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from frozen to life

Sedda

Sedda

New member
Well I'm wondering, I was breeding corn snakes, and I always fed my baby's defrosted pinkys, but some of the new owners are wondering if they will be able to feed them live food some day. Is there a process to it or will they just never be able to feed live since I didn't do it right away?
 
I don't know why anyone would want to take a snake that's eating f/t just fine and make it eat live. But the snake should take live food no problem, I just don't reccomend it.
 
They usually switch no problem, but I would suggest you try to discourage them.
 
Possibly, but most corns seem to switch back and forth with no problem. However, I still would discourage any potential new owner from feeding live. There are too many risks involved.
 
One of these days when I have a lot of time, I'm going to scan my Surgical Aspects of Reptile Husbandry book. They've got probably 5 or 6 pages of injuries and surgical repairs that had to be done on snakes that were bitten or literally eaten alive by their prospective prey. Not a pretty sight!
 
No risk from a corn eating a pinky though right? I dont see how their could be besides disease, but that would be controlled if its bred for food. I think pinky's would be okay but any bigger food would be an issue. I helped my friend once feed his Columbian Boa a live rat, but there was no way that rat could bite that snake. It was about 8 or 9 feet long and before we could even realize what happened the snake had wrapped up the rat and was already started on the head. Wow is all I can say!
 
I feed my hatchlings live pinkies because my petstore couldn't get any day old frozen for me and the f/t pinkies they had were way too big for the babies. They all transitioned to f/t except for three of them. I'm sure they eventually switched as well.
 
I think it would also depend upon the owner(s) situation. Ideally it would be best if all captive rasied snakes could eat F/T their entire lives, but sometimes that is not possible. For example, out where we live we don't have a ready, reliable source to purchase F/T for the number of critters we have and at a reasonable price. Yes, we could order through the web and have them shipped, but that can be expensive if you only need a small amount for one or two snakes.

We breed our own mice and work with another snake owner who orders shipments so that I can have a ready supply of both frozen and live mice for all of my snakes. Regardless of age, about 90% of our snakes will take either and any live prey larger then a fuzzy is fed with supervision or is killed/stunned before being offered to the snake. We do have a few that prefer one or the other and sometimes it's frustrating knowing they might have to skip a meal if for any reason we don't have the right kind on hand.

So, like Meg said, the best thing to do would be to discourage them, but if they are determined or have limited means of procuring F/T, then strongly advise them to supervise all feedings. For us, I don't walk away from a snake that has been given live prey. I stay until I know the snake has subdued the mouse and keep close watch in case the snake does get bit. Typically the more severe wounds and damage a snake will get from a mouse or rat happens because the rodent was left with the snake unattended for long hours. That's not 100% true in all cases but in many of them it is.

ANYway, I've rambled enough.

Jenn *sinking back into the safety of the shadows.*
 
If you can't get f/t I ALWAYS stun first. Most people can't get up the nerve to do so. I've seen mice that move so fast that they can bite your snake and be done before you have a chance to stop them. Case in point was that video that guy posted about the mouse kissing his snake. He was supervising, and the mouse was in less than a minute, yet it was able to walk up and sniff the nose of the snake in that time without being stopped. You never know if the snake will strike then, or as in this case, just sit there while the mouse takes a nip. The only exception I made to that rule was when I fed a live moving small mouse to my female after she layed her eggs. She was uninterested in the f/t and was very thin. It was suggested I try live to jumpstart her back into eating. It did work, but I can tell you that I was so nervous watching. She made quick work of the mouse, but it didn't make me breath any easier until I was sure. After that she was right back on f/t!
 
I have one Texas Rat who I made the mistake of offering fresh-killed twice in a row.

This snake now refuses f/t - and regurged the last f/t I offered after waffling about taking it, acting scared of it and generally making a nuisance of herself. Doesn't have any problem with fresh-killed, but won't take frozen any more.

My other snakes will swap back and forth quite happily - the trigger in our household whether someone gets f/t or fresh-killed is "do I have live ones of appropriate size for you today?" as I prefer to feed my snakes mice I know have had a humane life and death, plus a known diet.

I'm just trying to work out what I'm going to do when I've got snakes big enough to take rats... because I've been told I'm absolutely forbidden to breed them. I'm considering Multimammate mice, actually, as a halfway.

To be honest, if I'd known that Siren would decide she doesn't like f/t (even if you dry-thaw it or dry it off thoroughly after thawing in water) I wouldn't have ever offered her anything other than the F/T she was taking when I got her, never mind my own ethical preferences.

Feeding live... I have no desire to see my snakes mutilated by sharp little rodent teeth. I may have the means to offer live food, but at a minimum every single rodent I feed from my mouse colony is deeply anesthetised - they've stopped the agonal gasps before I offer them.

If a snake's eating F/T and someone wants advice on converting to live, the advice I'd give would be "Don't." If a snake's eating F/T and someone wants to convert to fresh-kill ... they need to know that it might be difficult to get the snake to swap back to F/T if F/T becomes more convenient for the owner.
 
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