Live food...why? Honestly & with facts!

My snakes will not have anything to do with F/T. I've tried many times and just gave up. If they would it eat, I would prefer it because of it being cheaper in bulk. I have 7 BP of different ages and none of them will have anything to do with F/T at all.

That's why I personally feed live.

Leave work.

Drive a block away.

Pick up rodents.

Go home.

Drop in tubs.

Full bellies.

That's how easy it is for me to feed live. I share my house with my family, so keeping frozen rats in the freezer is a no-no. And placing them somewhere to thaw is also a no-no.

For a Long time up until I got over 10 snakes I did pk/ft. I Have total over 60 balls now and live seems to be the preference for most of my snakes and it's a convienence thing for me. I breed my rodents and everyone eats when the prey is live. I watch the rats and I've never had a serious issue. If someone does get bitten it's never a serious bite bc I prefer to feed smaller more frequent meals. A weanling can't do as much damage as a jumbo. Period. When and if it should happen the bite is cleaned with betadyne and watched. Accidents can happen but it's so infrequent that as I look up the last time it did... it was around 2 1/2 years ago. It gives me and the snakes an easy routine. With alot of snakes to feed in a day and many other critters to care for, yes I go for conveience. Do I think it's necessarily easier, or safer, etc to do one or the other?? NO. each way of feeding has its own risks. At least with live I don't have to worry about if the middle is totally thawed and have to poke around in 60-70 dead rats. Eww
So that's my reasoning.


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I have a freezer stocked with various sizes of f/t rats and hopper mice. All of my babies are started on live, then switched over to f/t if they are going on the market. This is purely for customer convenience, not mine. If the customer wants something different, I'll make the switch before shipping.

If they are hold backs, they stay on live - mostly ASFs but occasionally rats when my ASF inventory is low. Live is a lot more convenient for me and if the snake does not eat, the rat can be fed again the next week.

My freezer is in the man cave, so the family does not open it or see it. I do occasionally ask my daughter's friends if they want a mousecicle for dessert or a snack! :D

I feed only live and have no inclination to feed f/t, I've converted numerous f/t feeders to live :D

honestly it is hard for me to have to hear & watch a rat pup die in my snake's grip every 10 days but my girl will not touch anything she didnt kill herself & i know this cuz multiple times i've ended up with a rat dying suddenly for unknown reasons prior to a feeding & i've offered them to my snake anyways & every single time she's refused it, even when i tried to make the rats appear "live", she's not one to be easily fooled.
now to avoid that uneccessary waste i only buy the rats on feeding days.

I too feed live out of convenience. Most of my snakes are still young and not yet full grown. It's more difficult to order f/t because all of my snakes eat different sized food and I feel like a lot of those f/t rodents would go to waste.

Also, I recently started breeding my own rats. It's just easier to throw a rat into a tub than thaw out and do the zombie rat dance.

And I also feed live rats to my ferrets. It is 120% more healthy for them than eating commercial food (even the high quality brands). Feeding live provides enrichment and exercise for my ferrets when they hunt and take down rats.

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Originally Posted by mommanessy247

honestly it is hard for me to have to hear & watch a rat pup die in my snake's grip every 10 days but my girl will not touch anything she didnt kill herself & i know this cuz multiple times i've ended up with a rat dying suddenly for unknown reasons prior to a feeding & i've offered them to my snake anyways & every single time she's refused it, even when i tried to make the rats appear "live", she's not one to be easily fooled.
now to avoid that uneccessary waste i only buy the rats on feeding days.

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I apologize for sidetracking, but is this a BP that you're only feeding a rat pup to every 10 days?

I am just learning here but from my stand as long as you use tongs to suspend the mouse/rat/gerbil over the enclosure or where ever you plan to feed your BP... live is best, natural and safe... I am sure in the wild they get attacked back a LOT more.. of course if I notice that my BPs are getting their ass' whooped by their intended food on the regular I would have to consider that I am either feeding them the wrong size or need to switch to F/T.
ATM the owner who is giving me my first pair of BPs tomorrow after noon is feeding F/T but says they really don't care for it and will go sometimes too long with out eating but scarf down live.. [besides the idea of dead rats in the freezer un-nerves my daughter in law...lol]
But I could never continue to feed my BP's live if it seem to harm them in any way. Any newbie advice is welcome.. we do have 3 small children in the house but they will not be handleing them until the snakes are 'settled' as the girl we are getting them from has not really 'handled' them much. [ex BF abandoned them with her but she is afraid of them.. feedings freak her out bad too she said, poor thing.]

:snake:

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Originally Posted by alohasiempre

I am just learning here but from my stand as long as you use tongs to suspend the mouse/rat/gerbil over the enclosure or where ever you plan to feed your BP... live is best, natural and safe... I am sure in the wild they get attacked back a LOT more.. of course if I notice that my BPs are getting their ass' whooped by their intended food on the regular I would have to consider that I am either feeding them the wrong size or need to switch to F/T.
ATM the owner who is giving me my first pair of BPs tomorrow after noon is feeding F/T but says they really don't care for it and will go sometimes too long with out eating but scarf down live.. [besides the idea of dead rats in the freezer un-nerves my daughter in law...lol]
But I could never continue to feed my BP's live if it seem to harm them in any way. Any newbie advice is welcome.. we do have 3 small children in the house but they will not be handleing them until the snakes are 'settled' as the girl we are getting them from has not really 'handled' them much. [ex BF abandoned them with her but she is afraid of them.. feedings freak her out bad too she said, poor thing.]

:snake:

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If you plan on feeding live, I suggest finding a source where the rats are fairly tame. I just recently started breeding my own rats to be social and friendly. I personally find that the more gentle rats don't attack snakes...A rat from an unsocialized colony w/ minimum human contact seemed to be more aggressive in my experience. I'm sure others have had similar and different experiences as I, but this is just my 2 cents.