So incase my snake does not eat Frozen

[_Venom_]

And I will be forced to buy live.

How do you guys do it?
Is setting up a "colony" hard?
will it be like having another set of pets?
Going to the pet store once a week seems pretty weird
so I kind of want to have some handy.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I know this will be his first meal, so if he never had F/T before it would be a good thing to feed him live for the first 3 to 4 meals before attempting to switch him to F/T.

Remember your priority is to get him to eat; switching is secondary and might take time.

Setting up a colony is not hard however you will need to think about the cost, the work and ask yourself if it is worth it for 1 snake.

Remember that each litters will be between 6 and 12 babies often more and you will only need one prey a week, so you need to know what you will do with the extras if you do plan on breeding your own feeders.

[NightLad]

The BP I bought was raised on live since hatching. I knew I did not want to feed live, as F/T would work out better in my personal situation. I was prepared for a ‘fight’ in switching him over, but he has proven to be amazingly stubborn. I can’t blame him, because I am the same way on certain issues. I actually find it a little cute.

So, for now, I am buying 1 live rat per week. I made the mistake of going to a ‘pet store’ the first time, and in addition to paying ‘pet’ prices ($5.50), the rat was terribly unsuitable. It was the smallest they had in stock, and compared to the others it did seem small, but when I got it home I realized just how large it was. Fortunately my neighbours have pet rats and one of theirs recently died, so they were more than happy to ‘adopt’ her. She is now living out a full and complete life in luxury.

Fortunately I was able to find a newly opened store specializing in reptiles just minutes away from my house. (I must have been very good in a past life.) They also carry live feeders, so I’m set until I can successfully entice him to eating F/T.

Many ‘pet stores’ won’t sell rats as feeders, and will bluntly ask if you intend to use the animal for food if they find you suspicious. Also, most of the larger chain pet stores only sell rats at 8-10 weeks old. (I checked. Hehe.) Another thing the 'pet' stores do is mark up the price of rats to make them unappealing for food – like $10-$15 per.

Switching to F/T might take some time, but if you feel it would be better for your situation, than it will be worth the effort. In the mean time you can try to find a local breeder who sells feeder rats. I’m sure that in a city as big as Chicago there must be somebody. Do you have any local buy/sell classifieds online? Maybe asking around your next reptile expo, at some pet stores, or by contacting local BP breeders could turn up some leads. Or you could post a “wanted” listing in an online Chicago buy/sell list and see if anybody will come to you. Just make sure to check them out carefully to ensure you are getting quality feeders.

Have you tried searching the Fauna Forums?

I hope this helps.

[_Venom_]

Well there is an expo that comes twice a month and they sell them.
So maybe I can ask there. There's a petstore across the street that sells live mice. But I doubt that place will last forever. We'll see, I know of lots of places. It's just that once my cornsnake had to go without eating because of a winter storm. It's not really the absence of places, more the distance.