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Feeders Any and all issues about raising rats, mice, or anything else that you feed your cornsnakes.

View Poll Results: Do you pre-kill ur rats or feed live?
live 39 13.78%
frozen/thawed 213 75.27%
live, then kill it myself. 24 8.48%
i give mine magical willing-to-die-by-constriction rats! 7 2.47%
Voters: 283. You may not vote on this poll

Poll:Live or pre-killed?
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Old 03-12-2007, 08:00 AM   #61
snakemom1961
I fed Tiaga live for about 3 years after we got her, only because the petshop I got her from fed her live and I had no idea there was such a thing as f/t till I came to this site. I started with adult mice on her then small rats. Once I found out about f/t. I started her on those and she never missed a meal(till this last shed when she was in blue feeding day and ate 2 feeder breeder f/t the day after she shed) But I will adimit I just fed a live mouse to her this weekend, It was a holdback from our last litter that we thought we would breed but ended up being a bitty little b$#@!, so yesterday she became Tiaga food. No I didn't stun the mouse or anythin but since Tiaga had been use to live before I didn't worry much about the mouse hurting her. I'd not feed live again to my snakes unless something like this came up again though....I truly feel f/t is probably the best bet for our snake friends. Hope this helps you.
 
Old 03-15-2007, 03:14 PM   #62
killersloth
I just got a corn snake (yesterday), and the pet store said they were feeding it "fuzzies". Should I worry about them being live? Or just worry about it when I go to full size mice?

I have had snakes (Milk Snake, Red Tail Boa, and King Snake) before (about 8 years ago) and we fed them live mice/rats, unless they didn't eat them, then we would kill and freeze them for later. It looks like I will be feeding dead mice though.

Thanks
 
Old 03-21-2007, 04:36 PM   #63
knightjar
Ours all get frozen/thawed. We actually keep them in a spare ice cube tray in the freezer - really convenient and my gf coined the name "mice cubes".

Incidentally we also keep rats as pets, so add me to the odd list.
 
Old 03-23-2007, 11:04 AM   #64
snakemom1961
Quote:
Originally Posted by killersloth
I just got a corn snake (yesterday), and the pet store said they were feeding it "fuzzies". Should I worry about them being live? Or just worry about it when I go to full size mice?

I have had snakes (Milk Snake, Red Tail Boa, and King Snake) before (about 8 years ago) and we fed them live mice/rats, unless they didn't eat them, then we would kill and freeze them for later. It looks like I will be feeding dead mice though.

Thanks
Live fuzzies won't be able to harm your snake. The problem comes with live older mice. They are very much able to inflict injury to your snake, which is the reason most people feed f/t starting at hatchlings. That way you will never have to worry about harm coming to your baby. If you have a snake that won't eat f/t, then that's a different story. But I myself having had a snake who started on live and now accepts f/t with no probelms, would always feed f/t if given the chance.
 
Old 03-30-2007, 06:44 AM   #65
KJUN
Quote:
Originally Posted by CARattler40
The really aren't any, other than "exercise," which can be achieved by giving the snake a swim or by simply handling the snake. If the snake will take it (which most snakes will), f/t is definitely the best option, especially with adult mice/rats.
I always laugh when people say they feed live because the snakes need the excercise. When someone stresses that strongly (which I know you were not), I just ask them if they really believe 60 seconds of constriction a week makes much of a difference? They usually give me a blank look in return.....lol. Face it - they WANT to watch the snakes kill or they are just not up to killing the mice themselves - and are searching for some justification to warrant the act to themselves. If they really wanted the snake to get excercise, they'd provide a larger cage or skip a meal. Actually, I do that in the spring to mine. If they miss a week, they spend a few days LOOKING for food. They move around. Sometimes, they move a lot. I think that excercise IS good for them, and responsible (at least in part) for why we always have such low rates of dustocia.

KJ
 
Old 03-30-2007, 06:47 AM   #66
KJUN
Quote:
Originally Posted by shed'n my skin
Poor boa... and it could have been prevented by simply thumping the mouse against the wall. It's not that hard to do... You can't always rely on the snake to kill its food, in captivity their hunting skills are not honed and it's our responsibilty as keepers to prevent such tragedies!
I've had ONE problem wit hfeeding live, and it was with a WC ratsnake. She wouldn't eat thawed OR prekilled. This was before I was breeding rats (to feed them the large pups that can't bite), so I had to feed her live mice. She grabbed one, the mouse turned around and bit threw her eye. pop. The snake trhankfully lived and there was never any infection, but she was completely blind on that side. Feeding live IS dangerous for the reasons y'all list above.
 
Old 04-09-2007, 06:35 PM   #67
moonwalker
i like to feed frozen,,, and yes there is a chance the mouse could hurt the snake,,,mainly when the snake is young
 
Old 04-17-2007, 07:03 AM   #68
westexherps
We feed both depending on the snake. All of my corns are on a strict F/T diet, however the ball pythons generally eat all live. That being said, our snakes are never given a live food item and left alone with it. Live takes longer in our house b/c we sit there until the prey is dead but many of our ball pythons are several years old and refuse to take F/T consistantly. My personal choice is to feed F/T constantly however there is a larger breeder that comes to mind that will feed live to adult female corns b/c of exercise and muscle tone. It's not the constricting that is giving them the excerise but the hunt, they have usually have to look for the food in question and chase it down and usually by the time a female is gravid she can't eat large prey so the chances of bites are very slim.
 
Old 04-23-2007, 01:39 AM   #69
tricksterpup
Ok, another reason to go strictly frozen. Tonight I was feeding my MBK and she only eats live feeds. Well I picked up the mouse to stun him and before I could to the whack he climbed up and bite me. We I got pretty angry and smacked pretty hard and my girl did a double loop with him and constricted him to the point of eye popping out. So i got double revenge on the lil SOB!!
 
Old 04-25-2007, 11:07 PM   #70
catitus
I'm feeding frozen/thawed pinkies to my bubblegum ratsnake baby. I've bred those mice myself. Here in Finland is illegal feed live mice/rats to snakes/lizards/etc if the animal eat dead food. Temporary you can feed live food if the snake.. doesn't eat dead food.
 

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