which do you prefere?

[adizziedoll]

just wondering for future knowledge...maybe some of you breeders out there can give me a hint?

[mlededee]

any food, as long as they are eating, though i do prefer for them to be on rats.

[cassandra]

As a suggestion, you might want to do a search on this topic as there have been several polls on this on already with plenty of opinions tossed around. =)

[daniel1983]

any food, as long as they are eating, though i do prefer for them to be on rats.

I think the same....live, f/t, p/k....it does not make a difference as long as they are eatting.

[adizziedoll]

As a suggestion, you might want to do a search on this topic as there have been several polls on this on already with plenty of opinions tossed around. =)

I've seen the general discussion of what to feed your snakes, but not on preferences of when you BUY the snake. If you could find me the links that would be great

[jknudson]

I feed whatever they prefer to gobble down.

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

Is this a trick question?

I would imagine frozen/thawed would be safest for snake, cheapest for you, and most humane way to feed a snake....

[frankykeno]

Oh round we go again LOL....

Up front, there is no right or wrong way to feed your snake....live, frozen/thawed, pre-killed...mice or rats...as long as the snake eats it...eats it consistently and is growing and healthy and you are a happy snake owner....you got it goin on!

However, there is nothing inherently cruel or inhumane in feeding live. This is not a pet animal we are talking about here. This is a snake, that even if bred in captivity is barely a slither from the wild. In my mind, not a domesticated animal. We humans like to make everything antiseptic and apart from the natural processes of life. Snakes eat rodents...snake were designed to eat live rodents and rodents were designed to be prey...been going on for eons of time and will go on for eons of time....Mother Nature is no dumb broad

We raise our own rats....we feed live...by choice and through responsible, careful consideration of all factors...including the rats. As my posts and anyone will tell you I'm a fiend about the rats being properly managed for both their welfare and that of our snakes. I actually respect our rats and their contribution to the predator/prey dynamic that occurs every Thursday in our home. I would never allow a living creature to be treated inhumanely or without respect for it's place and function.

Please understand, I am not promoting live feed over another method but I do take exception with it being labelled inhumane and tend to hop on my lil ole soapbox so do forgive the small rant here LOL.

As to the original poll question, as long as the snake is a good eater we don't care what or how it eats and will copy the way it's been eating till it's settled in. Then if we wish to use another prey or method we'll attempt to transfer the snake over to our way at that time.

~~Jo~~

[Sheets12]

I don't like pre-killed that much I usually feed live, but I stand there with tweezers just in case Mary J grabs a wrong way and the mouse ends up tearing her up so with the tweezers I reach in there and hold the mouth but it rarely happens I jus do it as a precautionary step in my feeding process

[rabernet]

but I stand there with tweezers just in case Mary J grabs a wrong way and the mouse ends up tearing her up so with the tweezers I reach in there and hold the mouth

Have you ever seen a mouse tear up your snake? My snakes grab from the head, from the side and from the rear end if they're excited enough to strike a retreating mouse. Never, ever, has a mouse had much opportunity to "tear up" the snakes. They might nip the snake, but have never broken the skin, and in my experience, once they feel a nip, they just constrict tighter and the mouse is more concerned with trying to breath than biting.

I seriously doubt that tweezers are necessary. Let your snake do it's thing, years and years of evolution have made her quite capable of dispatching the mouse without your assistance. If you're concerned about the mouse biting your snake to the point of assisting your snake with tweezers, you might want to consider f/t or pre-killed.