live or not live?

Hello, I'm new to this forum. My son has a Ball Python, has had it about 5 months. I was wondering what you more experienced snake owners prefer to feed your snakes, Live or not live ?
Thanks!

I just got mine and i'm planning to feed live. Just did my first feeding recently, felt kinda bad for the cute little fuzzy mouse getting eaten, but i'm sure i'll get over that

There is actually a poll (with responses and reasons) going on right now.

Check it out.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=24079

BTW...welcome to BP.net.

I for one, use to hate people who fed live. But I dont any longer. AS LONG as they feed appropriatly for size. When feeding live, you shouldnt feed anythign larger than a small/small rat. If your snake is say.. feeder larger, it should be f/t. And you must feed appropriate for size, of the snake and the prey suffer. We breed our own rats and mice. Make sure lots of handling is happening if you do that (handling of the rodent) so they are calm and sweet. A tamed, loving, rodent is much better to feed then one that is in shock and stress and realize what is going to happen (usually the petstore boughten ones) I for one like to breed because our rodents know love before they go. And they are calmer, and we need certain sizes. Unlike petstore ones that are scared, never knew anyone that loved them and treated them with respect before they go. This is just us. And our opinions and beliefs.

I feed live. I started off trying to feed f/t and Zeke would not go near it...as soon as I dropped a live mouse in there he was straight out of his hide....started out the first 2 feedings with mice until I found out I should be doing rats.

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Originally Posted by KittyJ

I for one, use to hate people who fed live.

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You used to hate me? :( :P

Live for me.

holy balls, if you plan to have only one snake then f/t would be a great way to feed your bp. there is less risk of injury to your snake and i guess less suffering for the rodent(unless he suffered before they killed him and put him in a freezer...).



haha kittyJ i can just picture you... aww i love you little rat... now you die!

Thanks for the responses.
Lord Jackel thanks for the forum info. I think we'll continue with live.
Thanks again everyone.

I personally like F/T for the convienience. I'm a college student--and not only is F/T cheaper than feeding live, I don't have to drive 20 minutes to the nearest pet store every week. And, if Auryn ever decided "well...I don't feel like eating this week", I won't have to house a rodent for a week or more OR return it to the pet store (another 20 min drive).

It's really a personal preference thing. As long as you're okay with the above things and are willing to always supervise your BP's feeding, then feeding live's just fine :)

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Originally Posted by AzureN1ght

I personally like F/T for the convienience. I'm a college student--and not only is F/T cheaper than feeding live, I don't have to drive 20 minutes to the nearest pet store every week. And, if Auryn ever decided "well...I don't feel like eating this week", I won't have to house a rodent for a week or more OR return it to the pet store (another 20 min drive).

It's really a personal preference thing. As long as you're okay with the above things and are willing to always supervise your BP's feeding, then feeding live's just fine :)

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You could always keep a mice cage? Mice reproduce and make more mice for free

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Originally Posted by Snikt228

You could always keep a mice cage? Mice reproduce and make more mice for free

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Yeah...but I have absolutely no interest to keep mice as pets or feeders. I only have one snake, and he eats one mouse a week. It's just easier for me to keep Frozen rodents, which don't smell or take up space in my small room or require cage cleaning. :) My snake and my beta are enough pets for me.

If I had a larger collection, I might consider it. But with just one snake, I think just buying F/T is more economical.

I got a 3-month supply of mice for $8. And they fit in a smallish container in my freezer. :)

Edit: Also...I don't know if keeping mice is really making more mice for "free"... You have to feed and water them daily and change the bedding out at -least- once a week. There's also the issue of how much your time is worth... *shrugs* I guess it just depends :)

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Originally Posted by Snikt228

You could always keep a mice cage? Mice reproduce and make more mice for free

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From what I gather, Mice are the absolute worst when it comes to the smell. And the only way to keep the smell from getting bad? clean every other day. Most people spend 3x more cleaning up after their rodents then they do their snakes. That's why f/t is such a convenience for those who do not have that kind of time.

Sounds like frozen would be easier. We do supervise all the feedings. My 8 yrs son loves going to the pet store once a week for crickets for his Leopard gecko ( Boomer )and a mouse for my 15yrs son BP ( Pliskin ).So I guess live is it for us.

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Originally Posted by Holy Balls

Sounds like frozen would be easier.

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If only it was.

I do not favor one method over the other. It's much easier for me to hit up the pet store and pick up a few mice and rats and drop them in and let my snakes do the rest of the work. but then i have to deal with some of my animals not eating. What then? freeze it? or house it for a week?

But compare pet store prices to any other supplier. it's an outrageous difference. My rat supplier is a dude breeding rats in his shed in the back yard. he hooks me up with small rats for a buck. cheaper than Rodent Pro, and live too. Now i go to Petland and pay $1.29 per mouse...it's not much, but it adds up in the long run.

