Do you use live or f/t food?

Hi, im just curious, i wonder if people use live of f/t rodents, if you have a reason why or why not, please answer (also im trying to create a poll). Thanks

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Yaayyy it worked

Jgras's thread inspired me to try and create a poll, so ya this is how you do it, when posting a thread go to bottom and select poll and then when you post it will do poll options

Thanks, ill try it

I use live. Cant do polls on tapatalk :(

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Shame, at the moment its all f/t but thanks for feedback

We feed f/t rats. Why? Because that is what the snake has alwasy eaten, it is easier and safer to leave her with her food unattended if needed, and I can buy them a few at a time and simply that out. My bp is a champ at eating so it simply works. This weekend was her post shed meal and she about ripped the head off with her strike and coil.

We have a fairly unusual reason for feeding f/t. My son's allergies won't allow us to keep any furry critters, which is why we got a snake in the first place!

I use F/T, Nessie is a garbage disposal with just about anything and has never seen a live rat in her life, so it's a non-issue to feed her. Isabelle, on the other hand, still doesn't quite know what to make of frozen meals. Gonna wait her out one more week before jump-starting with live.

I feed F/T. It's more convenient for me to order a shipment of rats than hitting up a pet store every week or breeding my own. Additionally - and these are just my own personal preferences - I have a huge fondness for rats, have kept them as pets for quite some time previously, and I don't think I would be able to stomach tossing a live little friend to their immediate death.

As a final note, pre-killed or F/T animals cannot bite back, and that's wonderful. :D

All of that said, I'd do live if I it really came down to my snake starving itself to death, I'd just prefer to take every other possible avenue first.

F/T because that is what my snake has always eaten. He has had no objections over mice or rats, so once the mice became too small, he's now eating rats without a fuss. It's cheaper to get a bunch of rats at once so I can keep a small stock of them on hand.

Plus, he loves them, no reason to suddenly switch to a live one. He's never refused food, and he gets fed on a regular basis so if he's not complaining, I'm not complaining.

FT only because it's more convenient for me at this stage than going to the pet store. Sometimes the stores didn't have the size I wanted either.

One day, if I get a place where I have more room and can raise my own rats, I might end up doing that...for now, FT is what's working for me.

I feed F/T which is the most used in the UK (as far as I can tell) I would end up with lots of furry pets if I tried live but I would be willing to try it if it came to it and one of my BP's wouldn't eat :)

I also like to know I have food for them in the freezer at all times and can monitor when I need to buy more.

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Originally Posted by Naom9Anne

I feed F/T which is the most used in the UK (as far as I can tell) I would end up with lots of furry pets if I tried live but I would be willing to try it if it came to it and one of my BP's wouldn't eat :)

I also like to know I have food for them in the freezer at all times and can monitor when I need to buy more.

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Its the only legal method in the uk, if anywhere in the uk sells you live mice to feed to your snake it is illegal.

both but im switching to ft since i have big order coming in

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Originally Posted by dgring

Its the only legal method in the uk, if anywhere in the uk sells you live mice to feed to your snake it is illegal.

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But I'm pretty sure that rule dosent apply if the snake is dying and there is no other option but otherwise it is clasified as animal cruelty

I've only given my little nugget 3 live mice. I switched to F/T within the first month. I couldn't switch back now, since she's either forgotten that she's a constrictor, or she's just lazy. Also, she's developing a habit of attempting to eat her mice from the middle.

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Live. I breed my own feeders. Its cheaper and more cost effective for me. F/T is too expensive if I had to ship. Not to mention only a handful of my snakes would actually take F/T. The rest are picky enough on live so F/T is a no go. There would be too many wasted food.

And if I had to thaw out and Zombie dance all the feeders for my snakes, it would take hours. Its faster and easier to just drop a feeder into the tub and go down the rack line. If I hear a thump, I go check up to see if the snake has a good hold. If so, I just move on with the routine. And 30 mins later, I just go around and take out all uneaten feeders to save for next week.

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I feed a mixture of live and frozen thawed. Some of mine will only eat live and some will eat ft hopefully ill have 1 or 2 more that will feed on frozen thawed my cbb has only had 2 meals and wont pay any attention to ft. Then i have one that was eating ft when i got him and then stopped feeding and will only eat live now

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I prefer to feed frozen, but I feed whatever they actually are willing to eat so I do have plenty that feed on live prey.

