Live vs Frozen Mice

[CasperPage]

Hi all,

I just got my creamsicle corn snake 3 weeks ago or so. I looked around the forums and didn't see an answer so forgive me if this has been answered before.

The lady I bought Clarice from said to feed her both live and frozen. So far I've only fed her live because I did some research and it looks like people are very unhappy with the quality of frozen that they get from Petco or Petsmart. I found a couple places online that sell them but they only sold in like bags of 50, I don't think she'll need pinky's for that long. I've got a very soft heart and it kills me to feed her live. So I'd like to find a good place to get frozen and get some things to look out for when buying to have a better chance of getting a good product for my little girl. I live in the Omaha NE/Council Bluffs IA metro area, so local would be great!

thanks!
Greg.

[Shiari]

Feed her frozen. I've not had any problems with Petco/Petsmart frozen mice when I've bought from there.

Feeding live has a good chance of passing on parasites, such as pinworms.
Feeding live has a chance of injuring, or even killing, your snake if they miss a strike.

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121326&highlight=ratbait

That thread is about a snake I took on. Yes, it was with rats instead of mice, but he's also about twice the size of most of my corns. A mouse could proportionally do the same damage. Yes, he's blind, but any snake can miss a strike. He's lucky he wasn't killed. Ceduke witnessed a ball python miss a strike on a live rat, and it leaped in and ripped the top of the snake's skull off.

[ZoologyGirl]

I've used petco/petsmart frozen pinkes/fuzzies when I had just a couple snakes needing that size. The only issue I didn't like with them was the price!

If you are willing to drive to DesMoines there is a reptile show coming up that probably would have someone selling mice http://www.iowareptileshows.com/ Or if you can find someone who lives close by and has snakes or breeds mice of their own. Or if there are any local pet stores.

[NH93]

Some people feed larger snakes (who are also painfully picky), like ball pythons, live. I personally will never do that, and I do have a ball python as well.
For smaller snakes like colubrids (corns included), there is a big chance of injury to your snake. I personally have also noticed that some corns do not always strike and coil their food. If they did not coil a live prey item it would most certainly injure them.
Switching from live to frozen/thawed should not be a problem with corns.

I definitely recommend frozen/thawed. If you are truly against buying from a large chain pet store, I encourage you to look online - even on Craig's List, as there are in-home breeders of feeding mice and rats. You can also contact any online wholesalers and ask about smaller bags of mice for your snake, explaining that you only have one mouth to feed and not 20. The breeders around where I am will also make at-home deliveries every month.

Best of luck!

[Guruofchem]

I've bought pinks from both Petco and Petsmart - Petco is cheaper, petSmart has better quality, both have been fine.

[CasperPage]

Well our first FT feeding went well. she had problems figuring out how to eat it but eventually figured it out. Went to Petsmart to get it and it seemed fine. thanks for the advice. Now if only our Rosy boa, named by high school kids...Rosy, to eat them too. she's 17 and was donated to my wife for a classroom pet so we haven't spent much time trying anything with her.

[Nanci]

My rosy eats FT without a problem, but she's kind of picky about how it's presented. She likes the mouse VERY hot, and dry (you can do this by drying it with a blow dryer) and then I feed her with tongs, but I can't just jab the mouse right in her face, she prefers if it passes by her and then slowly walks away, lightly brushing against her upper third but not into the neck/head area! And she REALLY likes to be fed in her hide box, in her viv.

[Alli_Draggy]

Another suggestion-call bio departments if you have universities near you. If they have someone who does any sort of research on something that eats mice, they likely buy feeders in bulk or breed their own-and may be willing to let you buy some from them.