Live vs. F/T

[pigfat]

I know this has probably come up too many times to count, but I cant find the threads, so I apologize. My BP will be here next Wednesday and they guy I bought him from feeds live rats. Is live feeding really detrimental to their health? I know this is the way they would feed in the wild but I'm afraid of a rat hurting my BP.

[Skittles1101]

This topic comes up so much. No, it is not necessary to feed live if you do not choose to. I have 8 ball pythons and 1 boa, and only one baby ball python has refused everything f/t and only eats live, all my others eat f/t without issue. I don't feed live for a few reasons, not that people don't successfully feed live with zero issues either. Feed f/t or pre killed if you choose, it has no effect in my experience in the snakes health.

[rperry03]

You can try a f/t and if he refuses supervised live feedings is just fine. Keep a hook handy just in case the snake gets a bad strike. Just don't leave a live rodent in there if he does not hit on it in a short amount of time.

[kitedemon]

The first thing you need to think about is getting your new royal to eat once you have a few feedings in then you can think about switching. Give the little guy a chance to settle in before springing new things on him.

F/T is usually easier unless you plan on breeding rats which isn't really very practicle for a single snake. There is lots of debates around this but F/T will never bite your snake. It is always a chance no matter how careful you are with live. Supervised live feedings to start then try F/T and see how that goes.

[el8ch]

The first thing you need to think about is getting your new royal to eat once you have a few feedings in then you can think about switching. Give the little guy a chance to settle in before springing new things on him.

Agreed! Get them feeding regularly then try the switch. Half of my collection feed frozen and half feed live. I do not prefer one over the other and have yet to haveany complications when feeding live. My hatchlings feed live and my older snake are on F/T. The one thing I like about live is that when the meal is refused I can just toss it in a bin for next feeding, F/T is wasted unsless someone else decides the'd like a second meal.

[rabernet]

I'm a live feeder, always have been. It's more convenient for me living in an apartment than f/t. And at this point, I really don't have an interest in thawing out 50+ rodents every week.

I've fed off over 10K live prey in the time I've been keeping snakes, and I've never had an injury, and have never intervened on behalf of the snake (with tongs, etc).

I advocate that each keeper feeds what they are most comfortable feeding and that their snake will eat. For me, it's live.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Feed what works for your animal, is readily available and is convenient for you.

It's all about knowing your options and feeding responsibly whether it's live or f/t

I mainly feed live, some get f/t since I sometimes get surplus when breeding rats.

Whatever works is what should be fed.

[Bill T]

I prefer using live becouse the snakes prefer it and eat more of it. Just makes it easier to bulk up females before breeding season

[benwallage9]

I use to only feed my corn snake live, at the time I had one other ball python that ate f/t. I feed the corn snake f/t for the majority of its meals and live only as a "treat." One day the snake didn't get a decent strike on the mouse the mouse started biting the snake. I grabbed a large spoon which was close to me and had to break the mouses neck with the snake curled around it. It wasn't fun and I didn't like having doing it.

To each their own but in my opinion f/t is the way to go. You have people that have always feed live and never had a problem but then you always hear the horror stories or see the pics of snakes all messed up from being feed live. I now have 6 ball pythons 1 boa and 1 corn snake they all eat f/t. Now it wasn't the easiest thing to do to switch them to f/t but it can be done. My suggestion if the snake is over a year old don't offer live again. Give him a week to get use to his place offer him f/t if he doesn't take it leave it in his cage overnight. If the prey is still there when you wake up take it out throw it away and try again later. I do this on an every 4 day cycle till the rat or mouse is gone.

It does take time to switch though and you have to be keep to your guns, the snake will eat when hungry enough. If it is a hatchling then by all means feed it live but something defenseless like a rat pup its first couple of meals and then try to switch to f/t. one last tip i have found it to be easier to get them to take f/t when you do a couple of things. Make sure your meal is warm, ball pythons have heat pits and they can tell if the meal is live or not, simply by the temp they are registering. Scent the room, I let my f/t thaw out in a 5 gal bucket before feeding so the snakes smell the food and start to get ready to eat. And move the prey, I always use tongs to move the f/t prey around this helps them think it is live as suppose to just throwing a dead mouse in the tank.

I have had great success switching ball pythons with the methods listed above. All of my ball pythons came to me as live feeders, and all have been successfully switched. I hope this helps, in the end feed whatever is easiest and most feasible for you. I hope this hopes and good luck

[mommanessy247]

live feeder here too. my only problems with it are that once the rat realizes the situation it becomes defensive & offering it more then once at that point has just led to it turning on my snake. she has yet to be bitten though cuz i'm always parked right in front of the cage with the doors somewhat open so i can get in & intervene if needed. typically my snake grabs the rat within the first minute the rat is put in but the minute she hesitates or turns away i take the rat out straight away.
the problem i'm having with refusals & live feeders is that the store owner of the place i buy my feeders from is getting to the point where he is no longer allowing me to bring in the rats my snake refuses, either for an exchange or just a return.
for those reasons i wish my girl would take f/t or even prekilled but she wont touch 'em if they're dead/dying. i swear its like she looks at me like
"hey! i did not kill that! dont expect me to eat it."
good luck though with whatever method you choose.