Live for several reasons. I had too many wasted feeders, plus the hassle of thawing. You know, how many do I thaw, will everyone eat, what to do with the extras if some don't, and so on. Cheaper and easier to breed my own feeders, then when someome refuses, it just goes back in the rack for the next feeding. My boas and my blood with take f/t easily enough, but the balls are just too picky sometimes. If they weren't, I'd do all f/t in a second. It would save me a bunch of time in the long run.

I feed mine live. It's a lot easier and hassle-free than anything else in my opinion. You pick up a mouse, throw it in, and 10 seconds later your snakey is having dinner. Unlike some people on this forum, I'm lucky enough to have a reptile store near me that sells live feeders. No offence to anyone who feeds F/T, but I can't imagine having mice or rats in my fridge (unless you have a separate one) or defrosting those suckers all day. The whole process actually grosses me out.

I feed pre-killed and F/T..

I had an incident where one of my BPs snagged the wrong end of a Live mouse and it went bonkers. After that, I decided to eliminate the potential of an injury to the snake. Once I decided to feed pre-killed, I figured I try and switch them over to F/T and save myself a few trips to the shop. I've been tempted to check into ordering large quantities of F/T to save a few dollars, but I'm a strong believer in supporting the local reptile shop.

F/T as it is just easier for me to keep food on hand verse live.

F/T works best for me. babies get live until their third meal then I switch them over.

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Originally Posted by martin82531

F/T as it is just easier for me to keep food on hand verse live.

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Same for me too :)


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I feed both F/T and live. Live for the two BPs I own that have refused to take anything else but I would actually feed everything live if I had the time and space to raise a large feeder colony. As far as storage goes, F/T is just simpler even if the live rats are easier to recycle and more nutritional for the snakes.

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Originally Posted by dgring

But I'm pretty sure that rule dosent apply if the snake is dying and there is no other option but otherwise it is clasified as animal cruelty

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You can feed live in the UK it's just heard of less. If you are breeding as long as the rats are cared for and killed humanely you're allowed to use this method. I prefer F/T, it's much simpler and easier to feed in this way in my opinion if you go under the assumption your snake will take it.

You can't, however, walk into a pet shop and go "Excuse me sir, I like that small mouse, it looks tasty for my royal python" I think that would be met with strange looks and possibly being removed from the store. You could go in and buy one under the pretence it was to be a pet but I know someone who breeds and humanely kills for feeding so worst case scenario I would go to him should I be in that situation.

I'll stick to my F/T :) I can sort of ignore that they were cute, furry little things and I see them as purely snake food like this :)

Since I only have two snakes it's not tha bad buying both. My pastel refuses anything frozen no matter what I do to try and switch her over, but my butter is taking frozen rats like a champ. I rather have both of them on f/t for safety reasons but ill cross that bridge when my pastel is bigger and on to larger prey

I feed F/T. I don't have a close source for live so I've been lucky so far that all my snakes will take F/T. If I ever get one that needs live I'll have a problem since the nearest source of live for me is about an hour drive one way.

We use f/t, My wife prefer's that way and I to. Being owners of ''pet'' rats in the past I personally can't which a rat die by a snake and also buying frozen is great, I purchased about 10 at a time from my local rat breeder and leave them in the freezer. (Right now we have a few different sizes ranging from 14-35 grams....rats pups/weaned)

110% LIVE

All reasons already listed.
When we had less than 5 snakes f/t was okay but still a pain.
Now with over 25 snakes live is so much easier and no wasted bodies.
I still have yet to see why people claim "safety" for f/t?
Yes snakes have been bit while feeding in captivity AND in the wild.
All of the horrific accidents are 90% keeper error, let them be snakes and do their thing because its in their DNA.
Keep in mind that rodents can get board too so its just a time thing.;)

Live here, especially after my picky female. Easier, and I don't like wasting money on non eaten feeders. Also hate the whole thawing and heating thing

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

let them be snakes and do their thing because its in their DNA.

