baby nicaraguan boa

Even watching them closely it is a risk. I got lazy one day and tossed a live rat to my albino boa. I sat there heart sunk until she unwrapped the rat because it looked like the rats bottom teeth were in her eye, and blood on the paper towel. LUCKILY she was fine and the blood was from the rat.

Just because someone agrees doesn't make your position right. I've been chewed out on this site and off this site because of my reactions or someone misinterpreted a situation wrong.

You shouldn't feed live. That snake is going to get several more feet and you can't feed it mice forever. Maybe you need to look up some live feeding accidents and ask yourself do you really want that to happen to YOUR snake?

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Chris, JCCS, does not troll, he's trying to help.

I used to feed live as well as in a separate container because that was all I knew and had heard about. After years of additional research, education from other keepers and first hand experience (watching a live rat chomp repeatedly on my adult boa as she was constricting, yes supervised) I changed my methods. Sure, others feed live all the time (especially in the BP community) without issues but just because there hasn't been an instance in their own collection doesn't mean it can't happen. Personally, I don't see it being worth the risk when most snakes, especially boas, will readily take prekilled or f/t and I feel it's more humane for the rodents as well.

Stephanie, I also see that you care very much for your boa based on your posts. Just because someone offers another option or advise doesn't mean they are putting you down. Please do not get upset. We all really want what is best for the animals.

It isn't so much what was said, it is how it was said. Who talks to someone they don't even know as if they are a child that needs to be reprimanded? Could have just said "I suggest looking into feeding F/T rats because it is safer for the snake". Am I wrong? No one else sees how tone had a lot to do with the argument that followed? People would be a lot more willing to accept your advice if it isn't forced down their throats.

THANK YOU Steve!! You know this whole post amazes me that people can't just be happy Gratch made it with ALL of God's my husbands and my care! if it makes all of you happy i'll switch Gratch to frozen thawed. and Steve is right ever since i started this post most have been very aggressive with me.

Steve, coming at it from the angle you suggest would inherently put the two options as equal. They are not. No experienced, knowledgeable boa keeper I have known feeds live past the first few feedings. It is a bad practice for many reasons, only one of which includes direct physical harm to the snake. Those mice/rats can be full of all sorts of other nasties which can be passed onto the snake if not killed prior. I'm not going to sit around and play patty cake with someone. If my suggestion doesn't at least encourage her to do some research, then her being that easily offended and thin-skinned does nothing but harm her snake's care. I don't know how you guys get feedback in real life but in my world, it's direct, to the point, and it's not particularly regarding your feelings. Something needs to change, change it, next topic. It's not meant to hurt your feelings, but if it does, so be it. I don't have time to come on here and therapeutically ask people if they are ready for change. I simply didn't want something traumatic to happen to this woman's snake which she's done a nice job bringing back from some obviously crappy care prior to her owning it. That mouse takes a chunk of that snake's neck and it's going to be a lot of hard work down the drain, and a poor dead animal for absolutely no reason whatsoever other than her not using best practices.

So just because you think its ok to talk to people in that manner, I have to agree? You have no time to be nice about it but you have plenty of time to tell her she was "butthurt" and other things? That's the kind of stuff I look for when i'm looking for someone to take advice from. Im not looking for an argument here. If you truly feel what you said was ok, then I cant and wont try to change your mind. Again, just to be clear, im not saying the content was bad. Just the delivery.

Jccs no one asked you to come to this thread and pass judgement on any of us. Just because i feed live once in awhile does not mean i Don't care about my kids! You think your way is the ONLY way to do things and everyone else is wrong. I care more about my kids then You'll EVER think of caring about yours past the almighty dollar sign!!! I wish you wouldn't have ever posted in my thread. People who actually KNOW me KNOW how much i care about my kids!!

P.S. I feel very SORRY for the poor snakes that are stuck with you!!!

Originally Posted by Steves Serpents

You have no time to be nice about it but you have plenty of time to tell her she was "butthurt" and other things?

Nothing Chris posted in this thread has come across as even remotely out of line or over the top. If you guys want to cite "tone" as the reason for knotted knickers, you may want to actually read the OP's responses to Chris' very civil comments. There's no question about just what tone she's using; "butthurt" is a very apt description of reactions that seem better suited to a teenaged girl going on an emo-rage.

If you have a problem with anything that's been posted here, it tells me that you're actively looking to be offended; you don't appear to have any problem with manufacturing drama that isn't really there. Considering some of the foolishness the OP's spouting, I'm fairly impressed with how non-condescending the tone has remained.

If you guys want yes-men who aren't going to point out issues that they know, through extensive firsthand experience, may cause problems for your animals, you may want to just avoid the internet altogether. Personally, I'd much rather be surrounded by people whose interests are geared more toward safe, effective husbandry practices. If the pursuit of banal niceties is your thing, I'm sure you can get plenty of that at your local pet shop. It often gets served up with a large helping of grossly-misinformed, self-serving advice.

Originally Posted by kalismom3

P.S. I feel very SORRY for the poor snakes that are stuck with you!!!

See "teenaged girl" comment above.

Dan, thank goodness you chimed in. I was afraid this thread was just going to fizzle out without more pointless arguing. Im so happy someone who had nothing to do with the thread, before now, stopped in to.... how did you state it? Manufacture drama, yea that's it.