Now frozen, on the other hand, you don't have to make extra trips anywhere, you don't have to worry about housing them if your snake doesn't eat. You do, however, have to toss the rodent if your snake doesn't eat. I won't re-freeze rodents... You've also got to prep the rodents long before feeding. You have to take them out, thaw them, warm them, ensure they're warm enough, and then dangle each one with each snake (some have luck with just dropping it in and the snake eats without even constricting...not always the case tho)

I think both methods have pros and cons..you just need to try both and figure out which one works for you and your situation. Different people have different needs. Good luck with it all :gj:

I think part of the equation we aren't mentioning is what works for your snake or what it will accept. No matter the decisions we make or convience issues, it does come down to that everytime. There are just some ball pythons that won't take rats but eat mice like a champ. There are snakes that won't take f/t or pre-killed but hit live immmediately. Some will switch but some won't. I think you just have to figure out what works for each individual snake and tailor your feeding preferences to that. As long as you are feeding top quality prey, your snake has a great feeding response and you are an informed, knowledgeable owner...then it's all good. :)

You're absolutely correct Joanna. :gj:

I haven't actually kept any mice yet so I don't know about the smell issue. I've only had one little fuzzy mouse so far and it didn't stink.

I'll try this out for awhile, I only have one snake as well. There is a pet store on my way home from work so i'm not too worried about stopping by there.

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Originally Posted by Holy Balls

Hello, I'm new to this forum. My son has a Ball Python, has had it about 5 months. I was wondering what you more experienced snake owners prefer to feed your snakes, Live or not live ?
Thanks!

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I say whatever works for your son's BP and whatever is the most convinient for you.

I feed F/T because I like to have the proper size prey always available to me, but if I had to I would have no problem feeding live, I am just lucky it workout that way and all my BP take F/T

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Originally Posted by Snikt228

I haven't actually kept any mice yet so I don't know about the smell issue. I've only had one little fuzzy mouse so far and it didn't stink.

I'll try this out for awhile, I only have one snake as well. There is a pet store on my way home from work so i'm not too worried about stopping by there.

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Heck picking up a feeder or two once a week really isn't much work anyways is it. I'd rather do that for one snake than man handle the huge bag of dry dog food we have to haul home for the two mutts LOL.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

You used to hate me? :( :P

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Oh not how I meant it. I've always love you Rab, lol :D
But I meant was I didnt understand, and I did not like how people would feed live. But now I just dont like people who feed live inhumanely :) I used to think all people who fed live was doing it inhumanely but I was wrong, so its only the people who do it for the fun of something dying, to watch it suffer in its last moments, or feed prey too large and the snake and the prey animal suffers both.

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haha kittyJ i can just picture you... aww i love you little rat... now you die!

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Hey now, lets not get antsy now. :snake:

I started off with one snake feeding him f/t. course I didnt know at that time you should warm up the buggar to make it easier for the snake. lol

then when I got my baby girl, she was used to eating live, so I switched my male over to live prey also and he did real good with it. so did my female...UNTILL....(dun dun dun *scary music*)

for some reason they both decided not to feed. I was at the pet store buying their live prey several weeks in a row and ended up freezing the rats cause they wouldnt feed. so I am planning on trying to go back to f/t and see if that will work for them.

my SO prefers f/t cause he doesnt like to hear rat squeal when the snakes strike.

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

If only it was.

I do not favor one method over the other. It's much easier for me to hit up the pet store and pick up a few mice and rats and drop them in and let my snakes do the rest of the work. but then i have to deal with some of my animals not eating. What then? freeze it? or house it for a week?

But compare pet store prices to any other supplier. it's an outrageous difference. My rat supplier is a dude breeding rats in his shed in the back yard. he hooks me up with small rats for a buck. cheaper than Rodent Pro, and live too. Now i go to Petland and pay $1.29 per mouse...it's not much, but it adds up in the long run.

Now frozen, on the other hand, you don't have to make extra trips anywhere, you don't have to worry about housing them if your snake doesn't eat. You do, however, have to toss the rodent if your snake doesn't eat. I won't re-freeze rodents... You've also got to prep the rodents long before feeding. You have to take them out, thaw them, warm them, ensure they're warm enough, and then dangle each one with each snake (some have luck with just dropping it in and the snake eats without even constricting...not always the case tho)

I think both methods have pros and cons..you just need to try both and figure out which one works for you and your situation. Different people have different needs. Good luck with it all :gj:

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I agree with you here. I have tried f/t, prekilled, and live. My personal preference is live. When I first got Nag, i was feeding f/t, and not having much luck. Course at that time I didnt know about warming up the prey so they can see it easier. Once I learned that, Nag was usually eating ok.

When I got Nagaina though, she had been fed nothing but live since hatching. She wouldnt touch a f/t. So I decided since she was used to eating live, I might as well go and get one. Then I thought, well if I'm getting a live rat for her, I might as well switch Nag to live as well.

I happen to enjoy watching the kill and the swallowing. Some may criticize me, but I do. Its not sick, its just simple facination.

Anyway, I have been having trouble with them eating now for some reason. This past weekend was week 5 with no luck. I decided to put the last 2 in the freezer and try to feed them f/t later on, next weekend or so.

So I've had both success and failure with BOTH f/t and live. As was said, its a personal preference, and no one should feel icky because they happen to like watching mother nature at her best.

My .02 anyway.

Of course feeding live is more exciting to watch too

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Originally Posted by Snikt228

Of course feeding live is more exciting to watch too

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But should never be the primary reason why one chooses to feed live. :)