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By that logic, why use incubators for eggs? Maternal incubation is what they do and they've been using it for thousands of years.
There is so much that is not seen in nature (the tubs, the substrates, incubator, quad gene animals) that its just a little bizarre that live feeding is generally the thing where I see people being "ITS NATURAL AND WHAT THEY DO AND WHAT THEY'VE BEEN DOING FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS"

Live feed all you want- I can see the benefits, but since I have only have two, f/t works better for me and both girls eat very happily on f/t, and they are eating I'm happy. I'd do live if I needed too, but it'd more of a pain... I like being able to go to the store and pick up 2 months worth of food in one go. Couldn't do that with live.

(And the mini rant wasn't directed at you, just in general- I've seen that logic a few times, yours was just one on this thread :) )


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Live here.

I raise ASFs. The parents are my pets. They're less stinkier than hamsters and are as cute. The children get separated by gender and get to live as a community with toys and stuff. My husband/kids will take 6 of them a week to feed the snakes. The cool thing about this is when the snakes go on fasts - like they oftentimes do - the ASFs get to jump for joy and play with their toys a few extra weeks. Frozen rats don't get this luxury.

But, even if I somehow quit raising ASFs, I would still do live. Why? Because I trust my snakes to know what to do more than I trust myself. I will always wonder if the rats are thawed properly or if it will be too cold or too hot or if I ended up cooking the rats which would end up hurting my snakes. I trust the snake's instincts better in knowing how to eat a rat properly. Of course, to mitigate the risk, I practice good feeding methods by feeding the appropriate sized rat, feeding a well-feed/well-hydrated rat, and monitoring feeding and promptly taking out uneaten prey.

What I don't understand is people thinking it is "cruel" to feed live rats to snakes (like in the UK culture) but it is not cruel to kill a rat put it in a baggie and freeze it for later. And the same people also don't think it's cruel to put rat traps in their houses.

And another note on the UK legality of live feeders - it is not illegal but it is discouraged and culturally looked down upon. The following snippet comes directly from the British Parliament documented Parliamentary debates under 1911 Act: "This practice is currently legal so long as not practiced in a public place. There has always been confusion over the legality of this practice as no regulation directly relating to this has ever been decreed. Many millions of rodents are destroyed every year by break back traps and poison, compared to these methods the kill by a snake is swift and efficient."

The UK law that could potentially be used against live feeders is the fighting clause of 1911 Act, that is, putting a live rat together with a live snake for the purpose of fighting (similar to dog fighting or rooster fighting) is illegal. But the document linked above has this to say about it: "Whilst we absolutely do not want to encourage live feeding, we think we need some clarity as to whether that is going to be made illegal under this clause of fighting. Our concerns are, because of Clause 3(iv)(c), the need to be able to exhibit normal behavior patterns, that snakes in the wild feed on life prey, there are no carrion feeding snakes, so that would mean we are not going to be able to feed them frozen food; we are going to have to feed them live mice, and equally we would be opposed to having to introduce that."

That document is a really interesting read.

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Originally Posted by sunshinenorcas

By that logic, why use incubators for eggs? Maternal incubation is what they do and they've been using it for thousands of years.
There is so much that is not seen in nature (the tubs, the substrates, incubator, quad gene animals) that its just a little bizarre that live feeding is generally the thing where I see people being "ITS NATURAL AND WHAT THEY DO AND WHAT THEY'VE BEEN DOING FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS"

Live feed all you want- I can see the benefits, but since I have only have two, f/t works better for me and both girls eat very happily on f/t, and they are eating I'm happy. I'd do live if I needed too, but it'd more of a pain... I like being able to go to the store and pick up 2 months worth of food in one go. Couldn't do that with live.

(And the mini rant wasn't directed at you, just in general- I've seen that logic a few times, yours was just one on this thread :) )


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There are two methods of raising pets - be it a dog, bird, fish, or snake: 1.) You control as much as possible and only allow the pet to control what you yourself can't. 2.) Allow the pet to control as much as possible and only control if there is unacceptable risk to the pet.

For example: I maternally incubate. That is because I trust my snake to know exactly what the eggs need more than I know if the eggs have the proper temp and humidity. Same reason for feeding live rodent. I trust the snake to know how to eat a rat than me knowing if the rat is thawed properly. Also, I provide a temperature gradient and trust the snake to know how much heat it needs. But, I keep the snakes in locked down enclosures because I trust that I know that it is safer for the snakes never to get out of their enclosures than the snakes knowing that it is safer for them in the enclosure than outside of it. So, I'm smack dab in Method #2 above. Others are smack dab in #1 - especially the breeders who are super experts on this thing and can't afford to leave some things to chance. There are others that are on Method #2 but believe that live feeding is just as risky if not less risky than F/T feeding and maternal incubation is an unacceptable risk for the health of both mother and eggs.

