No options, must feed live... Nervous.

So due to incredibly limited options as far as f/t goes (I really hate that its not economical to do bulk orders, because life would be SO much easier. Guess I just need more snakes :3) I'll have to feed Magnus live tonight. I'm not so much worried about the feeding as I am the process of getting him back onto F/T afterward. Has anyone had trouble with this? He's never minded f/t before, but seeing as how limited my options have been in the last few weeks, he's now giving me the hungry snake attitude and I'm going away for a few days, so I wanna make sure he's got something in him before I go. Gonna see if the store has rat pups, and if not, I'm gonna go for a mouse. I'm not ready personally to take on a scared rat if he decides not to take it or has any complications with the strike.

Suggestions, comments, feedback?

Have you considered buying the live rodent then putting it down yourself? Then if your snake didnt eat you could freeze it and use it for your f/t next time you try. I know some people have a hard time with that, but... it just might be the option you need this time. :)

Ava, I haven't had much of a problem with a f/t eater eating live once in awhile, then taking f/t its very next meal. You should be fine ;)

I'd be less worried about him getting hooked on live after one feeding than getting hooked on mice. Small rats aren't likely to get aggressive. As was said you could pre-kill it if you're worried, but I certainly understand if you can't do it. If you can get your rat from a store that features reptiles they are often willing to pre-kill it for you. A general local or chain pet shop won't do it.

Is buying frozen from a Petco or Petsmart an option? They usually sell frozen(at least near me they do).

Good suggestion! The ones near me have them too. They aren't cheap, but for a one time thing like this it would be a good alternative.

How is it not economical to do bulk orders?

If you have one or two snakes, shipping can be very expensive and if you don't "fill the box" your per rodent costs can be double or triple of just buying a few from your local Petco or Petsmart. Plus, you may be left with many F/T left over if they need to step up to the next size which can be a waste. I bulk order from Loxahatchee Rodents in FL, but I also have nearly a dozen snakes of varying size so I CAN fill the box and my waste is nearly zero. Plus, I only have to place an order maybe twice a year.

I would recommend prekilling. I HATE killing prey, but a snake has to eat! Then if you know any other snake owners in your area, maybe you can do a bulk order and split the costs and split the order. Just my humble opinion...

You could try Craigslist. I sell my frozen surplus on there. Although you can't guarantee the quality, it can't be much worse than petco, right?

Well, my mom lost her lid over having to bring a live rat home, so she drove me the extra 3 miles and covered the expense of Petco frozen feeders. Once I have a CO2 chamber built I will have zero qualms about prekilled, but until then I'm stuck paying 12 dollars for two freaking small rats. My poor mother. She was so traumatized by the idea of feeding live that she asked if we could just put the rat in the freezer first, and tried to argue about how that's less humane than feeding it to my snake.

Family can be difficult sometimes, but hopefully she'll start to pick up on what I try to teach her.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Also, Moot, I never ever see local feeders in my area of Craigslist. At least, none I like the quality of. There aren't too many folks with good husbandry for either their reptiles OR their rats in Philadelphia, at least none I've found yet.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Archimedes

Also, Moot, I never ever see local feeders in my area of Craigslist. At least, none I like the quality of. There aren't too many folks with good husbandry for either their reptiles OR their rats in Philadelphia, at least none I've found yet.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

---

That sucks. I see em pretty frequently, but I'm in a big city so I guess that makes sense. If you can, see if there are any Facebook snake/reptile groups for your area. Many breed their own rats, and sell them both live and frozen in my group, usually for $2-3, which beats the crap outta pet store prices.

On the bright side, did my first ever feeding video!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Archimedes

On the bright side, did my first ever feeding video!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

---

It sounds like I might be too late, but I really wouldn't recommend feeding right before you are going to be gone. If there are any complications (regurge, etc.), you won't be there to handle it in a reasonable timeframe.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Annarose15

It sounds like I might be too late, but I really wouldn't recommend feeding right before you are going to be gone. If there are any complications (regurge, etc.), you won't be there to handle it in a reasonable timeframe.

