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Prey poll. Live or F/T

How do you prefer your prey?

  • Live and natural

    Votes: 17 13.3%

  • Live but stunned or just killed

    Votes: 15 11.7%

  • Thawed from the freezer

    Votes: 108 84.4%
  • Total voters
    128
attackturtle

attackturtle

Registered Superhero
I probably will be switching my snake to F/T soon but I wanted to poll those here to get an idea of how most people feed their snakes.

I like the F/T idea over live as parasites cant live on a frozen prey body. Also no risk for defense wounds to my snake.
 
Why is there never a "Both" and/or "all of the above" option? :shrugs:

I vote "All of the above"! It depends upon the snake!
 
I first started with F/T but they are more expensive than live and don't look so fresh. I usually buy the ArcticMice, but I have just switched to live. My corn went crazy over his first live but I keep a very close eye on the mouse to see if he's going to bite or scratch. I also make sure they are healthy looking mice because the last think I want is a sick snake.
 
CMatt2157 said:
I first started with F/T but they are more expensive than live and don't look so fresh. I usually buy the ArcticMice, but I have just switched to live. My corn went crazy over his first live but I keep a very close eye on the mouse to see if he's going to bite or scratch. I also make sure they are healthy looking mice because the last think I want is a sick snake.
Click to expand...

Well, if you get Arcticmice from a pet store like Petsmart or Pet whatever, you are getting rip off. I just started buying my on-line and it a lot less expencive than live. Beside I do like the idea parasites or a snake getting injured when you have to move up to a larger prey.
 
F/T all the time unless the snake is a problem feeder. All my snakes now accept F/T & it's much easier to keep quantities of the proper sizes on hand. I have some adults, yearlings & small yearlings & will have hatchlings in another month. I need a variety of sizes, which would be difficult to obtain if they had to be live.
 
Frozen/thawed the majority of the time.....but I do mix in a live prey item on occasion. I think occasional live prey is good for the snake's muscle development.

Chris
 
I'm in the UK (N.Ireland) and its illegal to feed live unless the animal in question is going to die and you have tried all other methods.For this reason I only feed live to hatchlings once I've tried all other methods that I know.
 
Frozem/Thawed, its a lot easier to keep some on hand and my snakes prefer them to live.
 
I have done well with both frozen and live. Right now I feed mine live because there is a pet store close by and it is really convenient.
 
P/K all the way
hooray for apartment life. there isn't enough freezer space for my food let alone food for 10 snakes (and 6 different sized rodents).
 
All my snakes take frozen except 2. My girlfriend has an 06 Ball Python right now that wants live hoppers and I have a Bairds Rat snake that prefers live hoppers over frozen.
 
F/t for my snakes. They all take them with no problem, even my 2 year old ball python who had only been fed live until he came to live with me.
 
If you're a breeder I recommend LIVE with a *BUT* = error on the side of smaller than you think the snake could do to absolutely reduce possible injury to the animal. There are actually a lot of other words of wisdom that need to be said with feeding live but for now I'll leave it at that. Use a search if you're curious about methods- no need to open pandoras box on this thread.

A second option for breeders is F/T with an *AND* make sure you offer the food dangling, and hold onto the prey for as long as you can and force the snake to fight a little for it's food.

As others have said muscle development is important but it's crucial to prevent egg-binding in breeding females. It's not proven but it makes sense and seems to be the trend.

IF you are a hobbiest with no plans on breeding then other than sadistic entertainment value, there's no reason to feed LIVE.

Good luck everyone
 
I will be feeding f/t to my little one when it comes home. My 9 month old ball python eats f/t and has thrived on it. I don't have the space or the interest in breeding feeders, and with only two snakes, it just does not seem practical.
 
i oput frozen thawed, id only do live if it was a must, like if i have a stubborn snake, like with my hatchlings, if there stubborn, i will result in live pinkys, and thats why i have a pair of mice in my shed, lol
 
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