Make sense?

This is something I've always wondered when it comes to the live vs f/t debate. Is it really faster to feed live than f/t? Because if you breed your own rats it takes time to take care of the colony so I think that would be the equivalent to thawing out feeders since both take work but raising rats is a lot more work. And when you just drop in the larger feeders (smalls and mediums) I've heard that people keep pencils next to the enclosure incase of a bad strike or just a feisty feeder. So monitoring a feeding with feeders that could potentially injure your snake links up to the zombie dance time right? Maybe I'm wrong about this but I'd like some feed back on this. Has anyone else ever thought of it this way? I'm weird when it comes to these things.


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Originally Posted by anatess

Live here.

I raise ASFs. The parents are my pets. They're less stinkier than hamsters and are as cute. The children get separated by gender and get to live as a community with toys and stuff. My husband/kids will take 6 of them a week to feed the snakes. The cool thing about this is when the snakes go on fasts - like they oftentimes do - the ASFs get to jump for joy and play with their toys a few extra weeks. Frozen rats don't get this luxury.

But, even if I somehow quit raising ASFs, I would still do live. Why? Because I trust my snakes to know what to do more than I trust myself. I will always wonder if the rats are thawed properly or if it will be too cold or too hot or if I ended up cooking the rats which would end up hurting my snakes. I trust the snake's instincts better in knowing how to eat a rat properly. Of course, to mitigate the risk, I practice good feeding methods by feeding the appropriate sized rat, feeding a well-feed/well-hydrated rat, and monitoring feeding and promptly taking out uneaten prey.

What I don't understand is people thinking it is "cruel" to feed live rats to snakes (like in the UK culture) but it is not cruel to kill a rat put it in a baggie and freeze it for later. And the same people also don't think it's cruel to put rat traps in their houses.

And another note on the UK legality of live feeders - it is not illegal but it is discouraged and culturally looked down upon. The following snippet comes directly from the British Parliament documented Parliamentary debates under 1911 Act: "This practice is currently legal so long as not practiced in a public place. There has always been confusion over the legality of this practice as no regulation directly relating to this has ever been decreed. Many millions of rodents are destroyed every year by break back traps and poison, compared to these methods the kill by a snake is swift and efficient."

The UK law that could potentially be used against live feeders is the fighting clause of 1911 Act, that is, putting a live rat together with a live snake for the purpose of fighting (similar to dog fighting or rooster fighting) is illegal. But the document linked above has this to say about it: "Whilst we absolutely do not want to encourage live feeding, we think we need some clarity as to whether that is going to be made illegal under this clause of fighting. Our concerns are, because of Clause 3(iv)(c), the need to be able to exhibit normal behavior patterns, that snakes in the wild feed on life prey, there are no carrion feeding snakes, so that would mean we are not going to be able to feed them frozen food; we are going to have to feed them live mice, and equally we would be opposed to having to introduce that."

That document is a really interesting read.

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For the most part, Im on board with anatess. We have over 20 snakes, and breed ASFs as well. We feed the snakes every Friday evening, and we offer every snake a meal. If the snake is hungry and takes the prey, we just move on to the next animal. If the snake doesn't accept a meal, that live prey is offered to the next snake until all have been offered. Those ASFs/rats that do not get eaten get put back in the feed out/grow out tank and get to live and play until next Friday. I couldn't imagine the money Id waste if I had several snakes refuse a f/t meal. In addition, it would take me much more time to thaw out all those frozen rodents for 20+ snakes. I work late. When I come home on Friday nights and feed the babies, I just wanna git-r-done. With live, I can just jump right in. In the wild, snakes eat LIVE prey. They don't have someone waiting there to intervene with tongs if the prey starts scratching/biting them, and they survive just fine. Yes, I do believe there are a few instances where f/t would be preferred over live, such as if I had a scaleless bp, or a very "aloof" hatchling that needs his food left in the tub overnight. I don't believe that one way is "better" than the other. I think what it boils down to is whatever works better for that persons situation and collection.

