Change from frozen to live

Originally Posted by Nanci

Every snake I have had who was fed live before coming to me (as well as WC) has had worms. Every one.

Then I would suspect that my Cheerio does have worms. No, I've never done a fecal test.
I would also suspect, with no real evidence, that a snake eating only frozen and always being in a closed environment wouldn't have them.
The question I have now would be whether that is normal and not detrimental, or if it causes ill effects in life quality or longevity. I have an old snake, she's never exhibited signs of any illness, no change. She can still put on weight easily if I let her, has good poop, great eater, good sheds.
Edit add: I was way off on the date, I'm not so good at that. We got her in 2002, they told us at that time she was seven.

Originally Posted by susang

What about the risk of parasites with fresh killed as opposed to f/t?

Are you catching your own mice from your property? If so then yes they have parasites. If you get mice from a clean facility, and a repitable breeder then good luck getting any parasites. They would never sell any mice that might have parasites. The freezing process makes sense and all but you are losing some nutrients. Pre-killed moments before feeding is fine, no risk of bitting, or scratching. They freeze mice for our conveniance, not the snakes.

Originally Posted by Lyion

If you break the neck, isn't it prekilled? (This isn't sarcastic, I'm actually confused about what you are saying)

yes it is prekilled, but when you freeze mice they lose nutrients a very small amount but still losing. Pre-killed seconds before feeding takes out the risk of bitting, and scratching, plus it gives all the right nutrients to your snake. Freezing mice is for human conveniance, do snakes have the choice to freez their meals? No. so why.

Originally Posted by Nanci

Have you had a fecal done to look for parasites? Every snake I have had who was fed live before coming to me (as well as WC) has had worms. Every one. To be fair, I haven't checked any who were fed FT from hatching for worms...

Originally Posted by worldsofwonder

Are you catching your own mice from your property? If so then yes they have parasites. If you get mice from a clean facility, and a repitable breeder then good luck getting any parasites. They would never sell any mice that might have parasites. The freezing process makes sense and all but you are losing some nutrients. Pre-killed moments before feeding is fine, no risk of bitting, or scratching. They freeze mice for our conveniance, not the snakes.

Originally Posted by worldsofwonder

yes it is prekilled, but when you freeze mice they lose nutrients a very small amount but still losing. Pre-killed seconds before feeding takes out the risk of bitting, and scratching, plus it gives all the right nutrients to your snake. Freezing mice is for human conveniance, do snakes have the choice to freez their meals? No. so why.

First off, yes mice from a clean facility can have worms, didn't you read what Nanci said? Every single snake she has ever had that has eaten live food has had worms.
And I would imagine that getting allll the nutrients possible is very important to a snake that never knows when it is going to eat again, but captive animals that eat every week get all the need as far as nutrients, whether the food is frozen or not.

Originally Posted by starsevol

First off, yes mice from a clean facility can have worms, didn't you read what Nanci said? Every single snake she has ever had that has eaten live food has had worms.
And I would imagine that getting allll the nutrients possible is very important to a snake that never knows when it is going to eat again, but captive animals that eat every week get all the need as far as nutrients, whether the food is frozen or not.

Because one person says they have checked everyone of their snakes, sure, if you say so. I have hundreds of snakes and good luck checking all of them. I have checked some and they came back as clean for parasites, all were fed pre-killed.

Originally Posted by worldsofwonder

Because one person says they have checked everyone of their snakes, sure, if you say so. I have hundreds of snakes and good luck checking all of them. I have checked some and they came back as clean for parasites, all were fed pre-killed.

Yippee, you checked some of your hundreds of snakes. Whoopy do.
Stating that snakes can't get parasites from live mice is a false statement IF SOMEONE'S SNAKES GOT PARASITES FROM LIVE MICE!!!

Your vast store of knowledge fails to impress......

Originally Posted by worldsofwonder

yes it is prekilled, but when you freeze mice they lose nutrients a very small amount but still losing. Pre-killed seconds before feeding takes out the risk of bitting, and scratching, plus it gives all the right nutrients to your snake. Freezing mice is for human conveniance, do snakes have the choice to freez their meals? No. so why.

Seriously, you're pre-killing for ~640 snakes??? How do you even handle that many live mice???

Actually freezing mice and then thawing doesn't really lose all that much nutrients for it to be better to feed pre-killed or live. Just like freezing your meat from cows or elk. Believe me I asked a professor of meat science that question.

I also highly doubt big breeder facilities check every single mouse or rat they breed for parasites. Look at what happened with RodentPro. There is a higher chance of contracting parasites from live or prekilled rodents.

Originally Posted by Nanci

Seriously, you're pre-killing for ~640 snakes??? How do you even handle that many live mice???

Very good point!!

Also, owning alot of something for a long long time does NOT mean you're an expert. I own alot of shoes, and have owned shoes all my life but that doesnt make me a cobbler.

Just a friendly word of advice, you would fit in alot better around here if you would lose the arrogance.

Originally Posted by Nanci

Seriously, you're pre-killing for ~640 snakes??? How do you even handle that many live mice???

are you serious? if one can have 640 snakes one can handle the amount of mice. I built a seperate play house in the backyard which house the mice. I have it down to a science, feeding takes 2 days to accomplish, all snakes are feed on time. The babies eat live pinkies, it's hard to sever the spine of a pinkie, there is no tail to hold on to.