Poll- source of your mice/rats/rabbits/birds/etc.

Please answer with complete HONESTY, and answer through your experience only. thanks. Your name will not appear next to your choice(vote).Thanks everyone.

I'm not skeered! I buy live and feed live. It's much cheaper when Kashmire is actually eating though. Lunch and Dinner are getting fat and sassy right about now!

Breed them.. feed them live or frozen depending on the snake.

Buy 2-3 medium rats, small mice, and fuzzies then kill 1 of each feed to a snake then freeze the rest for next week

[QUOTE=rabernet]I buy live and feed live. QUOTE]

I have done both f/t and live, but I feed mostly live. I breed my own mice and I buy sometimes. I left another forum yesterday and joined here because it was me vs. everybody there on the topic of live.Soemone told me to come here because people are understanding and are willing to listen to your opinions. if you click this link it will bring you to the 5th page of my argument which is where i left off.I did not like those nasty people at all! i was over with that forum in 3 days. please read the whole of the 5 pages and you will get to know me really well ! ANYBODY HERE WHO AGREES WITH LIVE FEEDING SHOULD CLICK ON THIS LINK SO THAT YOU CAN SEE A 5 PAGE ARGUMENT THAT I MADE WITH THE DUMB PEOPLE AT THE OTHER FOURM ABOUT. YOU WILL BE ASSURED THAT LIVE-FEEDING IS RIGHT! if you don't agree with live-feeding, please do not reply to this link.

pm for link

Adam could have fun over there if he's bored! ;)

Oh and I only go to that other forum when I want to be entertained! LOL

on this site you'll find a good mix of feeding techniques. alot of discussions boil down to what you prefer and are comfortable doing. there are right/wrong ways in every technique. do what is best for you and your snake! things only get heated when someone says "this is best" or "this is the only way" type things.


vaughn

Well after talking to adam im not against live feeding but i still preffer f/t more

Better safe then sorry for me, mostly because I have a vivid imagination and can be rather paranoid and overprotective when it comes to my babies. Also because any rat or mouse entering my home live is in grave danger of becoming a pet :P I've had mice, and they were some stinky boys! I swear, I'd clean their cage and not an hour later it smelled... oh how it smelled... :omg:... My little brother has also had a pet rat named Spaz, and my feeding live would be hard for him (as well as my Mom etc) to deal with. I like having my family visit me. :hug: Not to mention it's awfully convenient.

Basically, I feed f/t for psychological reasons and have no beef against people who are more well-adjusted than I am and aren't careless when feeding live. ;)

I feed F/T now but I used to feed my snakes live. Never had a problem with the live but some people I know had lots of problems, mainly leaving the snake in a tub with the rat unsupervised and the rat would chew on the snake. When I fed live I was always there and never had a problem, the reason I switched over to f/t was that it was getting hard to keep live feeders in the house with cats and my sister (she loves anything that moves) and keeping them in the cage, they would always find a way to get out:hungry:.

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Originally Posted by MedusasOwl

Basically, I feed f/t for psychological reasons and have no beef against people who are more well-adjusted than I am and aren't careless when feeding live. ;)

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THIS IS THE KIND OF SUPPORT AND UNDERSTANDING THAT I WAS HOPING TO FIND BY JOINING THIS FORUM. IF YOU PEOPLE HERE LIKE EACH OTHER AND UNDERSTAND EACH OTHERS' IDEAS/OPINIONS, THEN DON'T EVER VISIT ANOTHER FORUM (NASTY PEOPLE THERE). Once again, i thank those who voted and those who share their ideas on this topic.

Yeah my main reason is I guess youd call it psychological...I have no problem killing an animal or the blood and the anything like that but sense my ball got the tip of his tail bit I just refruse to feed live unless I have too...all my snakes take thawed or pre killed and even if they grab it wrong it can never bite them

I feed F/T MAINLY because it's more convienent, but also because I personally have a soft spot for rodents and would find live feeding or killing them myself upsetting, not to meantion it's definately safer since my guy WILL NOT EAT if I'm watching him and he's not completely covered for at least a half hour.


Oh, and I don't know what live mice prices are like in the areas you all live in, but it seems like you can't get live mice for under $2 around here...in some shops it's around $4 because they try to discourage snake owners from buying them in an effort to avoid controvercy (pretty lame if you ask me). I've found ONE pet shop in the two towns I've lived in (home and school) that sells "designated" feeder mice for $1.25 a piece (for small ones). In the end it's just easier to buy a 6-pack of mice for $10 and keep them in the freezer.

