Feeding your snake pre killed frozen rodents verse..........

[Ace]

I have read that live mice and rats can damage snakes as well as seen pictures that prove this to be true. My question is which is better route, fresh knocked out rodents or pre killed frozen?? And what is the easiest way to transition your snake that is used to eating live over to fresh killed or frozen? Any input would be greatly appriciated.

[Tiger]

Ya I would like some info on this to becuase I am gonna be switchin to rats next week. Its hard for me to get Spazz to eat stunned. if it wont go for the stunned I throw a live one in there and make sure it gets it down without gettin hurt.

[Smynx]

I prefer frozen rodents from Rodent Pro or any similar vendor because they pose no threat of internal parasites. I also find frozen rodents preferable because you don't need to feed or house them and put up with awful smells or run to the pet store once a week. All you need are some ziploc baggies and some freezer space.

If your snake is used to eating live prey but you want to switch to frozen/thawed, you can transition him by giving him a fresh-killed rodent. It'll still have that live prey scent, and if you offer it right after killing it, it'll still be close to live temperature. Once you get the snake to take that, you can transition to frozen/thawed by scenting the thawed rodent with a live rodent or with a product like "Mouse Maker." Eventually, you'll be able to offer the thawed rodent without having to scent it. Of course, you'll always need to warm the rodent to somewhere close to a live rodent's body temperature. I do this by placing it under a heat lamp for a couple of minutes before offering it to the snake.

[Marla]

Frozen is best because the freezing process kills any bacteria and parasites that could be passed to your snake from the prey, and I also prefer frozen because you can stock up. Either one is much better of a choice than feeding live, though.