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Switching From Frozen To Live Food???

CMatt2157

CMatt2157

Don't Be "That Guy"
Hey, I was wondering if anyone out there has had any trouble with switching from f/t to live or live to f/t. I am currently feeding my snake f/t but my friends mouse had an unexpected delivery. She does not want the pinkies, and since they are about the right size to feed, will my snake have any trouble switching to live from his previous f/t meals? And if he's successful at switching, will he be able to switch back to f/t? If anyone has any experience on this, that would be great. Thanks.
 
I wouldn't do it. Only because there are stories of snakes not going back to f/t If you worried i'd say cull them freeze them and then thaw them when you need them.
 
Yeah, I was thinking about that process, but I wanted to see how he reacts with live prey. The pinky is obviously too small to inflict damage, but my snake is a very mellow eater... Never constricts or really lunges for that matter. The problem I don't want is for him to become picky with live or f/t.
 
I wouldn't chance it. If you like try for 1 feeding. I've tried my snake didn't want it.
 
Really... I couldn't see how a snake would not want live prey. Well I'm still not quite sure yet, but either way, I have a frozen and live one. Might be a coin flip to see which one he will get.
 
No. He wasn't hungry. He didn't want it. Somewhere in here it says if your snake doesn't accept the food let them go a day or two before offering again. I think. But i left him for 2 days and gave him his regular F/T
 
Switching from F/T to live does present the problem that you may have to go through switching it back to F/T.

One problem I had when switching one of my boas back and forth was that he was so used to eating F/T prey that he would no longer constrict just suck them up and start swallowing. He did this to a live pink once. After that day I never fed him a live pink again.

You are right a mouse pink really poses no danger to your snake. Rather than feeding it live though why not toss them in an ice cube tray and put them in the freezer. This way youll be using the mice pinks and will still keep it on F/T.

Bryan
 
A snake is what a snake is

I have a nice big amel corn who ate F/T from birth till two years of age. I recently started to give her live mice. While she never constricted any dead mice she knew what to do at once with a living one. It is in a cornsnake to kill and eat mice. :madeuce: period. There are some timid animals that need or prefer dead but those are the exception and most of them would not survive in the wild if they were born there.

Now here is some interesting things that happened as she switched to live mice. The first one she got lucky I guess text book kill with a head grab and constriction.

The second one she grabed by the butt and wrapped up on him. He bit her of course no damage but enough to pinch her, piss her off and make her do the rattle snake impersationation (only time she EVER did that).

Over time she would get a head shot or not and when not again get bit.

Then she started to do something I have never seen for about 6 feedings. I can only guess this was an adaptation to being bit :shrugs: she started to grab the mouse tail, lay her body across the mid body, pull like hell on the tail and crush the mouse against the floor of her viv. I figured this was her new way of doing things and it would last. I should have took a picture cause she is back to headshots and typical constriction.

I want to be clear on this tail grab and crush, it was nothing like constriction as she never wrapped up at all. It was tail in the mouth, body across the mouth and push and pull crushing the mouse like some giant tree. I have never seen any other snake do this.

I gave up on seeing her do it again. We now have a new ritual, I bring home food in those little boxes they have at the pet store and she now understands the box. I open her viv and the box and hold the box at the top of the viv, she crawls up, sticks her head in, snap and back into the viv she drops.

This snake has a lot of personality for a snake and feeding her live has brough more of it out. F/T is easier and really necessary for lots of snakes and it is what I use for my collection but I have taken to feeding this one gal live just for the different ways she adapts her feeding over time.

She seems to prefer it but in a pinch when I feed her F/T she is still happy to eat it. Hell in a pinch I have even sprinkled mouse hair on beef strips and gotten young corns to happily take that,

Jack
 
every once in a while i will feed live. generally they will just swallow a live pink with out constricting, but once they get bigger it seems like the snakes know to just constrict it.
 
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