More power to you, man, if the live works out better for you, there's no reason for anyone to be attacking you over it, especially other snake owners.

question- When you buy them to freeze, do you just knock them out first and stick them in the freezer? Can you buy them frozen? And when you go to thaw them out, whats the process....

After reading this sites caresheet and that link to the "argument" how would one know if the mice at the pet store have parasites or not?? I mean when I buy my bp I am pretty sure I would like to feed it live .....

If theres somewhere that explains this all clearly... please point me in that direction!

thanks

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Originally Posted by TheNooB

question- When you buy them to freeze, do you just knock them out first and stick them in the freezer? Can you buy them frozen? And when you go to thaw them out, whats the process....

After reading this sites caresheet and that link to the "argument" how would one know if the mice at the pet store have parasites or not?? I mean when I buy my bp I am pretty sure I would like to feed it live .....

If theres somewhere that explains this all clearly... please point me in that direction!

thanks

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Yes, there are ways to kill rodents humanely. I myself have not done any of the 2 ways i have heard of. One is simply by stunning the rodent by giving it a sharp blow to the head (kills instantly) and the other way where you put the rodent on a table and you press a ruler down just behind its head and you pull quickly on the tail, severing the spinal column and causing no pain and a quick death. Then you freeze them. I have heard that freezing for a week or two guarantees no parasites, but the chances that captive bred mice have any is low. The most effective way i thaw whenever i do frozen/thawed is to put lets say a frozen fuzzy in a ziploc bag and put the sealed bag under hot water for 10 minutes. this is usually enough time to thaw the fuzzy all the way through, but i always feels it to see if it is soft everywhere. as you get a bigger rodent than a fuzzy mouse, you keep it underwater longer.If you read my whole argument, then you may realize the truth about live and how it is not a bad thing to do, as long as you do what i said i do in that argument(for example, watch the whole scene and realize right away, if the snake has interest in the prey or not, and if not, get that prey out right away). any more questions?i almost forgot, you can buy them frozen at almost any petstore and they are usually a lot cheaper like this, but you shouldn't base your choice on price.your decision

I prefere to feed frozen thawed to all of my snakes if possible.I have this one female ball about 5ft and she weighs over 5lbs and she refuses to eat anything but live rats.Well i tried everything to get her to switch over to f/t with no luck.So i figured since she laid 8 eggs last season(her first clutch) i will give her anything she wants:D .My 05 male pastel is the same so i figure since he is breeding my females allready at 6 months of age and just over 500 grams he also can have whatever he wants to eat.The rest of my snakes eat frozen thawed rodents.I breed my own rodents because of one reason this way i know what my snakes are eating.

For me it all depends on what size prey the snake is on. For my large female I feed her F/T rabbits bought from a breeder or F/T rats that I breed (Her last owner left a rat in with her unsupervised and she lost the tip of her tail).


For my 2 small nic's I feed them live mice pinkies or frozen rat pinkies. The rats I breed the mice I buy.

And for my 2' central american its a combo of f/t and live rat pups (2.5 weeks old).

As I dont have a lot of breeder rats when the pups get to the right size ill pull the majority of the litter and toss them in the freezer.

To answer thenoob ... It really depends on what size the rats are when you are ready to reeze them. Pinks can go into a ziplock and then into the freezer ... as they have no or little fur they freeze quickly.

Once they have fur then you should kill them first. There are many methods:
Put them in a sack and slam them into a wall or the ground.
Co2 gassing.
Break their necks.
Or smack them in the head with a large object.

It is suggested to leave the prey in the freezer from 1 week to 1 month to kill parasites. Personally I think it depends on the type of freezer. I have a 21cu ft deep freezer that is only for animal food. One week in this is sufficient to kill parasites (IMO). On a combination fridge/freezer it would take longer as the temperature doesnt get nearly as cold as a deep freezer.

Bryan

So if you can buy them frozen why buy live, and then kill, just to freeze them again???

Still think i'll try and feed live so if it ever wont eat the f/t then it would know whats its doing with somthing alive still.... ? (bad theory?)

Some pet stores do not sell frozen rodents, so that is a reason to buy live.

