Are bullsnakes opportunistic ?????

I feed all my reps frozen prey. There is a very good reason for that, too. #3 It is much cheaper (36¢ for frozen vs 1.49 each for live); #2 More convenient to keep and store large quantities, and; #1 Temperment. A rep that "chases" and kills it's food is a much more aggresive animal. This can be a problem for the handler. I have been cut to the bone on more than one occasion by a hyper snake or lizzard.

Breeders "start" young reps on dead/frozen food, because it is often very difficult to transition a snake or large lizzard to frozen food after being accustomed to live food. I'm not familiar with a "feeding stick", and I've kept/bred herptiles for 40 years. Also, "force feeding" does not consist of jamming whole animals down a snakes throat, lol. The mouse/rat/rabbit is chopped up and put into a large feeding syringe. A plastic tube is inserted in the snakes mouth, and down the throat. The syringe is attached to the tube and the food is delivered to the stomach.

Is a feeding stick kind of like a toilet plunger for jamming food in the snakes mouth? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Also, please define "chicken snake".
 
That's a guy that comes running by ya at a high rate of speed, yelling "SNAKE". Hence a chicken when there's a snake involved!!!!
 
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Is a feeding stick kind of like a toilet plunger for jamming food in the snakes mouth? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Also, please define "chicken snake".



A feeding stick is what I used to move around the frozen rat to get the snake to grab it. Of course, if the breeder all ready has the snake started on frozen food, you won't need to do this. Before our house fire, I had a small boa that took right to frozen food. I also had a wild caught chicken snake that had to be enticed with a feeding stick at first before he began taking the rat on his own. I used to keep several types of herps before the house fire. Besides the snakes I had a couple of grey tree frogs, a pair of fire-bellied toads, an Iguana, a Jackson's chameleon, and a veiled chameleon. I also had a tarrantula for a short period of time.

A chicken snake is the local term for black rat snake. They are often seen in chicken coops stealing eggs and rats around here.
 
Just out of curiosity, you thawed the mice/rats before feeding them, right? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif Just kidding. I've never used anything other than my hands to feed my reps to get them started on dead food. I held them in one hand and the food in the other. That seemed to keep them calmer.

I have a 4' Argentine Red Tegu that I can no longer hand feed. Even though he's been on frozen food for 5 years, he is an aggresive charger. I have to use tongs to hold the rat by the tail, or risk losing a finger (or two). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Black rat snakes can be really cool. What kinds do you have in the state you live in?
 
I think we also have the yellow ratsnake. I also found a huge kingsnake this spring while mushroom hunting. Lately I've been looking for a copperhead for its skin. (To put on my bow.) They are supposed to be all over indiana but I've only seen one.
There are rattlesnakes hear in isolated areas; one species, the massasauga rattlesnake, is endangered and is starting to show signs of recovering. There are water moccassins in the far southwest area of Indiana.
 
I just did a search. You've got the Black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsolete), and the Gray rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta spiloides). You also have the Northern black racer (Coluber c. constrictor), Southern black racer (Coluber c. priapus), and the Black kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula nigra).

Are your black rats the solid shiny black, or are they the ones with the brown blotches?
 
Nasa, Snake patrol? I'm in. Reminds me of the good ol days back in Louisiana. My big brother, dad, and I would go out and shoot cotton mouths, alligator gar, and nuetra rats with our 22's all day long back in the bayou.
 
The snakes that I listed were off of the top of my head. We have many species of snakes around here. I have seen a couple of racers while groundhog hunting.
All of the rat snakes I've seen were shiny black sometimes with white speckles. Some of the younger ones have brown on them but I think this pattern fades out with age.
The kingsnake that I found was a black kingsnake. He was the biggest kingsnake I've ever seen; about 6ft long. I tried to carry him around with me until I got home to get a picture but he was too aggresive.
 
I could never be content with just one hobby. If it puts me outdoors and has anything to do with animals, count me in. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I didnt think snakes were opportunistic until last year when I was driving home from work and I saw a rattlesnake in the road.I knew it was a rattlesnake by the way it was laying in the road and by its marking so I backed up to check it out.I got out and started up to it and it started buzzing but it didnt coil up or anything it just raised his head up and started crawling into the ditch.I noticed something hangin out of its mouth so I ran up to it to make it coil up so I could see what it was.I looked and it had a "flat" rat in its mouth.I could tell the rat had been on the road for a while cause it looked like a piece of cardboard with fur on it.So I guess the snake must have been too hungry or too lazy to look for a live unsquished rat but I dont know.If the rat had been fresh or something I could see why it might be appitizing to a snake but I guess he just felt like rat jerky. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
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Hmm...Good question. One of my nephews raised snakes (boas and pythons). They definitely preferred food alive and kicking, but he did feed them stuff that had been frozen. I'm thinking he had to train them to do it though?



Ive know people with snakes and the would warm the frozen mice up.
 
I have kept several lizards as pets. I have had leo geckos, house geckos, Tokay geckos (unfortunately), anoles, and a bearded dragon. The most aggressive of thse lizards was the tokay gecko. It had no problem eating pinkies.(baby mice,dead). I figure that a snake would be the same way
 
Interesting. Looking back over this post, I see a post by "me". I still think of some of the help she gave me concerning my 77/22mag. Yep, gone but not forgotten.
 
I was a Drill Sgt at Ft Bliss TX and i taught classes on desert animals ao I caught a Bull Snake that was about 9 inches long. I kept him for over a year until a new SGM came along and was scared to death of snakes and mademe get rid of him, even thoughit was a training aid. Anyway, I fed him live kangaroo rats or mice from the pet shop about once a week or every 2 weeks and the only time he was aggresive was when I fed him, otherwise he was as docile as a puppy, and bull snakes can get very aggressive. I use to catch rattlesnakes for shows to and they can be docile too, but get agressive when you move to quick and they feel threatened. I had a huge glass cage in my garage and we had 96 rattlesnakes in it before a show one time.
 
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