pre killing

my mom wont let me keep rats in the freezer and at the store i go too the frozen ones cost more

[QUOTE=jglass38]freezing tends to kill off the bulk of the parasites that are most likely alive inside a feeder animal.QUOTE]

Do I have to harp on THIS again? Freezing doesn't kill off most parasite ova, only puts them in a dormant state. It doesn't really matter if the rodent has parasites or not, snakes just don't contract parasites from them. For one thing, the parasites aren't even in the right stage of development to infect anything, and second, there is the whole "species-specific" thing. Parasites from a warm-blooded mammal such as the rodent, cannot survive in the 80-degree body temperature of the reptile. Also, snakes' digestive systems are designed to consume whole prey, so their gastric juices are much stronger in relation to a rodent's. When the rodent is consumed, along with its parasites, it will all get digested and passed as normal.

Snakes get parasites from being housed with other snakes, from being housed in dirty conditions(feces, dirty water source), and they can also be born with them(placental infection).

My snake has eaten live, pre-killed and frozen prey. The pre-killed prey I knew had pinworms(and god knows what else). After a few weeks, I did a fecal on her, and darnit... It was clean. :)

The only bad thing about rodents with parasites is that they are generally unhealthy. Parasitized rodents usually can't absorb all of the nutrients from what they eat, and regardless of how much they consume, can't gain weight. Parasites like pinworms pose no threat, but whipworms, hookworms and tapeworms can all be a serious problem if they are not treated. Why feed an unhealthy rodent to your snake, when in turn, your snake will just get unhealthier as time goes on.

Ok :) *steps off soapbox* I'm done with my little spiel.

i think ive decided to stick to live, but does anyone know why im not a registered user?

Ya know what, I don't think i'll take my chances if I don't have to. I feed live until they will take FT and thats it. Go to your local petco or feeder store and take a look at the conditions the feeders are kept in. Why risk it?

i know at the store i go to the feeders are healthy

There is no convincing you, so I think you should definitely do what works best for you. Keep an eye on the snake when feeding live until the mouse/rat is dead. It only takes a second for the prey to turn on your snake and cause injury or death.

I use the whack method. I put them in a doubled plastic bag (like a plastic grocery bag), smoosh most of the air out of the bag (so you arent whacking a giant bubble), and then whack it on a table edge, or a step edge. This way, if there is any blood (there usually isn't), it's in the bag. Just make sure you give it a good whack.

I'll just say I find it quite a bit cheaper to raise my own rats! Even buying from rodent pro is pricey compared to growing my own rats.

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Originally Posted by mr~python

but does anyone know why im not a registered user?

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Because you have not been a member long enough to be considered a Registered User yet.. I think it is something like 30 days of membership before you see it saying Registered User.

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Originally Posted by Jeanne

Because you have not been a member long enough to be considered a Registered User yet.. I think it is something like 30 days of membership before you see it saying Registered User.

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Hmmmm, shows how observant I am! LOL I never paid much attention to whether I was registered or not! LOL