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Originally Posted by TheNooB

Still think i'll try and feed live so if it ever wont eat the f/t then it would know whats its doing with somthing alive still.... ? (bad theory?)

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Yep.. bad theory. They don't 'forget'. ;)

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Originally Posted by TheNooB

So if you can buy them frozen why buy live, and then kill, just to freeze them again???

Still think i'll try and feed live so if it ever wont eat the f/t then it would know whats its doing with somthing alive still.... ? (bad theory?)

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One of the reasons I buy live then kill and freeze is because I get better discounts when I buy larger amounts. I have my phone number left at my local farm store ... whenever someone brings in rats that the store doesnt have room for they call me, I go pick them up at half price. This could be anything from a female with a litter to x-large males that used to be pets.

Also my rabbit breeder lives about 60 miles away and I dont want to be driving 60 miles every 10 days to buy a $2 rabbit.

Bryan

[QUOTE=TheNooB]So if you can buy them frozen why buy live, and then kill, just to freeze them again??? QUOTE]

people do this if they buy live and then can't take care of them, or they decide to do both live and f/t. also sometimes a store may run out of live so you must resort to buying the live and then freezing them yourself.this is only a few reasons why

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Some pet stores do not sell frozen rodents, so that is a reason to buy live.



Yep.. bad theory. They don't 'forget'. ;)

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thank you! It was more of a question then anything. lol

Oh heck i'll be honest. I feed live and p/k. I tried live once and DD just went up to the rat and the two of them stared at eachother nose to nose while I sat there and watched for a few seconds. I got nervous when DD didn't make an attempt to strike and just went and hid in his hide. So I p/k the rat and then DD took it np. Besides it gives me an excuse to see the really cute manager at the pet store! LOL:oops: ;)

Only reason I dont buy all frozen is mainly because (atleast from what im told) they come in big sizes...ive heard like 50 in a pack of small mice..well my boa wont be on small mice long enough to eat 50 so id actually be losing money..when the snakes are all full grown I could do that but still 50 is alot for 1 week..i just preffer to get 2-3 at a time and make a trip to the pet store every 3 weeks

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Originally Posted by Diceman

Only reason I dont buy all frozen is mainly because (atleast from what im told) they come in big sizes...ive heard like 50 in a pack of small mice..well my boa wont be on small mice long enough to eat 50 so id actually be losing money..when the snakes are all full grown I could do that but still 50 is alot for 1 week..i just preffer to get 2-3 at a time and make a trip to the pet store every 3 weeks

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I get "6-packs" at Petco for $10...they're TRex brand Arctic Mice and they come in this nice little container, all in individual tiny ziplocs. Also, Petsmart sells their F/T individually for about the same price per mouse, though they don't have the little ziplocs =P. It's a little pricey compaired to bulk, but the convienence cannot be beat!

I never thought to check petco lol I checked with the local pet store but they wont even kill the mice for you lol does petco have all sizes? like could I get it fuzzies, small mice, and medium rats?

My petco here in Central, NJ has frozen pinkie mice,fuzzy mice, hopper mice, aduilt mice, rat pinkies, rat fuzzies, medium rats, large rats, extra-large rats

I buy and feed live to all my snakes.

Homegrown, baby!

We're gonna have to start freezing soon methinks - only because we don't have endless room/cages/ratfood.

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Originally Posted by _BoidFinatic_

Soemone told me to come here because people are understanding and are willing to listen to your opinions.

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:D ... I resemble that remark. :P

Oh, and FWIW, I buy live and feed live ... 250+ live rodents every single week ... Never had a scratch, cut, bite, nip, or scrape .... I do it because that's what works for me and my snakes ... each keeper should make a decision as to what their snakes will eat and what is most convenient for them, be responsible, and go for it! ... Screw what everyone else has to say. ;)

-adam

I breed my own rats for a food source to help with the cost. I usually prekill before feeding and have not had any problems getting any of my ball pythons to eat. When I first got into snakes and had burmese pythons I would feed live, but I think that was because I was young and thought it was cool. It is a personal decision to feed live, prekilled, or frozen. You can get plus and minus for any of them from anyone you talk to. The only thing I can offer is this, if you are new to keeping snakes please supervise any live feedings until you are confident and get to know your snake.

Live, p/k, and f/t.....rats or mice....ha ha...I have done it all and I feed it all.

