Have you ever heard of...

[Little B-Py]

Live rats/mice eating their way through a snake's stomach or a snake getting sick/dying from parasites on live rodents? A guy at EBay doesn't think it is a good idea for us to feed ours live and I have not heard bad things about doing it and they have now successfully eaten live twice. I haven't heard of either of those and since they are CONSTRICTORS I expect the animal to be dead before it is eaten anyways. Heck, the last thing I hear before they eat it is a squeak then silence. I do not believe this. He also said that they may attack the snakes but from what I have read on here that they won't attack unless they are hungry.

[Oxylepy]

If your snake eats a rodent that is still alive then the rodent will have a reaction while it is entering the mouth. Imagine having 6 needles jabbed into your head as you start to suffocate, you would freak out. Any rodent that does not react at that point would suffocate by the time it hit the throat.

Also if your snake is dumb enough to eat a rodent that still has a heartbeat and it kills the snake, I got to argue that the snake had it coming and that would be an example of natural selection.

[Michelle.C]

If the rodent is alive, by the time it hits the snakes stomach, the animal is on it's way to complete suffocation. On arrival to said stomach, stomach/gastric acids, enzymes and bile start their process (immediately), breaking down the prey. This acid is strong enough to melt bone, so imagine what it does when the animal (struggling for breath) inhales it. The animals motor functions (if alive), would literally be that of a pet rock. It doesn't seem like it would bode well for our furry friend.

I have some serious doubts that an animal that was chewed on, constricted, coated in saliva/enzymes, working it's way to a chamber of bile and acids; can cause damage to it's aggressor. Especially a rodent.

As far as parasites, a healthy snake can keep parasites under control. That said, it's a good idea to have them checked for parasites ever so often. I get all of my animals a complete checkup upon arrival. That includes a fecal. If they have parasites, they are treated.

Find a source for healthy feeders, or breed your own. This helps eliminate a risk of parasites.

All of that said, I prefer feeding f/t because it is a personal choice. While I'm not a fan of feeding live, if all precautions are taken, it's safe. Don't let people use scare tactics on you to make you see things their way.

[Oxylepy]

Gotta agree with Michelle on the last point. Just because someone says it won't work well doesn't mean they are telling you the truth, luckily you're skeptical and came here

Live or frozen, both are safe and effective. Breeders feed hundreds of live rats to snakes every single day and you would think if it were a severe chance of something bad happening that there would be injuries daily, but there aren't. In fact in a hundred feeds to a hundred snakes you may have only a few or no injuries at all.

Personally I go with whatever I have to: If I have frozen at the time I feed that, sometimes I run out and dont have the money to order any that week and I head out to the local pet store and buy a handful of mice. Really depends on the situation at the time. But spending less than 2 dollars on frozen rats when ordering online is a lot better than getting the same sized rat for 5 dollars at a pet store.

[Little B-Py]

I pretty much knew he was full of BS because of what is read on here. Not sure where he got his facts from but my fiancee and I know more about the reptiles than he does. We were actually helping people out last night and we don't even work at the store. I was handling a baby corn snake and talking to a lady asking about it and he was laughing...the lady didn't even know I didn't work there. lol. But he is still a cool guy cause we helped him close and he was basically gonna give us whatever we wanted so I could have walked out of there with a bag of mice if we fed them f/t but that's not the case for now.

Once Ashtin and I get our own place we are gonna start a feeder colony so we don't have to rely on Petco or our local pet store for feeders.