need advice for the live/frozen-thawed switch

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Originally Posted by Webley

This is a great video to help. I developed my method from Garrick's video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbX1YVZp4WU

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watched the vid saw that i could offer the mouse head first, i was dangling it by the tail which might be another slight fail on my part. my other snakes dont mind it at all so i didnt think to try it this way

glad I could help! Let me know how it goes and good luck :gj:

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Originally Posted by MonkeyShuttle

i was going to try this but wifey rescued the hopper from me before i had a chance, she literally said the snake can eat thawed or its got to go, shes like to make things difficult lol. and now we have a new pet mouse. thanks for suggestion though if all else fails i will be trying this without her knowing

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your wife does realize the Frozen rodents were once alive right? why does it matter if they are put down by the snake vs. a co2 chamber?

Dead is dead, no matter how it happens!


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Yeah, try dangling the rat by the tail near the snake's head.
If she still doesn't go for it, try dropping it. We have a couple snakes that will not strike until it's dropped. I think it may be the sudden movement that triggers it.
Either way, we've never had issues switching snakes to f/t. (Zoo policies won't let us feed live, so all new snakes have to get switched).

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Originally Posted by Webley

This is a great video to help. I developed my method from Garrick's video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbX1YVZp4WU

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Am I the only one who thought it looked like he was setting up a Ball Python BBQ? Good video.

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your wife does realize the Frozen rodents were once alive right? why does it matter if they are put down by the snake vs. a co2 chamber?

Dead is dead, no matter how it happens!

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I feel that it is just inhumane to the prey. I have no problem with nature in the raw but this is captivity. I would rather be put down with Co2 than be thrown to a painful and brutal death. It is just as easy to feed f/t as it is to feed live. Any excuse like, "my snake doesn't take f/t," is a cop out. I would rather put in the extra effort to ensure safety for my animals, and know that I'm not putting any animal through extreme pain before death.

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Originally Posted by Webley

I feel that it is just inhumane to the prey. I have no problem with nature in the raw but this is captivity. I would rather be put down with Co2 than be thrown to a painful and brutal death. It is just as easy to feed f/t as it is to feed live. Any excuse like, "my snake doesn't take f/t," is a cop out. I would rather put in the extra effort to ensure safety for my animals, and know that I'm not putting any animal through extreme pain before death.

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I don't think so. My clown girl refused F/T no matter what. Weighing a whopping 110g I didn't want to hold out longer than the month and half she went without eating. Offered live and she ate. Now she won't even eat live. So yes there are some snakes that won't switch. Heck this snake won't even eat at all right now. :/

From what others have said the squeezing releases endorphins which lessens the pain. The rodents die rather quickly.

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I don't think so. My clown girl refused F/T no matter what. Weighing a whopping 110g I didn't want to hold out longer than the month and half she went without eating. Offered live and she ate. Now she won't even eat live. So yes there are some snakes that won't switch. Heck this snake won't even eat at all right now. :/

From what others have said the squeezing releases endorphins which lessens the pain. The rodents die rather quickly.

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I can understand certain circumstances. I just don't like it when people openly choose to talk down about feeding f/t. I see pics on this forum every month about live feeding mishaps. They happen to everyone who feeds live eventually too. I feel like most people don't try hard enough/don't know the best tricks for getting balls to eat f/t regularly. I really can't wait to finish my f/t tutorial video.

P.S. I didn't know that factoid about squeezing and endorphins. I hope it's true.

Mine used to take f/t, but suddenly stopped regardless of what I tried. I posted several threads on here and tried all the tricks people suggested, but it was a no-go.

She would always eat them in odd ways too, like swallowing them from the back end first and never constricting. I hate feeding live b/c of the potential bite risk to my snakes, plus I do feel that CO2 is probably a bit more humane. She's my only animal (other than frogs that eat insects) that eats live, but it eventually got to the point that she had to eat something or starve. I still try to get her back on f/t now and then, but haven't had any more success than I did initially.

My main issue with live feeds is when I see people (especially with frogs... I guess it's something about a frog eating mammals that really attracts idiots) who are only feeding live because they want to seem 'cool'. Of course, they're also the ones I see most often feeding prey that's too large and walking away. You're eventually going to see bites with live-feeding no matter what, but if you monitor it you can usually minimize the damage.

Webley your the man(or women)! let thaw with room temp, followed up with some heat from heat lamp and then offered head first. took all but a minute before she grabbed it. strange how the slightest detail can make such a big difference. thanks again guys.