Frozen thawed first timer :X

[onlyjays9p]

I went to petsmart for the first time to get some rats and mice and found out they dont have rats at this location and the mice were 7 bucks so I found frozen rats and mice and came home thawed them and feed them to my snakes it was the first time they got frozen thawed and they took them right away.....
I did not like it and I am going to stick to live, it was a lot more work and it just seemed pretty gross to me the legs on the mice were broken and there was blood on them just seems a lot better feeding live.

[Kevin_Hornby]

Petsmart won't sell you live feeders. But if you go to Petco you can buy live mice they are $2.49 here.

[Neal]

I would stay with frozen, yea to some people it can be pretty gross, but it's better especially if your snake takes them. Less chance of a disease, and they get alot cheaper if you get a bag of them or so.

[mainbutter]

agreed neal, f/t all the way.

[JbirdAg96]

I recently adopted "Zeke". He's 13yrs old and not as big as he should be. I'm thinking about trying F/T, but have concerns as he's only ever eaten live feeders. I've heard that keeping the rats in the baggies while warming them up is a good way to maintain the scent. I've also seen different ways of warming them up. Is there one way that's best or just a number of good methods?

[dsmalex97]

With live you risk the chance of your snake getting injured. Also, you don't know what you got man!! I would love for my snakes to take f.t. Thats actually what im working on as of this moment, is converting mine over. Its also a lot more convient. I'm not sure how you did it, but the process should be easy as pie. Get you f.t and let it sit out in room temp for a while 3-8 hours, doesn't matter. I usually do this before work, and when I get home I throw it in some really hot water for like 15 min and then offer. I got them to take it once, and this was the method I used. I don't know where you got your f.t but mine are never gross the way you described. Try again trust me on this one, f.t is best!

[tweets_4611]

I feed live as well...when I got my snake I was living in the dorms and it wasn't feasible to leave a frozen rat out for how ever many hours. I did it once as well when my friend had one she had already thawed but her snake wouldn't eat. It grossed me out as well and my snake didn't take it. I'm definately a much bigger fan of feeding live, when it's done properly.

Just make sure it's the right size prey and that you supervize until the rodent is dead. There are risks with frozen, just like there are with live, so which ever you do, just be sure it's done properly and go with what your comfortable with!

[PythonBreeder]

There are risks with frozen, just like there are with live, so which ever you do, just be sure it's done properly and go with what your comfortable with!

Exactly what are those risks? I Vote FROZEN! They are the best, safest, and cheapest! It seems every time I feed live,(I give them the treat of killing about once a month), At least 1 of my snakes every time gets injured in some way. I do not do that anymore.

[tweets_4611]

There are risks with the thawing of the rodent...if not thawed all the way it can rot in your snakes stomach and cause illness or death.

There are a *ton* of frozen vs. live threads on here... none of them get anywhere, but it wouldn't hurt to look them up. Everyone has a different opinion and many of them differ. I have been feeding live for over 2 years and have never had an injury. I have seen a discolored spot on the scales from a rodent scratching once constricted, but that is the worst "injury" I've personally had. There is one of the larger breeders here (I'll try and find the post) that said they feed live and haven't ever had an injury either.

It's your personal opinion what you feed...there are risks to both sides and benefits as well. Frozen will probably be cheaper (I haven't ever bought frozen but from what I've heard they are). Down side is, you have no control over the condition the rodent was in when it was frozen. With both f/t and live you can get scrawny, sickly rodents, just as often as the healthy ones. Since I get my mice from PetCo (if I had another option I would use it-their rodents are usually sickly) I will sometimes keep them for a week or a few days to "beef them up" a bit. I can ensure that the rodents I feed are healthier and had a good diet, at least for part of their life when feeding live.

[Exotic Ectotherms]

I've also seen different ways of warming them up. Is there one way that's best or just a number of good methods?

What works best for me is to thaw them in a Ziploc bag in hot water for about 30-35 min. I then take it out of the bag and blast it with a hair dryer for about 5 minutes or until the mouse's temp reads over 100 on the temp gun. That way you are guaranteed that it is not frozen anymore.