..always fed frozen thawed .... is it wrong to want to try live ???

.....just curious need some expert advice .....

The main reason I feed f/t is because I don't want my snakes injured by an adult rat. Even if you watch them feed, there's still potential for them to get injured. Also, its easier to keep a long term supply of frozen rats in the freezer than it is to buy live weekly.

Nope not wrong at all. If its easier for you then go for it. Its usually not a problem converting them to live. Keep in mind though that once you start feeding live it may be hard to convert them back to f/t.

Nothing is wrong with feeding live as long as its done responsibly. Personally, i prefer live.

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Originally Posted by towelie4365

The main reason I feed f/t is because I don't want my snakes injured by an adult rat.

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Which is why you're not suppose to feed live large adults. Small/meds would be the maximum safest size. :)


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I prefer live, but I do breed my own food. It's easy to take it back out to mom and save if for next week if someone doesn't want to eat. Just don't leave them unsupervised. Also as mentioned it can be harder to switch them back.

There is nothing wrong with trying live. Every snake is different. It's your job to try every approach until you figure out what, how and when it likes its food ;)

All of my snakes eat live and occasionally f/t when my rat production runs low. Ball Pythons are natural predators and I wouldn't worry about injuries. I've lost count of the live feeds I've done and have never had an injury. Don't leave the rat in there for an extended period of time and it should be fine. Good luck.

..he eats well with the frozen thawed ..... not sure if i can find live in my area.

its a pain to feed live unless you have the space to breed them... not to mention it gets expensive depending on where you live.

I started with f/t, went to p/k, now live just works so much better for me. Trust your snake, they know what to do. Just be responsible about it.

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I've been told by two different vets that live rats/rodents are better for your snake. The reason being that all the bacteria in the rodent is actually good for snakes, and by freezing them you kill all the good bacteria.

I really dot know if this is completely true but it sounds very reasonable to me. As humans we do the same thing with yogurt and other foods, so why wouldn't it do the same for other animals. And I have noticed ever since I starting raising my own rats and feeding all my snakes live they seem to beach healthier.

I have a female pastel that was bitten in her lower jaw well over a year ago; she got most of the rats head in her mouth, just not all of it. I breed my own rats, and am very cautious when feeding live, and have been converting most of them to fresh killed just because of that one bite. She was promptly and properly treated, but she still has a bulge on the lower jaw that kinda reminds me of Humphry Bogart. It doesn't affect her, but it doesn't look good either.
If they are eating f/t, then try a fresh killed before going with a live one (just my opinion) :)

If you have the room to breed live why not? I don't have the room or time to breed snakes and rats so I stick with f/t. Unfortunately my clown won't eat f/t so at least with him I am stuck trying to find live.

I feed live to both my snakes now. The ball used to be on frozen mice but won't eat frozen rats so he got to go back on live which I don't mind since I breed rats (just starting) and my carpet has always been on live. My ball got bit by a mouse once and learned his lesson from it, he struck that one on the butt, after that he started striking right on the face normally taking as much of the head in his mouth on the strike on mice and now rats.

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

I started with f/t, went to p/k, now live just works so much better for me. Trust your snake, they know what to do. Just be responsible about it.

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I agree with this! Trust your snake. They will make sure you know what they prefer and when you give them live, most of the time, their natural instincts kick in and there's not a problem. I, generally, feed frozen thawed because with five snakes, it's very hard to afford to feed live. I can't afford to breed my own rodents yet, but that will change in the next couple of years. However, I do have a corn snake that will not eat F/T. She's roughly 3 months old and has never eaten frozen/thawed for me, no matter what way I prepare it. So every 5 days, I make a trip to the feeder store to get her some mice. I also have a VERY picky spider ball python. She was eating live rats. Then I switched her to F/T mice, then live rats, then F/T rats. She ate those for awhile then stopped eating so I'm back feeding her live.

Honestly, if you don't have a reptile feeder store close to you and you don't have the space to breed your own rodents, just stick to F/T. However, if you have the time/money to buy or breed your own feeders and you want to feed live, go for it! There's nothing wrong with that. Just watch each feeding to make sure no one gets hurt and you shouldn't have any problems.

sounds like good advice from all ..just to ask another question on size since it seems that u feed med sized rats live ...should I still stay with mediums with f/t ??
I fed him one large earlier this year and he went on a 7 month fast ....he came off fast and fed 2 feedings with mediums , the third feed was with another large but he didnt take it ...waited two weeks and he's taken mediums again since then.... so can u stay on mediums even at adult age ...with what a seven day schedule ???

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Originally Posted by mshadows

sounds like good advice from all ..just to ask another question on size since it seems that u feed med sized rats live ...should I still stay with mediums with f/t ??
I fed him one large earlier this year and he went on a 7 month fast ....he came off fast and fed 2 feedings with mediums , the third feed was with another large but he didnt take it ...waited two weeks and he's taken mediums again since then.... so can u stay on mediums even at adult age ...with what a seven day schedule ???

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Mediums are fine once every 7-10 days.
In fact, I only feed small or mediums to my adults weekly. All adults get smalls. Only the really big girls may get mediums or multiple smalls.
And the snakes are all doing fine and have great body condition.

Not wrong at all IMO. I feed f/t for financial reasons. The day I have enough space for an outdoor rat barn you better believe Im going live.