---

=/ I didn't think of that... He's had zero issues in the past, and I'm pleased to report that Arctic Mice apparently now advertises Pups as Small Rats, so it's an appropriate size. Husbandry is spot-on, and i'll have my mom check in on him while I'm away.... I'm confident he'll be ok, but now naturally I'm nervous.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Archimedes

=/ I didn't think of that... He's had zero issues in the past, and I'm pleased to report that Arctic Mice apparently now advertises Pups as Small Rats, so it's an appropriate size. Husbandry is spot-on, and i'll have my mom check in on him while I'm away.... I'm confident he'll be ok, but now naturally I'm nervous.

---

As long as she's checking, I'm sure he will be fine. :)

When I order frozen (usually twice a year) I order the size I need plus the size I think I will need after a few months. If I have any feeders that are a bit under size I will double them up or add them to another size to equal the correct feeding ratio.

Even with high shipping charges it came out cheaper than buying from the big box stores. Use Rodentpro ( http://www.rodentpro.com/ ). Sign up for their mailing list and you will get discount coupons and what they call Hot Deals like small rats right now are $1.15 each. Between the coupon and the deals it works out much cheaper than buying local for me. My last two orders were each right over 100 feeders of various sizes and both had a average unit price of $2 and some change and that was including shipping charges.

Your real problem may be freezer space. I have a separate meat freezer that I fill about 3 cubic feet with rats each order. Think about how much space you have before you place a big order.

if you can pick up a small cricket tote small cooler and some dry ice from a grocery store you will have a CO2 chamber. Yes, putting them in the freezer will kill them but i would assume CO2 is more humane? dont know why they fall asleep either way.

Though personally i think that letting the snake strangle them for 20 seconds is more painful but faster so is that more humane than letting them gasp to death for a while? no idea.

Hey Arch,

Is there a Pets Plus out near Media? The closet one I can think of for you would be in KoP/Plymouth Meeting. They sell live if you need to hit up live again. Not sure if they sell frozen though.

Can't wait to see your video. :D


I'll second what you said about reptile/feeder husbandry. It seems the "good hobbyists" in the area are underground or I just don't know where to find them. Possibly a combination of both. :-/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8h0Aondlus
Here it is! Gosh I love his feeding response.

Pyrate, I don't think we have PetsPlus. There's a We Love Pets both in Media and in Springfield, and they do live, but not frozen. I don't think they'd be willing to prekill though. Like I said, as soon as I make a chamber, I'll be all set. (Especially since we're moving to a smaller apartment, and I won't have the luxury of a meat freezer there, buuuhhhh.)

I've joined two different Herp groups on Facebook that are local. Unjoined both almost immediately. They just make me unhappy.

(But if you're local we should get lunch. :D)

I'm 10 min away from Plymouth Meeting (Roxborough)!

I haven't had luck with finding a good feeder supply out here either, so I've been getting live mice from the Pets Plus on Ridge. They don't have rats small enough to feed my BP yet. :/

The only other idea I can think of is to pick up a bag or two of feeders from the Oaks expo when it comes around next.

What was wrong with the groups, if you don't mind me asking?

I don't know how you feel about breeding your own rats but I have a colony of African Soft Furred rats that just dropped a litter. I can hook you up with a colony of your own if you'd like. I'm from Philadelphia as well. If not you can hit this guy up on Facebook he sells frozen I believe. He also makes his own breeding racks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MootWorm

What was wrong with the groups, if you don't mind me asking?

---

The people in the groups behaved more like flippers than hobbyists, and I left when they started trash-talking others who reviewed their products as sub-quality (a fair assessment, from the photos of racks they posted.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hardt

Have you considered buying the live rodent then putting it down yourself?

---

This is what I usually do. My parents seem like they want me to keep reptiles the hard way, and refuse to let me have frozen rats. That said, we feed my pythons freshly killed, and depending on store and employee, we buy the rats pre-killed or live. (and then I turn live into pre-killed myself, before anyone says anything)

When dealing with live rodents, euthanasia varies with your ethics. On one side of the spectrum, we have a complex suffocation chamber, whilst on the other side of the spectrum, we have bag and a really hard rock.