Like Adam said, as a keeper each of us must make the decision what is best for both the snakes and us. When I was breeding mice and had fewer snakes, I fed live....because that is what I had and my snakes showed a stronger feeding responce (i like to watch ;)). Now I have more snakes and want to switch over to rats (rats are not easy to come by in these parts), so I am going to start buying bulk frozen rodents....I am getting too many snakes to keep breeding my own feeders and bulk frozen is so much cheaper.

Here in the UK, according to what I've been told (and I could be wrong - am still new-ish) we can't feed live. All food has to be frozen. I guess someone could buy live mice, rats etc and give it to their snakes but I don't know of anyone who does. Personally I wouldn't really have a problem with it if I could (after all, it's what they do in the wild - no freezers full of rodents out in the jungle ;) ) but then again out in the wild they wouldn't be in a (relatively) small enclosure with something that could bite them. It would be interesting though to watch her pursue, kill and consume a live rodent ...

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

:D ... I resemble that remark. :P

Oh, and FWIW, I buy live and feed live ... 250+ live rodents every single week ... Never had a scratch, cut, bite, nip, or scrape .... I do it because that's what works for me and my snakes ... each keeper should make a decision as to what their snakes will eat and what is most convenient for them, be responsible, and go for it! ... Screw what everyone else has to say. ;)

-adam

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Any tips on making that work for you? Can you pass on some of your wisdom to a newbie like me???? :)

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Originally Posted by ziggy7

Any tips on making that work for you? Can you pass on some of your wisdom to a newbie like me???? :)

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Shoot me an email. ;)

-adam

I wanted to feed f/t for the convenience but Duchess leaves more than half of them, costing me money. (The mousie dance doesn't work either, because if I'm leaning over the tank she just hides.) Feeding live ensures that she will eat, and as she doesn't have the strongest constitution I *need* to make sure she eats. I don't care what anyone says about OMGthat'sinhumane. Tough. Duchess is my baby and I want her to eat and be well. End of story.

I breed all of mine as it is just to expensive to keep buying frozen.. I breed them, gas them then vacuum seal them.. It is alot easier to just order them though..lol

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Originally Posted by MedusasOwl

Better safe then sorry for me, mostly because I have a vivid imagination and can be rather paranoid and overprotective when it comes to my babies. ;)

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funny, she's talking about feeding f/t and i feel the same way, which is why i feed live.

seeing them alive lets me know how healthy they are. i don't know what condition those mice were in when they were 'put down'.

and, i just don't like how complicated it seems, to me anyways, of thawing and making sure it isn't wet and it's completely thawed etc.

i like the ease of sitting the box beside dexter's viv until he comes out sniffing.... then i place dinner at the other end gently and wait for the mouse to come over to the snakes side of the viv and wham, it's over quickly, the mouse doesn't seem to suffer as it's such a quick death.

:clap: ah yes, i love how supportive this site is - regardless of what you are doing... as long as it's harmful to your snake! (like 65 degree cool sides etc)

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Originally Posted by neithersparky

I wanted to feed f/t for the convenience but Duchess leaves more than half of them, costing me money. (The mousie dance doesn't work either, because if I'm leaning over the tank she just hides.) Feeding live ensures that she will eat, and as she doesn't have the strongest constitution I *need* to make sure she eats. I don't care what anyone says about OMGthat'sinhumane. Tough. Duchess is my baby and I want her to eat and be well. End of story.

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This is true, especially for Ball Pythons. If any snake is raised being fed on a live diet, than the chances that they will make a mistake is very low. They seem to be more content with their environment and have many other pyscological benefits. I tell people that if a snake was raised with pre-killed or f/t and then given live,even once, then the risk is higher of making a mistake in the process of killing it. I am always there to watch it happen, because the most careless thing someone can do is leave a live prey item in with the snake for any amount of time and not watch, unless you have a problem feeder. you can tell right away by the snake's first reponse,if it is interested in the prey or not, and if not, you remove it quickly. that is all there it to it. under these circumstances, none of my snakes have ever gotten a bite/scratch/cut, etc. For me, live feeding has never been a problem or concern.

