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WHAT DO YOU PREFFER??

what dou you preffer>??

  • live

    Votes: 3 6.0%

  • frozen

    Votes: 47 94.0%
  • Total voters
    50
  • Poll closed .
E

erac262

New member
i was just wandering what do the majority of people like to feed their cornsnakes live or frozen ???? you can just vote if you wish but i would like some input on why you woulde feed live or frozen thank you. :D
 
i have never feed live cause im afraid the mose will hurt my snakes but i would def love to watch them eat live mice
 
I have seen ppl feed live..... I have even had to do it a couple times and it just makes me wanna puke......I know my snakes have to eat but I dont wanna hear the screaming of the mouse while it is dieing. I do raise my own rodents plus order some online as well. But the ones I raise are frozen. then thawed as they are needed.
 
I prefer frozen because it's cheaper to buy in bulk, easier to store, easier to feed (you don't have to monitor your snake feeding) and there's no risk of a f/t mouse biting or harming your snake. Unless it's a zombie mouse. I only have two that refuse f/t out of 80 snakes and they get several large fuzzies or small hoppers instead of an adult mouse to prevent injury to the snake.
 
I use thawed or freshly killed mice only. My one big one ONLY eats live or freshly killed.

I have fed live in the past (big one didn't want freshly killed at that stage) and NEVER heard the mice "screaming".. ????

Live are not recommended if the mouse is bigger than a large fuzzy, they can do serious damage with their teeth and even a small bite can get infected and become a big problem.
 
When I got Tiaga 4 years ago from the pet store, I hadn't known about frozen. The store fed live so that is what I did also.

It wasn't until I came here that I read about f/t. I tried one on Tiaga and have been using those ever since for all my snakes.

As was said before frozen are much less expensive and easier to buy large quantities. I've not had a problem keeping them in the freezer for 6 months or more.
 
If the mouse was killed instantly, without suffering or having the chance to harm the snake, I really wouldn't have a problem with feeding live mice. Since this isn't the case, F/T is a no-brainer.
 
I feed f/t almost exclusively, for the same reasons others have stated -- easy to store, cheaper, no chance of injury to the snake, and freezing kills any parasites the feeder rodent may have.

I have had to feed live on rare occasions when a snake would go on a prolonged hunger strike; usually male pythons that sometimes go off feed during the winter. After the one live meal, they all go back to f/t with no problems.

Kathy
 
I prefer frozen. Butter prefers live. Right now, we compromise and he gets 'very recently live but still kicking.' He'll eventually be eating frozen.
 
Ankh (my BP) only eats live so I have to... I used to feed live but I recently switched to frozen because of my corns and my hoggy. Spike gets f/t medium rats also. I'm so happy he can go either way and he's not picky like most BPs, well, he won't eat black mice so he's racist but that's ok... because he's a snake... :uhoh:
 
In my opinion, there is NO REASON to feed live unless the will not eat thawed or prekilled at all. Beyond the fuzzy stage, there is too large of a risk of a snake getting harmed. It's not a giant risk at all, but it is still too large of a risk that is almost always avoidable in a keeper that is worth their keep. Want a good sign of a poor snake owner? Feeding anything larger than a fuzzy alive is frequently a GOOD sign of that fact. Feeding fuzzies and smaller is usually not a risk to the snake, but that can make it more difficult to get the snake on thawed once it requires something larger...and a lot of people have a problem with causing undue stress to the mice that could be avoided if killed first. Personally, I don't get bent out of shape over a snake eating a pink alive, but that doesn't mean I get some sick thrill out of seeing the mouse suffer, either.

I do it with no regrets when I have to, and I avoid it when I can.
 
I personally feel that Frozen is the only way to go.

There are many reasons why this is so important.
Here are a few pictures that illustrate this.
bite2.jpg


bite3.jpg


I myself have dealt with a boa that came into the herp society and needed to be fostered. He had an abscess that was from a rodent bite. At the time, i could not afford to take it to the vet and our adoption committee took it in and also re fostered it out. The snake is still alive after all these months but is still having feeding issues and is still being medicated for the wound. I was told that you were able to place a pencil through the wound and it came out the side of the mouth. It wasn't a pretty site.

