Our Newest Family Member

[mso489]

I'm not sure I could feed live mice to a snake, but I sure am happy when my Maine Coon boys bag a rodent interloper. Our late little female shorthair, who was a teenage mom and a former major outdoor hunter, and taught by example (they weren't great friends) the boys to hunt by ambush. It was a whole new day. The boys were bottle fed, kittens rescued out of a drainpipe, so didn't have mom to teach them. Bella, our little female, would watch them in disdain, then wait until they tired and went to sleep, and she'd bag the game with ease. She'd hunted mice, voles, snakes, etc., and stalked white tail deer, guinea hens, and other large animals she couldn't possibly catch. We miss her a lot. What a gal.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I live in a rural area (although the city is quickly creeping up to me) with lots of hay fields, which means lots of field mice (which are really big voles, and a nuisance). Any time I see a snake, I look at it as pest control. Many people will kill any snake on sight, for inability to tell venomous from non-venomous, but I don’t mind them at all if I know it’s not something that will hurt my kids or dog.

 

[didimauw]

She's grown a lot since that first photo! This was this past April, so that would make her about two years old here. She just came off a 6 month hunger strike. But the past two weeks she's back on it strong! Snakes are goofy.

Oh and this thread only came back around due to a spammer! Lol

 

[aquadoc]

Dude! That's a snake! Coming from GA, we don't like snakes. Get her a dog, a cat or even better a horse. Those are proper pets.

St. Simons Islander/Brunswick native here. I lived to find snakes as a kid. Kept an EDB for a while. He mostly lived under my bed until my parents found out. Such is life in a world of prejudice against our slithering friends.

 

[mso489]

Non-venous snakes are key rodent control predators. Anyone in the country is lucky to have a hungry black snake patrolling the property. Also, I think they may shoulder out venomous snakes, just being territorial. The first time you touch a snake, you discover, they are not slimy, just smooth and room temperature, like leather. I don't experience them as companionable in any way, but I might if I spent time with one. Some pet pond fish are quite responsive and "friendly." Rodents, hamsters and such, just seem preoccupied to me. They don't take in much of human presence except food. Dogs, cats, burros, horses, etc., seem intensely engaged when they live with people they know, seem to know more about us than we know about ourselves, sympathize with illness, mourn loss. I think you have to do weird intellectual tricks to deny that. I joke that people who criticize anthropomorphizing animals (thinking of them as people equivalent) also have a hard time anthropomorphizing other people, but I believe that's true, the empathy deficient. They can't believe their eyes when it comes to emotion. Lots of folks, alas.

 

[didimauw]

Non-venous snakes are key rodent control predators. Anyone in the country is lucky to have a hungry black snake patrolling the property. Also, I think they may shoulder out venomous snakes, just being territorial. The first time you touch a snake, you discover, they are not slimy, just smooth and room temperature, like leather. I don't experience them as companionable in any way, but I might if I spent time with one. Some pet pond fish are quite responsive and "friendly." Rodents, hamsters and such, just seem preoccupied to me. They don't take in much of human presence except food. Dogs, cats, burros, horses, etc., seem intensely engaged when they live with people they know, seem to know more about us than we know about ourselves, sympathize with illness, mourn loss. I think you have to do weird intellectual tricks to deny that. I joke that people who criticize anthropomorphizing animals (thinking of them as people equivalent) also have a hard time anthropomorphizing other people, but I believe that's true, the empathy deficient. They can't believe their eyes when it comes to emotion. Lots of folks, alas.

Yes, Sophie is soft, smooth,dry and cuddly! Not wet, slimy or gross.

 

[augiebd]

I have had many snakes, other reptiles, rodents, fish, birds, cats and dogs as pets. Often at the same time. They all have different qualities for which they can be recommended. My largest snake was a boa that was about seven feet long. I got her as a juvenile, not quite a foot long and as big around as my finger. She lived 13 years before dying of cancer. I always tell anyone who ask, a snake is a long term commitment, they usually live long lives, 13 years is quite short. I always fed frozen thawed and never had a problem. Much safer for the snake. If you ever have any questions, shoot me a DM, happy to help if I can.

