Do you Prefer Live or Frozen?

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Originally Posted by PorcelainxDoll

I feed live and frozen.
Imo live is a little more costly. My adult will only eat live and my local pet store is 6$ a rat.
My young guys just switched to f/t and its cheaper because you can buy in bulk.

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true! Mine ate live today..a weaner? lol The breeder i got her from said she is on live and i can try to get her to eat frozen over time. I'm new to this! lol

I plan to feed frozen mostly, but I will be breeding my own and freezing them. If the need arise I will feed live.

I feed live only because my snake will not take frozen/thawed (yet!) It is cleaner and less smelly to feed live. If I had more than 2 snakes, I would switch to frozen/thawed for availability.

I get my feeders from the East Bay Vivarium which is a specialized reptile shop with healthy animals.

I think it would be better to breed your own if you have a large collection, as you can e sure the rats are healthy and tame enough for your skittish snakes.

I think rats are better just cause they seem more sturdy and meaty. All the rats Ive seen always just look like they were built to actually be alive, and mice are like shivery, scrawny little snake peanuts.

Cool


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Originally Posted by MrBrute

I'm sure this has been asked over and over lol But i wanted to be special! So what do you suggest? Pros and cons? Where is the best place to buy live or frozen feeders? Mice or rats, what is more nutritious? Is it better to breed your own? Thanks :banana:

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It's all personal preference and what your snake will take. There's nothing wrong or better with either method.

I feed live. I also breed my own. Many of my snakes will not take f/t. And two of those particular snakes are really picky with live as is. Can't imagine trying to offer f/t to them. I also know what goes into my snakes as my rats are on a quality diet.
And thawing out a bunch or rats and doing the zombie dance for everyone of my snakes is a huge waste of time. It would take hours.

And it's also just convenient to drop a feeder in a tub, then move onto another. When I hear a strike, coil, and rat squeals, I look in that particular tub and see if the snake has a good hold then move on. If the rat is in a bad position where it could bite my snake, I stick a chopstick in its mouth. After waiting for the rat to pass, I just continue feeding everyone else. If someone doesn't eat their rat, the rat returns to the colony and gets saved for next weeks feeding or I give it to the ferrets. I'd rather prefer that than throwing away or refreezing f/t.

And feeding live is also cheaper for me than buying f/t in bulk. The rats I sell as pets pay for my breeder rats' supplies. So basically my snakes are getting fed for free.

I also love breeding rats. Its fun. The rats are amazing little critters. I really enjoy playing with them and the babies are very cute. But it's not worth breeding if you only have one or two snakes in my opinion.

Rats and mice have almost identical nutritional value. Rats have a slight higher fat content, but only by a percentage or two. So if you're feeding the same size rat as a mouse, they're pretty much the same. However, I hate feeding mice. They have an awful odor. And feeding a single rat vs multiple mice is more convenient when your snake grows bigger.


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Originally Posted by satomi325

It's all personal preference. There's nothing wrong or better with either method.

I feed live. I also breed my own. Many of my snakes will not take f/t. And two of those particular snakes are really picky with live as is. Can't imagine trying to offer f/t to them.

And it's also just convenient to drop a feeder in a tub, then move onto another. When I hear a strike, coil, and rat squeals, I look in that particular tub and see if the snake has a good hold then move on. If the rat is in a bad position where it could bite my snake, I stick a chopstick in its mouth. After waiting for the rat to pass, I just continue feeding everyone else. If someone doesn't eat their rat, the rat returns to the colony and gets saved for next weeks feeding or I give it to the ferrets. I'd rather prefer that than throwing away or refreezing f/t.

And feeding live is also cheaper for me than buying f/t in bulk. The rats I sell as pets pay for my breeder rats' supplies. So basically my snakes are getting fed for free.

I also love breeding rats. Its fun. The rats are amazing little critters. I really enjoy playing with them and the babies are very cute. But it's not worth breeding if you only have one or two snakes in my opinion.

Rats and mice have almost identical nutritional value. Rats have a slight higher fat content, but only by a percentage or two. So if you're feeding the same size rat as a mouse, they're pretty much the same. However, I hate feeding mice. They have an awful odor. And feeding a single rat vs multiple mice is more convenient when your snake grows bigger.


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Great info!


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Originally Posted by MrBrute

I assume it's much easier lol i only have this one. So I'll see how it goes!



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If you only have one snake, breeding your own would probably not be worth it. For me, with 8 snakes and one more on the way, totally easier to breed my own. A bag of Mazuri is only like $25.

Plus I like the rats too.

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Originally Posted by Capray

mice are like shivery, scrawny little snake peanuts.

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Lmfao

I feed live will be switching all to frozen once my collection grows more and I breed my own rats which it self has become fun ha my male normal ball is a beast he refuses frozen rats but will take any sized rat live

I feed frozen and live, but prefer live. Thawing out, blow drying and zombie dancing ~15 rats takes forever. Thankfully I just had my first two litters of rats this week! :D I need to pick up another male if I'm going to keep breeding though, seeing as my last one was fed when someone wouldn't take their f/t and I got frusterated :P