be it mice... rats.. gerbils.. or whatever to feed them live to your snake? in any case the end result will be the same the food item is dead and passing through the digestive system of our snakes. and i personally feel that weather they food item dies by being suffocated or having its head bashed againt a table or neck broken are all examples of an unpleasant way to die and in all honesty i would think the least painful and best way to go would have to be the suffocation route. but regardless of the ethical implications involved sometimes it will come down to the fact that the snake will not eat unless the food item is alive for example my snakes will not even eat their prey unless it is moving around right in front of them i have seen my ball completely ignore a mouse that was laying completely still right in front of him and in one case even on top of him i tried moving the mouse around and he wouldnt touch it. it wasnt until i put a more lively hopper in the tank and the snake saw it moving about in front of him that he took his advantage anyway i was just curious as to how it is considered inhumane im not closed minded on this subject and am not a firm believer in either direction just simply curious as to what the actual difference between the two really is and how it is vivid enough to have such hard core supporters in either direction

Athen

[Jason]

My wife had a big problem with me grabbing the mice by the tail and speed balling them into the wall so heres what i do know lol, Get the frozen pre killed feeders from the LPS and thaw them out in warm water and try that. As most may find with a snake used to eating live pray and has been doing so for a great many years will have some troubble, if your snake wont take the food after this i take out the feeder and toss it. at this point you take out the Water dish for about 2-3 weeks if its an adult and for mid sized snakes, if you have a baby just suck it up and deal with the live feedings, the babys shouldnt be subjected to this untill older. and at the end of this dip your feeders into warm water and keep them dripping wet and give it to your snake, in most cases the snake trying to drink the water off the feeder will cause it to consume the prey and thus get them used to eating pre killed. this method has worked for me in the past hope it helps ya

[Rainfrog]

It is not hard to change live feeding snakes to Frozzen thawed it just takes patience. I dont give a damn about PETA and their thoughts on the ethical tratment of rodents and bugs. What I do care about is the health and well being of my animals. It doesnt realy mater when they are eating pinks fuzzies or even hoppers (except it will make it harder to switch on a n older snake) but when you start feeding large aware mice and rats to your beloved pet it can become very dangerous. If your snake is not hungry at the moment the rodent can snack on him. If a adult mouse or even small rat bites in self defense your animal could be injures badly. Do a search on google and I garantee the images will make you queesy. in the wild most snakes would have the jump on unexpecting prey. in a tank or tub your animal is in the open with an animal that will know it is there and have no escape. I have seen snakes with their eyes eaten out, lips bitten off, spine exposed or even broken by rodent bites. I feed pre-killed frozen thawed prey for the safety of my animals. I use tongs to shake the food items infront of the snakes and even give it a tug or 2 when they first bite. if I have a snake that wont eat for too long a time I will dip the head of the prey in some warm chicken stock. Hope this made sense, sorry for the bad spelling