 

[mso489]

My only experience with riding a horse was in Florida right out of high school. My cousin had a handsome brown horse and his family boarded a black horse who was famous for scraping off riders on overhanging limbs. I took a cautious and easy hand with him, and apparently the treatment took. I got some rides and didn't get skunked. I like to think we had an understanding.

augiebd, what is the hazard to the snake of eating live mice? It just grabbed my curiosity.

 

[didimauw]

I have had many snakes, other reptiles, rodents, fish, birds, cats and dogs as pets. Often at the same time. They all have different qualities for which they can be recommended. My largest snake was a boa that was about seven feet long. I got her as a juvenile, not quite a foot long and as big around as my finger. She lived 13 years before dying of cancer. I always tell anyone who ask, a snake is a long term commitment, they usually live long lives, 13 years is quite short. I always fed frozen thawed and never had a problem. Much safer for the snake. If you ever have any questions, shoot me a DM, happy to help if I can.

Thanks for the offer! And yes 13 is very young for a snake. We are planning on 30+ years.

 

[canucklehead]

augiebd, what is the hazard to the snake of eating live mice? It just grabbed my curiosity.

In high school science class we had two snakes, they were live fed, and several times mice gave the snakes a good chomping before being squeezed hard.

 

[augiebd]

augiebd, what is the hazard to the snake of eating live mice? It just grabbed my curiosity.

@canucklehead is right, there is the risk of injury from bites. In addition to bites during feeding, in captive situations where a snake is fed too often or too close to shedding they may have no interest in food resulting In a snake being seriously injured because the food was very motivated about defence and the snake was completely uninterested in their presence. This is preventable by always supervising feedings and removing the food if the snake shows no interest. Removing the food, if necessary, needs to be done with care, there is risk involved.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Whoa! A good friend of mine has an ancient one named Luther (that turned out to be female). Strange critters.

 

[augiebd]

Whoa! A good friend of mine has an ancient one named Luther (that turned out to be female). Strange critters.

I originally assumed my boa was female but after some research discovered it was male. Disclaimer: This post NOT intended to be Freudian.

 

[Wifesbain]

You're daughter is beautiful. And brave. I'd be up on a chair

We are in the same boat you and I. My wife and I went to Zambia last year. One thing we did was stop at an alligator farm, which I didn’t know beforehand also had some snakes. One of the workers climbed down into the pit and came up with a snake that, to me, looked like the one from the original Conan the Barbarian (huge). He asked my wife if she wanted to hold it, and she accepted. Draped over her shoulders it was touching the ground on both sides.

I had to get a copy of the picture from someone else, because the one I took was from far enough away that you couldn’t make out her facial features?. I fit the stereotype, snakes and spiders... not my thing.

 

[Wifesbain]

I live in a rural area (although the city is quickly creeping up to me) with lots of hay fields, which means lots of field mice (which are really big voles, and a nuisance). Any time I see a snake, I look at it as pest control. Many people will kill any snake on sight, for inability to tell venomous from non-venomous, but I don’t mind them at all if I know it’s not something that will hurt my kids or dog.

I appreciate the pest control aspect, and I don’t even get close enough to kill them. This spring I was surprised by a snake who had apparently spent the winter under our front garden. I assume they hibernate under ground at least. Told my wife to back her things, were moving. It can have the house...

 

[mso489]

The combative mice raises a whole new vision of Mighty Mouse. I was always told hamsters could go nasty, but mine were always quite convivial, if a little aloof in their hamster way. I tried to be gentle relative to their size, so that helped. Also, I wasn't trying to eat them.

 

[LOREN]

I originally assumed my boa was female but after some research discovered it was male. Disclaimer: This post NOT intended to be Freudian.

Where did you have to look to make that discovery? ?

 

[LOREN]

Nice addition. My grandaughter has one as well. Do you feed live or frozen?

Maybe a silly question, does the mouse have to be completely thawed out first?

 

[mso489]

Snakes are reptiles, hence cold blooded, maintain the ambient temperature and hibernate in cold weather, so I think a frozen meal would have to be pretty well thawed or it might sedate the snake. But I haven't kept snakes.
Apparently the snakes know their gender identity because there seem to be plenty of them.

 

[didimauw]

Maybe a silly question, does the mouse have to be completely thawed out first?

Yes it does. Not only thawed, but warm too, from the hot water. No microwaving