Live prey vs......

Rats aren't that hard to find. I wouldn't feed her hamsters full time. I would also switch her to f/t or p/k.

Well in Portugal Rats are dificult to find in pet shops, but why you sugest to not feed hamsters all time? Are they not nutricious? I´m working on start with f/t as she use to with mice, but after refusing a few p/k hamster i offer live just to get her use to hamsters.
I do prefere F/t not only for teh risc of injury the snake but also becouse freeze kills almost all internal paraites and bacteria from the prey.
Thanks.

I was told they are too nutritious (I am not saying this is true...just what I was told). I have also been told once you start them on hamsters they are hard to switch back because hamsters taste better. You can get mice, rats, rabbits and chicks all frozen off www.RodentPro.com The s/h is sort of expensive, and I personally have never made an order. My petstore has frozen all the way up to mice. When my Ball Python gets bigger I am going to get a Co2 system to kill the rats. Then freeze the ones I don't use. BTW, I don't know how your pre-killing, but the best way is to put a mouse/rat in an old pillow case and hit them on a HARD surface (maybe a cement driveway or something), REALLY HARD, so that one whack does them in.

Oh, and if you decide to use RodentPro.com, if you have other friends, or know other people with snakes, it is best to order in bulk. That way its a little cheaper.

i would say if you are gonna kill your on mice then freeze them why not put them in a ziplockbaggieand put the ziplock baggy in a lil tub and put that in your freezer so the mouse just dies on its own and you dotn have to get it all bloody and what not.and any snake can be switched to any rodent just patience and remember never stop trying let the snake go a day or two over the normal feeding tiem and then give it the f/t or p/k these are some things that have worked for me but i could never get my bps to eat frozen thawed but my last one had a love for pre killed. he would just fidn it and eat it liek a good little boa lol

Thanks,
Wendell

I have no problem to kill the hamsters or mice, i just didn´t yet becouse i´ve just start with hamsters at not long ago, but i defently want her to go for f/t its a lot less work and save room with less cages for the hamsters. I notice since she eating hamsters she eat only every second or thirt week becouse they are biger than mice. But my question still the same, why she prefere male hamsters than females? but she loocks better since the hamsters (she always loock good but now seems geting bigger tens before, she born in 2003 and last November she was 1050grms. In Portugal any boid its not legal to own, thats why the mice and rat market is not devloped.

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Originally Posted by Simplest_Mistake

Feeding live can be very bad for your snakes...

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Feeding live is ONLY bad for your snakes if you are a BAD keeper and do not feed live correctly. ANY method of feeding can be BAD if done improperly. Do what you feel is correct AND do it properly....live, p/k, or f/t....they are all safe if done properly, so make sure you are feeding correctly :)

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Originally Posted by doobysnack

why not put them in a ziplockbaggieand put the ziplock baggy in a lil tub and put that in your freezer so the mouse just dies on its own

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That is not a good way to kill mice. I have heard stories of mice taking over 24 hours to die that way. ANY method of killing that can take 24 hours is cruel.

The two best methods of killing rodents are using a carbon dioxide chamber or breaking the neck of the animal. Personally, I break the neck of the mice by placing a pencil behind their neck and giving their tail a jerk. I would suggest seeing someone else do this properly before attempting because if done wrong the animal will suffer.

Since I raise my own mice, I have found that the best method is to attempt a feeding with a freshly killed mouse then if for some reason the snake does not eat I freeze the dead mouse for a later feeding. This way I can get two feedings out of every mouse if necessary. I value my animal's lives and would not want to risk an animal that I raised being thrown out(and basically killed for no reason) because it was defrosted and not eaten....I like having two opportunities to feed each rodent.

I also kill the roedents the same way (broken the spine) i think its fast and not so cruel as freeze alive. But i also think that if you feed live like i do at the moment its always a risk even if u are the best keeper, a rat can harm your snake before u have time to do anything, its more a trust on your snake skill, my have always ignore live mice, but refuse the first 2 dead hamsters, thats why at the moment i feed live, i will change to F/t or p/k soon.
Its my snake the only one that prefere male prey tham female?

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Originally Posted by age

Its my snake the only one that prefere male prey tham female?

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ha ha... I have never seen another snake be 'sexist' :D

Male rodents generally have a stronger smell than females. Maybe that is the reason that your bp only seems to be interested in males. ...that is only a educated guess...I have never heard that one before :)