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Originally Posted by AlexisFitzy

This is something I've always wondered when it comes to the live vs f/t debate. Is it really faster to feed live than f/t? Because if you breed your own rats it takes time to take care of the colony so I think that would be the equivalent to thawing out feeders since both take work but raising rats is a lot more work. And when you just drop in the larger feeders (smalls and mediums) I've heard that people keep pencils next to the enclosure incase of a bad strike or just a feisty feeder. So monitoring a feeding with feeders that could potentially injure your snake links up to the zombie dance time right? Maybe I'm wrong about this but I'd like some feed back on this. Has anyone else ever thought of it this way? I'm weird when it comes to these things.


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For me personally, breeding my own rats is a lot more cost efficient. And that cost outweighs the 20-30 some minutes it takes me to change their bedding and rack once a week. No wasted feeders and I know that my rats are healthy because I know what goes into their direct care. And that 20-30 minutes sure beats zombie dancing for an hour(s). Yes hours. It would take me at least an hour or more to feed f/t to my collection.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I go down the rack and drop feeders into the tubs. If I hear a strike, I walk over and check out that snake to see if they have a good hold. If they do, I just move on. If they don't, I just stick something into their mouths till they're dead and then move on. I don't sit and watch every snake until they strike and coil. Every snake gets fed at the exact same time. I just wait till I hear the *thump* of a strike before checking on them. And if the snake doesn't eat in 20-30 mins, I take away the feeder to save for next week.

I've never had a feisty feeder because all of my rats are hand tamed and docile. They either sit & groom themselves in the tub. Or they walk around a bit and explore. It also helps to follow the general "responsible feeding" rule of thumbs: feed smaller and more frequent than larger and less often. I feed smalls to all of my adults. Maybe the occasional medium if I have an extra feeder that has lived that long. But smaller and younger the rat, the less dangerous they are. They are more naive and less conscious to danger than an adult would be so they are unlikely to fight back or be aggressive. And even if they bite, it won't have the same damage potential as a large or jumbo rat for example.

F/T is do-able for a couple snakes. But I bet if you had 50-60-70-100+ snakes, f/t wouldn't be very time or cost efficient and would be a general pain.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

For me personally, breeding my own rats is a lot more cost efficient. And that cost outweighs the 20-30 some minutes it takes me to change their bedding and rack once a week. No wasted feeders and I know that my rats are healthy because I know what goes into their direct care. And that 20-30 minutes sure beats zombie dancing for an hour(s). Yes hours. It would take me at least an hour or more to feed f/t to my collection.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I go down the rack and drop feeders into the tubs. If I hear a strike, I walk over and check out that snake to see if they have a good hold. If they do, I just move on. If they don't, I just stick something into their mouths till they're dead and then move on. I don't sit and watch every snake until they strike and coil. Every snake gets fed at the exact same time. I just wait till I hear the *thump* of a strike before checking on them. And if the snake doesn't eat in 20-30 mins, I take away the feeder to save for next week.

I've never had a feisty feeder because all of my rats are hand tamed and docile. They either sit & groom themselves in the tub. Or they walk around a bit and explore. It also helps to follow the general "responsible feeding" rule of thumbs: feed smaller and more frequent than larger and less often. I feed smalls to all of my adults. Maybe the occasional medium if I have an extra feeder that has lived that long. But smaller and younger the rat, the less dangerous they are. They are more naive and less conscious to danger than an adult would be so they are unlikely to fight back or be aggressive. And even if they bite, it won't have the same damage potential as a large or jumbo rat for example.

F/T is do-able for a couple snakes. But I bet if you had 50-60-70-100+ snakes, f/t wouldn't be very time or cost efficient and would be a general pain.

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Thanks so much for a perfectly thought out answer :) that was the kind of answer I was looking for. And if BHB and Royal Constrictor Designs and other large scale breeders can feed their snakes f/t and they have hundreds (500+) even thousands of animals to feed. I think I could feed 100+ as well. But I'd never acquire that many snakes if I didn't have the time or finances to provide them what they needed. Whether it's caring for the feeders or preparing f/t rats whatever works for you is best :)


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After a mouse turned and attacked my snake, I'll never feed live again. And it's so much simpler than having smelly stinky mouse or rats in house :) It's also cheaper if you're not breeding own rodents. Live prey costs almost twice as much.