Now yes, at times you will get an animal that will not eat frozen. If you do get an animal like this, I recommend totally stunning it or freshly killing the animal, then feed it to your snake. But keep on trying to feed it frozen. play with the rodent and eventually your snake will take it. It has worked for me with difficult feeders
Heck, in this thread, i coaxed in this snake in the cage, typically I am a tub feeder and she has not taken a live since then and eats in her tub.
 
I feed frozen to all of my snakes at home and at work. If I have a snake that only eats live, I do everything I can to switch them to f/t. With enough time and patience, I have yet to find a snake from corn to ball python that won't eventually accept f/t.

Granted...I don't deal with large constrictors. Nothing larger than RTBs...but so far, knock on wood...everything has been "convertable" with enough effort and stubborness on my part...
 
tyflier said:
I feed frozen to all of my snakes at home and at work. If I have a snake that only eats live, I do everything I can to switch them to f/t. With enough time and patience, I have yet to find a snake from corn to ball python that won't eventually accept f/t.

Granted...I don't deal with large constrictors. Nothing larger than RTBs...but so far, knock on wood...everything has been "convertable" with enough effort and stubborness on my part...
Click to expand...

Hey Chris, would like to take a visit to minnesota and help me with a Dumeril's boa? This wee guy is giving me nothing but problems, will only take live aka freshly killed hoppers. I think next is the live and then a frozen. I think this trick may work. :)
 
tricksterpup said:
Hey Chris, would like to take a visit to minnesota and help me with a Dumeril's boa? This wee guy is giving me nothing but problems, will only take live aka freshly killed hoppers. I think next is the live and then a frozen. I think this trick may work. :)
Click to expand...
Well...it's been my experience that if I can get a snake to accept fresh killed that is still "twitching", the next step is "not-so-fresh" killed, meaning I wait until after it stops twitching. Once they accept pre-killed that is no longer twitching, I go with F/T that has been blow dried. In my mind, a completely dry F/T mouse is virtually no different than a freshly killed mouse that is no longer twitching. Once they take F/T that has been blow dried...it's only a matter of time before they accept a dripping wet F/T mouse...

Of course...this is only my experience. I try to go in steps. With my BP, it was VERY difficult to convert her. For the first several feedings, she would absolutely NOT eat if I was visible, which eliminated ALOT of fresh kill and F/T options...especially since she required movement. So with her, not only did I need to convert her to F/T, but at the same time I was converting her away from being so shy. It took ALOT of time and effort...roughly 4 months of feeding every 5-7 days, before she finally accepted an F/T mouse that was still wet and just laying there. To add to our troubles...she was incredibly emaciated and on the verge of death when I got her...which only made the trust issues and conversion that much more difficult.

There is a thread around here somewhere that details the steps I took to get her in shape and converted. Somewhere in the general chit-chat forum...
 
tricksterpup said:
Hey Chris, would like to take a visit to minnesota and help me with a Dumeril's boa? This wee guy is giving me nothing but problems, will only take live aka freshly killed hoppers. I think next is the live and then a frozen. I think this trick may work. :)
Click to expand...

Have you just tried switching it to thawed large pink or peach rats? Sometimes, rats taste so good snakes will eat them when they woul;d never have touched a dead mouse. I don't like switching boas to rats too early in life, but that's still better than live (for me).

KJ
 
I mostly feed frozen--unless I have a stubborn eater, then I will give them a live pinky or fuzzy. I only do this for my younger ones because I don't like them to miss too many meals. I also don't like the "screaming" of the mice. My snakes are so used to prekilled food, they don't care which end they start eating first. I've had some snakes eat the babies butt end first, so they don't die right away.

Will a snake get "spoiled" if they are fed live on occasion? Will they be less likely to eat F/T later on?
 
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