live vs f/t

Up until today I was beginning to feel that my new bp wasn't liking me very much. He seemed to shy away at points and whenever I tried to feed him he wouldn't eat it. I was attempting to feed f/t mice and had to refreeze it once each time (fed him twice since I had him up until today). Both times on the second unthawing he would eat it, but it would happen sometime overnight, not anytime close to when I put it in. Well today I decided I'd try giving him a live hopper and WOW what a difference. He instantly struck and coiled it when I put it in the cage and finished it off in a matter of minutes, and now has been flicking his tongue like crazy and seems much happier and more active. I definitely think I am going to stick to live ones and just keep an eye out for him. Thanks for reading my rambling story, I am just excited he finally ate for me.

it may have something to do with the fact that its winter they get picky during winter. do you get the f/t mice warm b4 you try to feed? do you use mice or rats some snakes prefer one or the other.

Feed what works for you and works for the snake. |

A responsible live feeding of an appropriate sized prey item in not a concern.

Just educate yourself on live feeding, and not just on the "ANTI-LIVE" propoganda.

It is all about informed decisions.

Bruce

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Originally Posted by imh0813

Up until today I was beginning to feel that my new bp wasn't liking me very much. He seemed to shy away at points and whenever I tried to feed him he wouldn't eat it. I was attempting to feed f/t mice and had to refreeze it once each time (fed him twice since I had him up until today). Both times on the second unthawing he would eat it, but it would happen sometime overnight, not anytime close to when I put it in. Well today I decided I'd try giving him a live hopper and WOW what a difference. He instantly struck and coiled it when I put it in the cage and finished it off in a matter of minutes, and now has been flicking his tongue like crazy and seems much happier and more active. I definitely think I am going to stick to live ones and just keep an eye out for him. Thanks for reading my rambling story, I am just excited he finally ate for me.

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I totally agree with what Bruce shared.
I have 15 snakes who eat frozen/thawed rats and one snake who eats live mice. Doesn't bother me at all :)

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Originally Posted by bobby729

it may have something to do with the fact that its winter they get picky during winter. do you get the f/t mice warm b4 you try to feed? do you use mice or rats some snakes prefer one or the other.

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Some snakes are picky eaters, and just fast in the winter no matter what. Others are picky about certain types of prey, etc.

Yes, f/t need to be unthawed ten warmed up (warm water or blow dryer are best). This will help with the snake recognizing it as food. I would try this before your snake gets hooked on live. Trust me, if it will take f/t, you want to keep it on f/t.

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Originally Posted by ThyTempest

...Trust me, if it will take f/t, you want to keep it on f/t.

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Why? Feeding my snake live mice is no big deal at all :confuzd:

I just get 4 or 5 mice at a time, raise them up a bit so they are better fleshed, and then give one or two to my snake. No big deal, and since my snake won't eat frozen/thawed, this is just what I have to do for her.

Do whatever is best for the snake (first) and convenient for you (second)!

i switch off f/t and live. no problems going back to f/t from live and alot of the time i dont even have to warm up the rodent. some snakes wont eat it if you dont warm it some just dont care.

My entire collection of ~40 is "hooked on live", but then I have never fed them pre-killed or f/t. And no harm has come to any of them as a result.

The only snake in my collection that gets f/t is my cali king, simply because he'll take it without hesitation and I don't want to breed mice to feed one snake.

As already stated, feed what's convenient for you and that your snake will eat. Don't get caught up in the live vs f/t is better/worse for your snake.

Bruce's post says it best!

Congrats!

I had the same problem and result that you had. I tried to feed f/t, but had a number of ball pythons that would not take them. I decided to switch to live and have a much better feed response.

My snakes take both live and F/T but their feeding response is much better with live. Since they take both I'm trying to stick with F/T.

BTW, I take the mice out of the freezer in the morning and let them thaw in the refrigerator until I get home from work. I put them on the tank screen for an hour to warm to room temp and work up their scent. I heat them under a red bulb, like they do at the diner with food.

Warm water works. Hot water cooks and softens the skin too much. I haven't had much luck with blow dryers.

JohnNJ

Bruce is ultimately right: feed what works for your snake.

Sometimes the live or f/t decision is a philosophical one. I meet quite a few people who just can't bring themselves to feed live food. Others are not bothered by it. There are, however, some other things to consider:

1. Volume of feeding and time. If you maintain a large ball python collection you are much more likely to need to feed live. My collection includes a few hundred ball pythons and feeding live food already takes a full day. Using f/t would take a lot longer. I simply don't have time to thaw food, warm it and dangle it with tongs. It's a lot faster to drop a rat in the cage and check on them 20 minutes later.
2. Reusing uneaten food items. A live animal that is refused can simply be put back into a holding cage for another try on another day. A f/t animal is a decomposing piece of meat with a much more finite lifetime. For me, re-freezing has never been an option. It's a now or never feeding event. For this reason I actually keep a few 'scavenger' snakes in my collection; one's I can throw uneaten food items in with and make sure they don't go to waste. The limited ability to re-use f/t food also leads to a discussion of cost.
3. Cost. If you feed large numbers of animals f/t and they don't get eaten you end up throwing away a good number of food items. If each f/t rat cost you $1 and you have to throw a bunch away each week then it's easy to see the financial waste. I have little to no waste like this when dealing with live food.

FWIW, if I kept a large colubrid collection I would probably offer them f/t. The don't tend to be as finicky as ball pythons and using f/t with them could actually save money.

Regards,

I have an 08 Normal that I am trying to keep on F/T. She decided to take a 3 week break from eating around Christmas but I have had no problems since. She is right around 300 grams now. I have been offering two mice since she went back on feed. I have a bag of mice (purchased 50 from a friend who orders from I think rodent pro) in my chest freezer. I take 2 out and put them in a zip lock bag, the kind you can put in boiling water, and place that open in the room to prescent. About 15 minutes before I want to feed I put the bag, closed now between a heating pad that I fold in half. The pad is the kind you buy to sit on i guess, its about 1' by 2' has 3 settings and shuts off automatically. This gets the mice up to a nice alive temp, maybe a bit warmer than a living mouse. I then offer one. She normally takes one and refuses the other. I cut 1/4 of an inch of the tail and refreeze the uneaten mouse. Next feeding I offer the mouse with the cut tail first. The third attempt like this she finally took the second mouse. I find the heating pad is an easy way to warm up the mice evenly and to the perfect temp. Zip lock bag ensures the heating pad doesn't get too smelly and helps me not to touch the mice. I don't like to get any of my scent on the mice. I would not switch to live just to try and break a winter fast. If the fast goes to long then sure but snakes fast in the winter and some have been known to have problems going back to F/T. F/T is much less work for me and I am in no hurry to make weight for breeding or anything, but in the end you have to do whats best for you and the snake. People often say the snake first and then you second. I think that's mostly something that is said to impress upon a keeper that the snakes health is more important than the keepers whims. It does not mean that the snakes whims are more important than the keepers whims, or that the snakes health is more important than the keepers health. There is a long list of things that are more important than my snakes health, but my snakes health is more important than any of my whims. F/T or Live you have to do it right so read up.

thanks for all of the replies. Just so we are all in the same understanding, I DO thaw and warm the f/t mice, he just does not like them as much I guess. Anyway, I keep an eye out for him if I give him the live mice.