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Originally Posted by AlexisFitzy

Thanks so much for a perfectly thought out answer :) that was the kind of answer I was looking for. And if BHB and Royal Constrictor Designs and other large scale breeders can feed their snakes f/t and they have hundreds (500+) even thousands of animals to feed. I think I could feed 100+ as well. But I'd never acquire that many snakes if I didn't have the time or finances to provide them what they needed. Whether it's caring for the feeders or preparing f/t rats whatever works for you is best :)

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They also have employees ;)

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Originally Posted by sunshinenorcas

By that logic, why use incubators for eggs? Maternal incubation is what they do and they've been using it for thousands of years.
There is so much that is not seen in nature (the tubs, the substrates, incubator, quad gene animals) that its just a little bizarre that live feeding is generally the thing where I see people being "ITS NATURAL AND WHAT THEY DO AND WHAT THEY'VE BEEN DOING FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS"

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To take the burden off of the female and hope she gets back on feed sooner than later.
Read what you want into it but live is the way I go.

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Originally Posted by AlexisFitzy

Thanks so much for a perfectly thought out answer :) that was the kind of answer I was looking for. And if BHB and Royal Constrictor Designs and other large scale breeders can feed their snakes f/t and they have hundreds (500+) even thousands of animals to feed. I think I could feed 100+ as well. But I'd never acquire that many snakes if I didn't have the time or finances to provide them what they needed. Whether it's caring for the feeders or preparing f/t rats whatever works for you is best :)


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They have employees for that!

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Originally Posted by jxl

Live prey costs almost twice as much.

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Depends on where you live. In my neck of the woods, only PetCo and PetSmart sell frozen feeders and they're mice not rats and is only big enough for baby bps. To get the medium rats, you'll need to get it shipped... and the shipping cost is just as much, if not more than, the cost of the rats so it gets pricey. Live prey at the reptile store ends up comparably priced. The reptile store around here doesn't sell F/T - they'll pre-kill for you, though, for free, but you get to buy it at live price. But yes, you'll have to drive to the store every week.

There's usually someone selling F/T at Reptile Shows but those only come around once or twice a year so you get to buy in big bulks and then you'll have to get a freezer to put them all in.

The cheapest method, I think, for a small collection (more than 4 snakes but less than 40 snakes) is raising your own feeders. If you have a good method going, it doesn't take much time to clean after the colony. For more than 40 snakes, I'm thinking you'll need a much bigger space to house the colony which is much much bigger than the space needed to keep the snakes. Okay, I'm just pulling those numbers out of thin air. I only have 6 snakes so I don't really know.

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Originally Posted by anatess

Depends on where you live. In my neck of the woods, only PetCo and PetSmart sell frozen feeders and they're mice not rats and is only big enough for baby bps. To get the medium rats, you'll need to get it shipped... and the shipping cost is just as much, if not more than, the cost of the rats so it gets pricey. Live prey at the reptile store ends up comparably priced. The reptile store around here doesn't sell F/T - they'll pre-kill for you, though, for free, but you get to buy it at live price. But yes, you'll have to drive to the store every week.

There's usually someone selling F/T at Reptile Shows but those only come around once or twice a year so you get to buy in big bulks and then you'll have to get a freezer to put them all in.

The cheapest method, I think, for a small collection (more than 4 snakes but less than 40 snakes) is raising your own feeders. If you have a good method going, it doesn't take much time to clean after the colony. For more than 40 snakes, I'm thinking you'll need a much bigger space to house the colony which is much much bigger than the space needed to keep the snakes. Okay, I'm just pulling those numbers out of thin air. I only have 6 snakes so I don't really know.

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I agree, it's not that time consuming to care for the feeders, and cheaper by far for me. Shipping frozen is a nightmare on price (at least where I'm at), I did previously look into it.
I have a local store who sells mice for 1.50 per, and small rats $3, med $4, asf $4
I have started my own mouse and asf colony, so I won't really be spending too much at all, as I can sell the excess

