clutzirella
Bradenton, United States
Today, I fed my 4ft python a live rat for the first time. He now has a new friend he won't let me near. FML
clutzirella tells us more.
clutzirella 17
the snake is not dead or bitten. I knew what I was doing and the rat is dead and eaten. they were all buddy for a matter of 20 minutes.
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Top comments
martin29417 11
Your Phyton is probably not hungry right now or something is wrong with his stomach
Feklfekl2222 32
As soon as he gets hungry he'll eat it, so unless the rat shows signs he wants to bite your Python I wouldn't worry
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Comments (153)
Wubba87 12
Isn't live feeding illegal?
ArtemisRwill 22
Depends on where you live.
Caity694 3
Only if you video it for entertainment purposes. Some snakes will only eat live food, if you didn't offer it live food to eat it would be classed as animal cruelty. It's only supposed to be done if your snake regularly refuses frozen thawed food and you feel its a last resort.
riffehunter 16
very few species of snake won't eat prekilled food in captivity, and those that are tend not to be the best captives for many other reasons.
KhaleesiKitten 14
my boa refuses frozen /thawed rats. will only eat live, and certain coloration too
getindoe69 17
so why is this an fml? it doesn't sound like a horrible experience
Bahtz 0
Had a 12 footer Burmese she had a pet rabbit
Hunkapoo 19
maybe next time you should feed your python dead rats, if live ones are actually dangerous.
fmlashl 13
some snakes won't eat dead/frozen rats. this one isn't eating live ones either, though, so it's pretty much in the same position either way.
MRSwick2525 23
OP said they fed it (or tried to feed it at least) a live Rat for the FIRST time.
Vlen_fml 20
Had the same thing happen with our albino corn snake and a mouse. took him a couple of days but he eventually ate it. that said a rat is much more dangerous and could hurt your snake, you may want to remove/kill the rat.
writerchic85 26
Should not feed live rats. They can seriously wound the snake. Frozen thawed only for my snake!
MandieL 27
Live are okay if they have been fed live since the start, but you should never leave a live rat in with the snake for more than a day or so because the rat can harm the snake. If you have never fed live before, I wouldn't recommend it as your snake may actually not understand that it is food right away. Hopefully when he gets hungry enough he will figure it out and eat it, but make sure you keep an eye on them and if he hasn't eaten it in a couple days, take the rat out and try again with frozen.
Eliiara 11
I didn't know much about pet snakes and live food until now. These FML comments are pretty interesting!
WallerBaller12 2
I don't know who taught you how to feed your snake but do not leave it in for more than an hour. And that whole hour you should be keeping an eye on it. If you leave it in for longer than that like days like you say then your snake will most likely be injured or dead by the time you check back in on it
MandieL 27
"A day or so" not days. And my snake is in constant view. Regardless, this is just information I have researched, I don't feed live food because my snake grew up on frozen.
little_fucker 18
I'm pretty sure live feeding is illegal so ydi
onyourleft 10
Learn your facts. Thankfully the United States doesn't have those asinine laws and we are able to feed our snakes live if they won't take anything else. I live in FL, same as this person, and we live fed all our snakes until a few months ago.
digitalxri0t 5
some snakes won't typically take frozen/thawed initially, some won't ever and some will only eat f/t no matter what you try. saying you don't care about the natural order of things is more concerning than anything else actually. you can't rewrite nature just because you don't agree with it.
mukduk 21
What a stupid argument. That's like saying that feeding my bearded dragon live crickets is inhumane and I shouldn't be doing it because he's not in his natural habitat.
deathshead 19
yea that is a stupid agrument, the snakes gotta eat, it not really inhumane to live feed it, thats what they eat, and besides rats are usually pests anyway, I dont understand keeping any rodents as pets, but to each his own.
real_doc_phil 15
Please go back to your drum circle us damn hippie
Df1No 10
It isn't. Tf.
lmbachman 23
Depending on his age, you shouldn't switch to live food when they've never had it before. YDI.
devinaww 15
I don't know much about pythons..but if your python is only 4ft long, maybe feed it a mouse next time instead of a rat?
Megatron_Griffin 25
They can actually dislocate their own jaws to consume large pray. The size of the meal isn't the issue
Jowisee 29
Their jaws don't dislocate, they have a different kind of hinge joint.
Megatron_Griffin 25
I didn't think I was completely right. That was the best way I knew how to explain it. Thanks for correcting me though. I love snakes so I'm disappointed I couldn't remember because I used to watch and read stuff about them for hours when I was younger
Jowisee 29
Same, I used to own a couple but I travel a lot so couldn't keep any in the end. Also, a 4ft snake could manage a small rat I reckon. The issue really is that live feeding is quite dangerous for the snake (and you).