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Do you feed live or frozen?

Do you feed live or frozen rodents?

  • Total voters
    58
R

ryan98012

New member
I would like to know how many people prefer feeding F/T to Live rodents to their snakes. I have 7 snakes, and I feed 6 of them F/T or P/K with the exception of one. My hognose will only eat live. I like to use frozen/thawed mice because I know it is safer for the snake. I have seen some pictures of snakes that were seriously injured due to a live feeder mouse/rat. Plus, with F/T, I can just put the mouse in and leave. I don't want to have to sit and wait for a snake to eat his live mouse, to make sure he doesn't get hurt.

What do you prefer, and why?
 
You can keep it in the freezer next to the freezer burned peas you'll never eat. :grin01:
 
we feed stunned...
apartment life doesn't leave enough room in the freezer for 4 different sizes of mice/rats... let alone a box of icecream and a frozen pizza...

everythings KO'd and kept under watchful eye
 
I feed all of my snakes f/t. The only reason I selected that I'll feed live if they refuse f/t is that I have two ball pythons that I got after they were set in their ways that sometimes refuse f/t. Also I have some hatchlings that refuse f/t and I'd rather give them live pinks so that they live and switch them over when they get to other sizes though.

~Katie

Speaking of I need to go clean the freezer...mouse order is getting here tomorrow...
 
Always frozen, because they are safe, convenient, and I can but them in bulk so that I walwas have some on hand. And I haven't had a snake yet that refused them, which isn't saying all that much since I only have three... :rolleyes:
 
Well, I started out feeding live. But it took me over an hour to go drive to get the fuzzy and bring it home, and doing that every 5 days got a little tiresome. Then when I found out that I could order in bulk online, and that the mice were half as expensive at the pet store....it started sounding pretty good. It took me a few months to adjust to the idea of having mice in the freezer next to my people food, but eventually the practicality of the whole matter finally set in, and I switched to f/t. Sienna had no problem what-so-ever with switching and my other two corns have only ever eaten f/t (i think). Even crazy wild Candy pounds down f/t. In my opinion f/t is the way to go. It may not be as natural, and the mice may lose a few vitamins/minerals/ect in the freezing process, but its so convenient and cost effective you really can't beat it.:)
 
I'd rather feed all f/t, but my '05 blizzards are giving me trouble. The female hasn't eaten f/t since just before her first shed (with me), and the male changes his mind from time to time. Unfortunately, he's in a live-only phase right now. :(
 
Always live or near death. Just can't get into the frozen thing. Don't slam me, I've had enough of that :grin01:
 
Depnds who or what I am feeding.. I do live and f/t'ed.. I have very few problems with eithier..

Regards
 
All mine snakes take and get F/T. However, my daughter's classroom corn snake will only take live, so I keep an close eye on him when the food is introduced. I am trying to get him to switch over to F/T but he is more stubborn than me.
 
I always try to feed F/T just because it is safer cheaper and just plain easier but i have some KSB now that, well they dont really seemed interested in anything so i have tried live with them a few times.
 
I feed both... I have several rat colonies and I have frozen to fill the gaps when the rats are not at that "right" size for my corns and balls.
 
You go, Mike. =B


I didn't vote up top, simply because there wasn't a both or a pre-killed option.

I raise all of my own food. Don't have a frozen rodent on the premises anymore. I don't like having to thaw and dry the mice, and rebend them back into shape before feeding. I spent way more time doing f/t than what I do now.

I feed live pinkies through fuzzies, as its just as convenient for me to gather them up and toss them in. They're already at the correct temp for eating. Those that eat pinks-fuzzies kill and eat them pretty quickly anyway.

Hoppers through adults are always killed first before offering to my snakes. Anything with teeth is bopped to stun and then cervically dislocated before offering to my snakes.

My snakes have grown so much better on my own home raised mice where I know what they eat. Not to mention, its cheaper for me to raise my own. $25 for 100lb of lab block lasts me nearly 6 months, and in that time I could raise enough mice to feed all 30 of my snakes once a week in that time. However many that comes out to.
 
Taceas said:
$25 for 100lb of lab block lasts me nearly 6 months, and in that time I could raise enough mice to feed all 30 of my snakes once a week in that time.
Click to expand...

Where are you getting 100lbs for $25? I've just begun to raise my own mice, and P/K is a lot easier. I just don't have enough females to produce the amount of mice I need yet, so when I don't have live on hand, I used F/T.
 
I buy it off of a fellow rodent breeder who has it specially made at a local feed mill in nearby Kentucky. Its an ADM Alliance feed mill. The diet is called "Joe Rexing 16% Rodent Diet".

I've been having problems with my local Co-op not being unable to get it in. They can get me Mazuri, which is what most folks use. But for some reason they can't order it in 50lb bags, I can only get boxes of 6 2lb bags. =P
 
I didn't vote either because I feed both. Sometimes I feed live if I have the right size in my mice colony. If not I will feed f/t. It depends of what's available. But it is true that feeding live is really simplier and much more fun to watch too. The snakes are so funny and they constrict their prey with so much passion. :D
 
PtDnsr said:
Speaking of I need to go clean the freezer...mouse order is getting here tomorrow...
Click to expand...

Is the freezer full of frost? If not you can just clean it out with some 409 and I would stick a box of arm & hammer in there
 
I went with option 3, if they won't take the frozen I get them live but try to convert them ASAP to frozen. It's a matter of convenience, while I admire those of you who raise your own feeder rodents I tried that -I couldn't deal with the smell, baby eating, squeaky noises in the middle of the night and so forth that comes with the territory. I agree live may be better nutritionally for the snakes, I do supplement the frozen feeders with a vitamin spray about once every 4-6 meals.
 
I feed both

I have about 40 snakes and my preference is for f/t but I do have 3 that will not eat a f/t for anything and I have tried various methods but nothing has worked. I did not vote either because of feeding both.

RH
 
I've herd to many stories about how feeding a snake live prey has actualy gotten the snake killed because the prey attacked the snake, and the infection got so bad that the snake died.
 
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