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I work at a pet store, and we sell all manner of prey, from mouse pinkies to jumbo rats, even asfs.(you can thank me;) ) The price is the same, whether its frozen or live. My manager looks at it this way: a mouse costs me the same whether its dead or alive, so Im not selling frozen ones cheaper. I do think our prices on rodents are pretty good when you look at our local competition. I would have to say most of our customers buy and feed live, with a few regular frozen customers. With large facilities like BHB, yes they have employees that thaw out the rodents and feed the snakes. My collection will never get past 30 animals...that many is overwhelming enough for me lol. I think breeding your own is the way to go...esp with asfs. Even if you only had a moderate collection of say 6-10 snakes, one colony of asfs would prob do for you. If I stopped buying them toys and treats from work lol and went with simple free stuff like toilet rolls and bones, I buy a 50lb bag of food for $27.99 that lasts 6+ months, and a $5 bale of bedding from tractor supply that lasts about two months. That's roughly $7 per month cost. That's a HUGE savings when you compare buying frozen rodents, not to mention the time it saves me thawin all those buggers out every week.

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Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady

I work at a pet store, and we sell all manner of prey, from mouse pinkies to jumbo rats, even asfs.(you can thank me;) ) The price is the same, whether its frozen or live. My manager looks at it this way: a mouse costs me the same whether its dead or alive, so Im not selling frozen ones cheaper. I do think our prices on rodents are pretty good when you look at our local competition. I would have to say most of our customers buy and feed live, with a few regular frozen customers. With large facilities like BHB, yes they have employees that thaw out the rodents and feed the snakes. My collection will never get past 30 animals...that many is overwhelming enough for me lol. I think breeding your own is the way to go...esp with asfs. Even if you only had a moderate collection of say 6-10 snakes, one colony of asfs would prob do for you. If I stopped buying them toys and treats from work lol and went with simple free stuff like toilet rolls and bones, I buy a 50lb bag of food for $27.99 that lasts 6+ months, and a $5 bale of bedding from tractor supply that lasts about two months. That's roughly $7 per month cost. That's a HUGE savings when you compare buying frozen rodents, not to mention the time it saves me thawin all those buggers out every week.

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I have 6 snakes. They feed off of 2 breeding pairs of ASFs that average about 24 babies every 3 weeks (both my breeders are well over a year old so they don't produce as much). One breeding pair is not enough to feed 6 snakes consistently every week. But 2 is a tad bit too much so sometimes I get overrun, which is when I retire the male breeder (the females are my pets!) and keep a male baby to grow out with the breeder female in the tub which slows down production (incest! Lol!). When the female breeder retires, I keep a female baby to grow out as my new pet and get a baby male from the reptile store to grow with it and they become a new family (new blood. whew!).

This method has worked out for me.

In the end just do what works for you. Theres no right or wrong way.


Its just better for me personally to feed live and breed my own rodents. If I bought live or f/t feeders locally, it averages over $30+ per feeding(week). It costs less than that to maintain my rodent colony for a month.

Buying rodents online is cheap until shipping costs several times more than the total shipment....So yeahhhhh..............That's going to be a pass for me. I did it once. Doubt I'll do it again.

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When I had two snakes I fed F/T because it was not hard to thaw two rats and feed them. As my collection grew (we now have 20) it became easier and easier to feed live. Granted I still buy my live because I am still working out the logistics of starting my own colony (I live in a trailer), so buying live is not very cost efficient. I do keep a whole variety of F/T sizes in my freezer for those times when my supplier runs dry, which happens more than I would like. I think I will be setting up a live colony in the new year in preparation for clutches I am expecting and increasing numbers. I really don't mind the "risk" involved with feeding live. I have had snakes being bit by rats, but no harm has ever come of that, it happens in nature too. The way I see it, it is like falling over and scraping your knee, yes it hurts, but I am not going to bubble wrap my snakes, even though some of them are worth a lot.

So to answer the question, I feed both live and frozen, but I find it much easier and efficient to feed live. And efficiency is important to me because I am in vet school and short on time as it is.

We feed both F/T and have a colony of live ASF. It all depends on the situation. Live is cheaper for us, raising our own is safer for all animals involved due to correct sizing, we know what the feeders conditions are and their health. However, I also purchase F/T rats, mice, and ASFs. Everything is a balancing act between how our colony is doing. If we are running low on live ASFs I will switch the animals to F/Ts and if our colony is very full we will up feedings to 2-3 ASFs a week to reduce the size of the colony. I will also feed medium F/T rats to large females that i am trying to put weight on.

I use f/t because my BP is a great eater and I doesn't need the danger of feeding live .