i have a corn snake and i am feeding it frozen mice at the moment and i just want to know if it is illegal to feed snake live mice in the uk
2007-12-15 10:40:32 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Reptiles
Animal protection laws in the U.K make the feeding of live rodents illegal except as a last resort.
2007-12-15 12:08:42 · answer #1 · answered by Thea 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can, but it's not widely reccommended. The prekilled ones don't bite back. If the snake is used to eating prekilled mice, then feeding live mice could have dangerous consequences. He/she will not know how to strike properly, and the mouse will fight back, seriously injuring the snake. A well directed bite from the mouse could cause blindness, or in a worst case scenario, death (if the mouse has really good aim and sinks its teeth into the snake's brain). Of course, the brain thing would only happen with a large mouse and a small snake. Even if the snake knows what to do, if he/she is not hungry, he/she will not strike at the mouse and the mouse will start attacking the snake premptively. If you absolutely must feed live, give the snake a rat fuzzy (baby rat just starting to grow hair) because they're too young to do much damage if they fight back. At that age, they're about the same size as a young mouse and the worst they'll do is scream bloody murder. Not pleasant for snakey's parentpeople, in fact I would find it very traumatizing, but the snake won't care if the mouse screams. Some royal pythons (also known as ball pythons, I believe) will have trouble eating prekilled, but that is the only scenario in which I would feed a snake live prey, and even then I would just feed baby rats because they do less damage.
2016-05-24 03:04:09 · answer #2 · answered by marget 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is illegal to feed live in the UK unless the animal refuses all frozen food.
2007-12-15 12:22:21 · answer #3 · answered by gallianomom2001 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would doubt it. As your corn snake gets older, he is not going to be happy eating fuzzies or such. I have one and he was delighted when I introduced live mice. I am sure other people in the UK are feeding live mice and/or rats.
2007-12-15 10:49:56 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I don't know about the legalities of it but I've heard that it can be dangerous for the snake. I guess some captive snakes don't know how to kill their prey, so they try to eat it while it's still alive. Then, the mice chew up the snake's insides, which can seriously hurt, even kill the snake.
2007-12-15 11:42:09 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Snakes pray on live snakes in the wild.
If live feeder mice are for sale in your local pet stores, then it would be legal to to feed them in your country.
2007-12-15 10:46:17 · answer #6 · answered by Please, send me 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i dont think so but i wouldnt feed live mice to a snake it is dangerous to the snake AND FCKIN CRUEL !
2007-12-16 04:55:13 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is not illegal but DeFRA say no unless vital and then you need vet advice for it. So it is a no until a vet says yes and then they help you get the live food. Hope that helps
2007-12-18 00:34:40 · answer #8 · answered by Amy G 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
U.S- no.
U.K- probably not.
ask an expert, and if you can't feed it that anymore, then ask about healthy alternatives. in the mean time, keep feeding it if you don't have an alternative, and work on contacting someone.
2007-12-15 10:45:17 · answer #9 · answered by Science Girl 21 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it cud be but feeding live animals to snakes it makes them vicious and thats not too good if u have kids around it
2007-12-15 13:53:38 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