Feeding live to F/T babies ??

I've got two 7 month old hatchlings that are eating fine on F/T. I have a co-worker who breeds rats and mice (for pet purposes mostly) who gives me some mice for my older snake. Recently he came to me saying he has a new batch of mice and he's trying to get rid of a few and told me he'd bring me some of his litter to give for the snakes to try.

With my bigger snake, I have no problem feeding live as she just switched right over and liked live better IMO. Wondering what some opinions are on converting younglings from F/T to live.

This may sound terrible but I would take the new 'live' ones and freeze em.. You are much better off having your snakes used to F/T, sometimes once they get into live feedings they won't go back. I had a BP that was super fussy and would never eat anything but live, and it was really annoying to have to locate live mice every time she ate, instead of a trip the the freezer it was a trip to the store.. Unless you want to switch them to live forever, don't start down that road.

There are tons and I mean tons of threads about this subject. Use the search feature and you can find them. Personal I would feed any snake a live mouse or rat. There is too much danger to the snake if something happens. Google images of rodent bites on snakes. Some will argue its rare, but do you really want to put your snake at risk for injury. You can feed pre-killed just as easily as live. Again use the search feature on this forum and you will find most everyones opinions and suggestions!

Originally Posted by beautifullywild77

There are tons and I mean tons of threads about this subject. Use the search feature and you can find them. Personal I would feed any snake a live mouse or rat. There is too much danger to the snake if something happens. Google images of rodent bites on snakes. Some will argue its rare, but do you really want to put your snake at risk for injury. You can feed pre-killed just as easily as live. Again use the search feature on this forum and you will find most everyones opinions and suggestions!

You meant would NOT I assume

Yeah, either flick the pinkies in the back of the head or just put them in the freezer. I think it is more humane to kill them first. I'd also switch your adult back to f/t.

Why would you ever want to switch to live? There are no benefits and many risks (including the mouse killing your snake) when you feed live.

Please don't just throw them in the freezer; it's extremely cruel and inhumane. How would you like to be frozen to death? It's very painful and you do not "just go to sleep". Have your friend euthanize them first, you can buy the equipment to do it yourself, or if you know how to do it right, you can whack them against a wall or counter to quickly kill them first. I can't tell you how to do it right though, as I went the way of building my own CO2 chamber.

In general it's a lot easier and cheaper to feed F/T, as well as safer for your snake.

Right, need to become a contributor to edit... I would NEVER feed my snakes live prey that would hurt them. I have feed my adult spotted python Live hoppers and rat pups trying to get him to start eating but never something that could do damage to him.

Originally Posted by Sita

Please don't just throw them in the freezer; it's extremely cruel and inhumane. How would you like to be frozen to death?

More or less so than being suffocated to death or being eaten alive?

Originally Posted by mini4x

More or less so than being suffocated to death or being eaten alive?

CO2 IS humane and they are rendered unconscious in seconds and literally die in their sleep.
Freezing anything with fur takes a long time and is very cruel. They suffer horribly that way.

Originally Posted by Sita

Why would you ever want to switch to live? There are no benefits and many risks (including the mouse killing your snake) when you feed live.

Please don't just throw them in the freezer; it's extremely cruel and inhumane. How would you like to be frozen to death? It's very painful and you do not "just go to sleep". Have your friend euthanize them first, you can buy the equipment to do it yourself, or if you know how to do it right, you can whack them against a wall or counter to quickly kill them first. I can't tell you how to do it right though, as I went the way of building my own CO2 chamber.

In general it's a lot easier and cheaper to feed F/T, as well as safer for your snake.

I am 100% with you on your stance on feeding live. To the OP, there are no benefits and no your snake does not like feeding live more. They are instinct driven animals and when offered live vs. f/t may take live at first because that is their INSTINCT. Not a personal preference. And if you think about it, predators want the easiest prey to catch (that's why they go for the young, the old, sick, and injured) so feeding f/t would be much proffered! Plus many snakes don't show any signs of really knowing the prey is dead and go ahead and constrict it anyway.

I did want to point out, Sita, that CO2 is actually VERY inhumane for euthanizing pinkies/fuzzies. These little guys are designed to cope with small amounts of oxygen because they're so crowded under their fuzzy mom/littermates so it takes way longer to die that way and presumably it's painful and panicking. They are not, however, designed to deal with any amount of cold and will die very quickly once put in a freezer.