Can I switch from F/T to Live? Live just seem to be more readily accessible.

So the pet store right near me just stopped selling F/T and I'm in the city where I walk everywhere and commute. Can I switch to live pet store mice?


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Essentially you can do whatever you want but I think you should check into buying f/t rodents online. You can get a lot for a pretty good price but shipping is a tad expensive at times. If I had a ball python that was eating f/t I wouldn't switch to live at all. That is just my opinion but as I said it is your snake and you can do whatever you want.

Yes, you could switch. But I'd look into ordering online. Everyone says shipping is expensive, but I personally think it's cheaper then live when you work the numbers. :)

Buying in bulk online is much cheaper than buying individual rodents frozen or live at most stores. I would suggest searching for a breeder that is local you can buy bulk and save on shipping from.

I've had a few that I've bought over the years that were fed PK or FT by previous owners. I feed my whole collection 100+ balls live. They all made the switch, some a little quicker than others but they all have switched.

Pet store mice are usually at least four bucks. Especially when your snake gets to the size when you need multiple mice, you'll be paying a lot. And good luck finding reasonable priced live rats. Usually stores sell full grown rats and those are too big for ball pythons.

So really the best solution here is to get more snakes :P and either buy F/T in bulk or breed your own feeders. I really enjoy breeding my own feeders.

i won't suggest letting the snake get used to live.
as a compromise, you can prekill the live mice you'll be buying....this way it will be easier to switch back to FT, just in case.

I would by f.t. online if it is difficult for you to find f.t. in your are. however I personally like to pre kill my rodents for my snakes, they are harmless to the snake and just as nutritious as live!

Why I say no to live.....

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...4942772920.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...0d11bc67bc.jpg

But many do with success.

Simple, don't leave live prey unsupervised with your snakes.

I also had problems finding mice at pet stores, so I bought bulk frozen mice online and it really is much cheaper than buying individually at a local store. They last a long time in a freezer. IMO the shipping price makes up for itself pretty quickly. I'm paying about 50 cents per mouse (without shipping costs) versus $4-6 per mouse.

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Originally Posted by Spike89

Why I say no to live.....

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...4942772920.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...0d11bc67bc.jpg

But many do with success.

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Here we go again :rolleyes:

I am curious what is your experience with live feeding, how many live prey have you fed in the past 5 years?

In the vast majority of cases using those pro-F/T pictures those were not the result RESPONSIBLE live feeding, but the result of neglect often leaving starving dehydrated rodents for days in the enclosure.

Sure if you don't know how to feed live you might as well feed F/T but if you feed F/T irresponsibly you may also kill your snake so the bottom line maybe you should not have a snake at all.

Feeding is about feeding responsibly, a prey that is well hydrated, well fed, not stressed, not oversized, it's about removing the prey after 10/15 min if not eaten, it's about supervising.

I feed over 200 live prey each month (that's for my breeder alone) I have done so since I started breeding rats and mice in 2007 (do the math), in that time never have I had to interfere and I never had an horror story.

This is about educating not scaring people off with the big boogy man and no hands on experience.

To the OP do what works for your snake and for yourself, if you want to feed F/T fine if you want to feed live fine too, don't let people scare you off because the found a picture online and have no clue how it really got to this when there is always a back story.

"But others have had success"

I love when people post those photos and have absolutely no experience feeding live...

Ive been feeding live for two years with no problems. Ofcorse if you don't have any common sense, then it's NOT a good idea to feed live or own any animals at all for that matter.

Instead of googling gruesome photos, you could've searched how to properly feed live.

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I can see both sides. My experience feeding live is with a corn snake that was at a pet store I worked at. She would eat anything but live was easiest so that is what she got. At some point she was bit. That bite ended up getting infected and she went down hill quick. She ended up with skin lesions and went septic. She almost died but I was able to bring her back. She's healthy now but is covered in scars. Due to this experience, I don't feed live unless I have to

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I was feeding my balls f/t until a few started to refuse them. I tried live and they took them no problem. Also I notice that my one female bee has been putting on some weight when she started in live. She refused frozen when she hit the 1000g mark

Yep. I switched to live because I had one female who refused F/T. And it was a pain trying to buy her weekly 2 dollar each mice before they ran out. I have a busy work schedule and it wasn't easy getting there early in the week. Now I have way better feeding responses from all snakes and jumps in weight gain. Plus it's a lot of fun breeding the rats and mice. I'm even going to invest in some English show mice this year. Up to 11 snakes now and the time saved and having what I need when I need it is great

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Originally Posted by Jons2012pied

I was feeding my balls f/t until a few started to refuse them. I tried live and they took them no problem. Also I notice that my one female bee has been putting on some weight when she started in live. She refused frozen when she hit the 1000g mark

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How long did you wait until you switched? I'm sitting here as I type this trying to get my 1000g male to eat. He's eaten F/T small rats perfectly up until the last month. If he refuses tonight, it will be week 5 with no meal. He just takes a sniff, then turns his head like he's not hungry.