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Poll:Live or pre-killed?

Do you pre-kill ur rats or feed live?

  • live

    Votes: 36 13.2%

  • frozen/thawed

    Votes: 206 75.7%

  • live, then kill it myself.

    Votes: 23 8.5%

  • i give mine magical willing-to-die-by-constriction rats!

    Votes: 7 2.6%
  • Total voters
    272
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
killersloth said:
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
Click to expand...

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.
 
CARattler40 said:
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.
Click to expand...

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
 
shed'n my skin said:
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!
Click to expand...

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.
 
i like to feed frozen,,, and yes there is a chance the mouse could hurt the snake,,,mainly when the snake is young
 
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.
 
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!! :grin01:
 
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.
 
Same as above.
And I agree with that what's the point: snake can be seriously harmed in limitated space when feeding live food.
Plus there is no need to maintain mice/rat population when they are nicely packed in freezer, easy and simple. :)
 
Zeebo's always eaten f/t and frankly I'd be disgusted by having to feed him live mice. Of course, I've only ever had one snake, so I'll probably have to feed live at some point :(
 
I use frozen, due to safty reasons. Afew years back my freind had a boa, he used to feed live; yes it was cool to watch but I saw the mice bite his snake more than one time. So unless I ever have to I will not feed live.
 
Okay I have to chime in my two cents as well..I've seen this thread almost weekly since I have been a member over the last few weeks!!

I'm sure this is an age old debate amongst reptile owners..But honestly ..I personally can't see any reason to feed live ..IF and I say IF the snake will eat F/T. There is no proof like has been said previously that your snake is getting any more nutrients or that a snake on F/T will live less..Personally I think those that choose to feed live without a reason are doing it more so for the sport of it..Just my humble opinion..as I read each of these posts.

I would never personally consider live unless it was an absolute live or death of the snake ..and when you are talking hatchlings that refuse to eat ..Maybe that is just mother nature's way of weaning out the lesser of the species.

Not trying to ruffle feathers just I have read these threads for weeks now and find them kind of pointless..I dont think those that feed live will change..and those that feed f/t or pre-killed do it for a reason.
 
This thread is one of those never ending threads. I was gone for three and a half months and over that course of time I recieved about 10 emails stating someone had chimed in on this. It is way too heated of a topic for those die hard live feeders (I used to be one til' Raydin had a close call with one of the live mice). I switched quickly thereafter. Raydin was never a picky eater, if your snake has willingly accepted each meal you put in the cage (if fed on a consistent basis) it WILL, mark my words, take thawed mice.
 
I only fed live once, a pinky to a 6 week old corn who had never fed. I left the pinky in with the corn for 3 hours before thinking 'it won't eat' and offering the pink to a two week old corn who had refused its first feed. I am in a bedsit, basically a one-room apartment with bed, TV, dining table, sofa, kitchen in cupboard (I have my own shower and toilet out in the hall) and my 21 snakes and 2 leos share this space.
Shortly after I went to bed and put out the light I heard a squeak from the pinky and the next morning it was still in the feeding box with the snake, only it was now inside the snake. Urgh, I then realised that I should have left the pink overnight with the first baby, it might have taken it when the light was off.

Oh and the baby that ate the live pink? Following week it ate two F/T pinks, week after it ate four in one sitting, this week it ate three. To be fair, they were all fairly ginormous for baby corns. I bought my little adult female at 2-3 months old (she's now four) and an avid feeder, the babies were bigger than her when they first hatched.

I will resort to live pinks in the future to get awkward feeders started before switching them to F/T
 
When I get a corn next month, I plan to either feed frozen/thawed or pre-kill or otherwise handicap the mouse before feeding. My friend who has the snake now, he knocks the mouse out, so it is either unconscious or semi-conscious. And he's been doing this for years and none of his snakes have ever suffered an injury.

I'll never feed my snake a live and active mouse. I'd be too afraid he/she would get hurt :( Frankly, I feel bad for the mouse. I had pet rats before, so I have sympathy for them too. So I rather make sure they don't know what is about to happen.
 
Forget about the fact that your snake could be bitten. Rodents carry any number of parasites (worms, flukes.etc.)
Freezing kills everything.
MIKE
 
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