I am sorry if this offends anybody but do not read if you don't agree with live feeding...
Right now my california king snake is about 6 months old, he's eating small mice right now(frozen) as it's obviously safer for the snake.
The thing is I have a fascination with how snakes eat their food and just once I want to feed him a live mouse to see it in action. I just think it looks amazing, I won't continue live feedings but like I said I just want to see it once.
How long should I wait before feeding live? I am just going to buy a mouse at my local pet store, and obviously just the smallest mouse.
Does anybody here feed their california king live mice?
Ummm... you can feed any time.
Just make sure your snake is hungry.
It's not really all that cool with colubrids, I have to admit. And frankly, the one time Salvador ate live (after been having fed f/t), he was a clumsy constrictor and it was horrid and took forever with a poor little shrieking mouse.
Mira, the BRB, on the other hand... woah. I fed her live her first meal with me because that's what she'd been on and I thought I'd ease her into F/T. She is one quick, strong snake. The down side being, they're so quick that you kinda actually miss the strike/coil even while you are staring straight at it.
Go ahead and do it if you want... but be forewarned you might have to warm up miceys for awhile after... I don't think it's worth it, but I can understand the urge/curiousity.
Here's my method.
Thaw out mousey.
Place mousey in small tupperware.
Fill larger tupperware with warm/hot water.
Place small tupperware in larger tupperware and put on lid.
Let heat up for a couple minutes- depends on size of mousey how long.
Tada- you have a little warm mousey.
You mean once I feed a live feeding my king snake might want extra warm mice right?
Yeah I got this like crock pot thing I got at pets smart when you stick in the microwave for 2 minutes and then you put mouse in it and lid on top thaws really quickly.
I used to feed my old burm nothing but live and let me tell ya, it was a sight to behold right until she got chomped. The bite wasn't fatal, but it was terrible to behold. Barely had a scar last time I saw her, but it took the desire to feed live away from me.
God Bless,
Aaron
All 3 of my babies get live food. I understand it's saver to do the frozen stuff but the balls both would starve first (ballz refused for 6 months, I gave in) and cocoa our chocolate king gets her live mice.
Only once have I had any problem and it was with a male mouse who made me mad. I was going to try breeding and all he wanted to do was attack the females so into the bin he went with Isis. He tried to go after her so I grabbed my tongs and broke his neck. Not easy when she was trying to coil him but no way was I letting my baby get bit. :evil: