i currently feed my boa live mice. i was curious about feeding rats. i havent had the need to stun the mice as jade does a good job killing them her self. I have heard that rats are much more fierce than mice and they can potentially hurt the snake. is it a good idea to stun the rats first or do you think she will be ok on her own? feeding frozen is out of the question, she wont take it thanks for your input

i feed mine frozen, as to cut down on the risk for bites and such
how big is jade?
stunning the rats would probably be better, at least at first, till she got used to eating the rats.
or even better, kill them
but rats are better than mice for her, so go ahead and try them.
hope it goes well.

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<3 Tessa

0.0.2 painted turtles (Mo and Squirt)
1.0.0 yellow bellied slider (Jebidiah)
0.1.0 Amelanistic corn snake (Rose)
1.0.0 Hog Island/Colombian Boa (Kah)
0.2.0 Colombian Boa (Jasmine) and her baby(no name yet)
1.0.0 Suriname Boa (Kayne)
0.2.0 Cats (Lilly and Reese)

My boa came from a home that fed her live rats. She had a wound on her nose and 6 along her back. We treated with ointment and as she sheds they are looking better. She switched to f/t without a problem when we got her. If your Jade won't take f/t I'd give her fresh killed or stunned before I let one take a piece out of her.

i always keep a good eye on my corn when I give him rats for this reason, but a snake that is used to feeding on live prey will usually know to bite the face. Jack screwed it up once with an evil little hampster (i got bit too.... so I cant be too hard on him......) and ever since has always gone face first with the strike. luckily neither of us were damaged

Boas are actualy much easier to switch to frozen thawed food then many other snakes (ball pythons for example) it may take a few weeks, but it is well worth switching to f/t. Less chance of injury, less risk of live food passing on parasites, more conveinent for you. There are many methods you can try, but with my boa, i simply thaw the rat out in a plastic bag submerged in a bucket of hot water, then use a blow dryer and a infrared thermometer to get the rat above 90 degrees F. Though a digital probe would work too. My snake is moved to a 10 gallon tank with a secure locking lid, and I just drop the warm rat into the tank and close the lid. It sometimes takes her a bit of time, but she'll eventualy start eating the rat. Much easier then worrying about watching the rat and the snake. Though many people have more luck dangling the rat on tongs to simulate live food. there are some great posts about switching snakes from live to pre killed, a search should bring up a few.

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"Nobody can do Everything, but Everybody can do Something."

What worked for me was switching from live, to fresh killed, then finally to frozen. It took awhile but it's worth it, less trips for the rats and much safer for the snake. Just take a look at a rats front teeth and imagine the damage they can do. It only takes one missed strike or one tenacious rat to really screw up your snake. I never much worried with mice but rats are definitely a different story. I would suggest to not even try stunned because you never know for sure. Just humanely kill the rat and be safe about it, is my suggestion.

I wouldn't feed my boa live rats because of the chance of it getting injured. Better to be safe than sorry. I would kill them before I gave one to her.

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My dream is that our love for people
and our love for animals
will one day become intertwined

Well stated!
I have converted every single snake I have ever owned to F/T, regardless of what they were being fed before I got them. It can be done, just some easier than others.
I refuse to put my snakes' well being at risk, just for the sake of human entertainment!
I have heard it over and over again that, "the snake has always been fed live so he knows what to do". Irrelevant! I personally know people who, having fed live for years, have had snakes killed by (intended) prey!

All it takes is a single mistake on the snake's part or an unexpected move on the rat's part and you have a seriously injured or even dead snake. And there isn't a person who is fast enough to prevent it if it happens.
The rat will be literally fighting for its life and they have some serious teeth!
A single bite to the spinal chord and your snake is dead!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

My snakes are so used to eating f/t that all I have to do is drop the rodents into their feeding container, and they go about eating it. My boa still constricts some times, but my corn just takes them on down.
I don't know about Jasmine yet, although the pet store where I bought her feeds all their snakes pre-killed.

One of my friends feeds his live, and his 8 1/2 foot boa got bitten pretty badly. He made the aweful mistake of letting the live rat stay in the tank with the snake (he feeds his snakes in their enclosures, and swears that they have no feeding response). It was fine for a few days, but when I was holding the snake, I noticed that it had a very fresh, and very painful looking wound on the top of its nose. Upon further inspection, the rat had chewed on his tail, and left many bites up and down the snakes body.
Why the snake didn't try to defend itself, I'll never know. The rat had no injuries whatsoever.

When I first got Kah, we fed him live, until one little mouse attempted to fight with him, and got his claws stuck in some scales. That was it for me!!!
Sorry this was so lengthy, but it is a good story for the use of f/t.

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<3 Tessa

0.0.2 painted turtles (Mo and Squirt)
1.0.0 yellow bellied slider (Jebidiah)
0.1.0 Amelanistic corn snake (Rose)
1.0.0 Hog Island/Colombian Boa (Kah)
0.2.0 Colombian Boa (Jasmine) and her baby(no name yet)
1.0.0 Suriname Boa (Kayne)
0.2.0 Cats (Lilly and Reese)