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Posted by KJUN on March 16, 2003 at 21:25:30:
In Reply to: Re: Feeding... posted by Steve G on March 16, 2003 at 19:13:25:
I hope you mean prekilled and not actually live, but that is a whole other story. I know many people that prefer prekilled since it is easier to whack and drop than take the time to defrost a rodent. I used to feed fresh killed frequently back when I was breeding enough rodents for my full colony of snakes. I still perfer thawed, though.
I had a WC emoryi once that refused to take ANYTHING but like mice. One turned around and bite her... through the left eye (if I remember the correct side). The eye ruptured, but luckily (with the help of some antibiotics), the eye healed over finally and the snake didn't die. She was blind one that side from then on out, though. Poor girl, but she probably wouldn't have made it in the wild after that.
BUT, I learned my lesson and I busted my chops to get her switched over to ANYTHING but live adult mice. I eventually fgot her on live crawler rats, so it was smooth sailing from then on out. :)
To get back to the earlier question, the scales are tough and may have deflected the bites THIS time... or the put a pucture that you just couldn't locate. A needles puts a whole in your skin big enough to result in an infection, but that whole is so small that it usually is hard to see with the naked eye. A snakes skin with the scales and all can probably "hide" a much bigger hole than a needle makes in us, too. Heck, I know I can't usually find the whole following an IM or SC injection when I have to give one to a snake.
Still, it sounds like you got off easy and learned your lesson: prekilled or thawed is safer for the snake.
KJ
