LIVE, FROZEN, OR FRESH KILLED

Two of our three eat frozen-thawed, but one will only take live so far. We are trying to get him switched over.

I feed f/t. I thaw them by cranking up the heat and the heat in my critter room really gets warm. I put the mice-cicles in there and they start to thaw. If they don't thaw quick enough, I'll take them and place them on a table and direct a light right onto them. They will thaw pretty quickly then.

Besides, Breeze will only take them if they are really warm, right out from under the light. Clarice won't take them at all outside of her enclosure. She doesn't seem to mind them not being anything above room temperature. I can't seem to get her to eat in a feeding box. But that's another thread. Oh well, she's fat and healthy. That's what counts I guess.

Go frozen thawed. Better for the snake. Better on the wallet. Better all around. And you don't have to feed them, clean up after them, or put up with them if the snake refuses to eat them.

By the way, if you're interested in buying f/t, I get mine from a guy here in Colorado a town over from me.

I get 30 adults, 30 hoppers, and 50 pinkies for about $42 and some change. Of course, I pick them up so I don't have to pay for shipping. But that'll give you and idea on how much you'll save buying f/t compared to buying a live one at the pet store for a buck or two per mouse.

If anyone is interested in contacting this supplier, let me know and I'll get you in touch with him. He's a good guy.

Is anyone using f/t based on the argument that it can eventually slake off the constricting impulse/reaction associated with feeding? I know after repeated feeding of f/t some species will recognize they no longer need to kill the mouse and will simply go for the swallow. I more than understand the argument on safety for the snake, economics and "storage" - just curious if anyone either was motivated by this or noticed this as an unplanned result.

EDIT - spelling - hate these ergo keybds at work :(

Corn snakes do that all the time.

My runt doesn't constrict, it just swallows they dead mouse.

How many of you feed dead and/or frozen rodents AND feed in a different container? I have heard that feeding a snake in a different container than what it lives in reduces the risk of harm to yourself. I assume that is the motivation behind feeding dead and/or frozen food as opposed to live food as well.

I have two BP's and i feed them in a seperate tank for each of them so they can eat and be left alone for a couple of days they are still small so i can put them each in a 10gallon which are cheap about 15 bux. Then i move them back to the big enclosure and clean out the ten gallon tanks for next time.

gozetec02: Do you feed live or pre-killed/fozen food?

I feed f/t in a different container more because it's easier to supervise and there are fewer things for a clumsy bp to bounce its head off of than because I'm worried about the bp's striking at me when I open their enclosures. Too many times I've seen a bp strike and bounce its head off something, so I want there to be as few objects in there with it as possible.

When my BP grabs the mouse (f/t) I'll tug on the tail of the mouse to simulate a live resistant prey. Then they tighten themselves around it until they believe they've killed it.