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Shoot me an email. ;)

-adam

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Thats bullcrap!!! I asked you like 50 times how to properly feed live and he only has to ask once lol

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Originally Posted by Diceman

Thats bullcrap!!! I asked you like 50 times how to properly feed live and he only has to ask once lol

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And i tried to tell you like 50 times that your problems had nothing to do with feeding live ... sorry bud, I call em like I see them. ;)

-adam

The milksnake gets f/t mouse pinkies from the local pet store as no way am I breeding mice for one snake (or a hundred snakes....I am the world's worst mouse breeder! lol)

The BCI gets either p/k or live rats or baby meat rabbits though he will take any form of appropriate prey in any form you wish to offer it to him....Rauri's the world's easiest snake that way.

All the bp's get live appropriately sized rats that we breed here at home.

I'm glad you are finding this forum a bit more open minded about individual preferences in feeding method. I think we all pretty much agree that if feeding is done responsibly and appropriately, then it's about personal choice of the keeper as well as what the snake will respond to consistently and strongly.

Welcome to the forum!


~~Jo~~

Feed live. Got two in the mouse house fattening up now if for some unknown reason Ozzy comes off his annual winter fast.

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Originally Posted by jotay

Feed live. Got two in the mouse house fattening up now if for some unknown reason Ozzy comes off his annual winter fast.

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Me too - though I've only got one mouse in there, and I call it "The Pantry." :) I think the little booger eats more than the rats do.

I feed f/t because it easiest for me. I get my f/t from Adam! LOL

Live and kicking over here.......I'll always support the "each keeper makes his own choice etc etc" concept, but from what I've experience on my own, the live feeders are the better feeders. Just an observation that I'm sure isn't the last word on it, but a personal observation nonetheless.....

I feed live because when I fed f/t I had to practically beg and do a 'zombie mouse marionette theater' for like 45 min. to get my bp to even strike, but then she'd just drop it and wander off. With live it takes her less than 30 seconds to notice and strike the mouse. And, not a main reason, but an added bonus, f/t around here are ridiculously expensive, I'm taking $24+ for a 10 pack of adults, live are like $.80. :D

We feed live and also breed rats because around here live rats are $4.99 a pop, no matter if they are little weaned rats or honking big jumbo's (not a bad deal on the jumbo but aaaaaaack! on the weans!) Other reasons too but cost is a major factor for us.



~~Jo~~

I'm one of the combo ppl....


My first snakes were only eating live. I was just in the process of getting Baby to take adult FT mice regularly when she passed to the great beyond.

P. Snake was live, but as he grew into the rat pups, I had switched him to FT. Right now, he's in a fast (and I've wasted 3 pups) trying to get him to eat. No matter how hard I try, the prey always ends up wet, and at first that didn't bother him, but the rat can dance FOREVER and he won't strike. LOTS of tongue :tongue2: but nothing else. Even at night. :mad: I broke down and finally fed him a live adult mouse, but now that I have rat beebies, I'm going to try to get him to take a live pup, then maybe back onto FT. < I just bought 75 of the little boogers, not knowing he'd hunger strike. > I'll try to keep the rat pups alive for P***y until he eats again, but they grow sooo fast. big/strong too.

Felix was on live rat fuzzies, but he took a FT for the first time w/o any qualms on Friday.

Wrigley hasn't given me any problems. When I got him he was eating FT, I ran out so switched to live and now he's eating a sm FT rat. Oreo the teeeeeeny-weeeeny baby refused the FT pinky the first time. The WWOTW mouse just had babies, so I got a live one. Witch has killed her litter < again! *$&$&$&$&&$*(%(%(%> so this last feeding, after a 2nd attempt, Oreo actually ate the FT. I think I'm giving up on breeding my own mice, as long as Oreo will keep taking FTs. I REALLY DON'T want to have to brain a pinky to get her to eat, but since she's only an earthworm in disguise :lmao: I want her to stay healthy and grow. Everyone else is eating FT sized appropriately.

As long as you follow the right procedures for safety, temp etc. feeding preferences should be a personal choice between you (for convenience and price) and your snake (whatever s/he'll eat). If we're going to keep them as pets/a hobby, it's up to us to see that they're cared for PROPERLY, no matter how it's done. :sweeet:

Slamming 'em into the wall or hitting 'em w/a heavy object is BAAAAAAAAAD. Sometimes they DON'T DIE right away. Nicer to gas 'em first, then freeze 'em. My complete CO setup only cost me $44 and will last for months. I put them in a baggie, press the air out, put the gas in. When they're done, I toss 'em in the freezer---they're already in the freezer bag. :)