Return to frozen?

[pbyeerts]

Since Ginger ate a live mouse last week, should I continue to feed her live, or should I try to get her back to frozen/thawed? Just wondering.....

And if I should keep feeding her live, should I start keeping mice? The mouse that I fed her cost $4. Is that reasonable??

[DVirginiana]

You can continue to feed live if that's what's most convenient for you, but you can try f/t again if that's what you'd prefer. I personally wouldn't start keeping rodents just for one snake. I think the amount you'd save on food would be far outweighed by the time and money that'd go into the feeders. May make sense for a larger collection but I just don't see it working for one or two snakes.

[Ransack]

$4 dollars for a mouse is pretty expensive. In my area they are $1.89 - $2.50. Feed whatever is convenient for you. I just prefer not to feed live after hearing/reading certain horror stories and seeing snakes with scars etc. but prey attacks are really few and far between.

[Deluge]

Around here, frozen/thawed medium rats are like $5. Live medium rats are $3. Easy choice. Cheaper and 9/10 they'll eat it without any problems.

Overall, feeding a BP is not that expensive when you consider they're only eating once a week.

[Ransack]

I have fourteen Ball Pythons and man does it add up. I don't have the room to breed rats, i can't imagine the logistics and time just needed to breed food for those 100-200-300 animal collections.

[Sauzo]

I just buy live and do cervical dislocation to them. No chance of getting bit and still fresh. As for price, I pay $8 for large live rats and $3 for small live rats. $4 for an adult mouse is way too much. Are you buying from a pet shop that sells their mice as pets? Those tend to be more expensive vs buying from a reptile shop or some pet shops that have 'feeders' which are usually just the white mice and not the 'fancy' mice. I think the mice from where I buy my rats from are $1.50 or something close to that. I don't feed mice so never really paid too much attention. It's also a reptile shop where the owner has her own rat and mice colonies going.

[Darkbird]

I think most people will consider $4 for a live mouse nuts, they are a buck or maybe 1.50 around here. As for your snake, I would get it to take a couple more meals, then try frozen again. Frozen will be a lot easier for someome with a single snake, and a lot cheaper in the long run if you buy in bulk.

[pbyeerts]

I fed Ginger a live mouse, and she went for it immediately.