Frozen food can kill not injure your snake

[Dutti]

I have read several stories of people loosing their snakes to a bad frozen feeder. One time the snake ate a bad frozen food and died because of that. This is actually one of the reasons why i feed only live. Sick animals get slaughtered and sold as food to your snake. I know that this is the exception, but your snake has to eat a bad frozen only once and that might be enough to kill it. I am not advocating here for live feeding, i'm just mentioning something that rarely get mentioned

[PythonBabes]

That's not a reason to only feed live. Its called get f/t from a trusted supplier who you know has healthy rodents and proper care and living conditions.

Also rodents rarely ever show signs of illness unless they are actually dying, so you could be feeding live sick rodents too and not know..

No bashing for live feeding though, I have a picky boy who will only eat live, but I did previously feed f/t.

[Zincubus]

To be fair you hear and see ( in this very forum occasionally) far more injuries sustained by feeding live - that said , I guess it's impossible to come to any conclusions given we have no idea of the numbers involved in both types of feeding ..

I'm firmly in the frozen-thawed camp but that's just my personal preference - I've found that there some subjects that are better NOT discussed


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[EDR]

I feed 12 ball pythons with frozen and I have no problems. But to each their own. If getting live isn't a problem for you then go for it. I prefer frozen for the convenience and so live rats can't injure my bp's.

[Craiga 01453]

Live prey can carry parasites as well....just saying.

Buy from reputable sources and you should be fine.
I've never had an issue feeding F/T to any of my snakes through the years.

[SDA]

If you know how to handle meat safely, you know how to handle frozen rodents safely. There is absolutely no reason to feed live rodents if your snake will feed frozen thawed. For the vast majority of snake owners it is also much easier to obtain frozen thawed than live.

Feed live if you want to but avoid making excuses for doing so. Live after a certain size in a captive setting where the snake cannot easily escape is a recipe for disaster. It's your snake and your rules but I will continue to advocate for the safety of frozen thawed rodents from reputable sources as long as I have snakes.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Regardless of the method chosen it's abouut feeding RESPONSIBLY based on what you have learn and what works for you, and really it's about common sense. (Which is lacking with some people whether they feed live or F/T)

I feed both depending on the animal time of the year etc and never had issues with one or the other.

Feed what you like and what works it's all that matter.

[Sauzo]

I cant wait to see you try and feed a live rabbit to the boa. A rabbit can easily kill a boa if it isnt grabbed right. And same with jumbo rats.

Want proof? Grab a live jumbo rat in your hand and squeeze it hard and see what happens....

Sure there are stories of snakes dying from eating a bad FT rat. There are also stories of them getting 'bleached' from a funky FT rat where they lost all color. But like mentioned, there are far more horror stories about live feedings going bad than the FT issue.

And like mentioned, and i've stated this before too, live can carry parasite. Freezing tends to kill most of the parasite. If you feed live, you should get a fecal done every year.

I too started out feeding live when i was young and back before reptiles became a fashion pet. There was none of these FT companies etc so you really didnt have much a choice. I actually didnt feed the live rat to the snakes, i would kill it first by hitting it on the head real quick and make sure it was dead, not just knocked out as a dazed rat can be even more dangerous. Then i learned about cervical dislocation.

You're like the rebel snake owner, Dutti. You do everything that is pretty much opposite of what the practiced standard is in snake keeping. If it works for you, i guess go for it. Live feeding really isnt such a huge deal but your overfeeding, we have beaten a dead horse on that one and that one is a big deal lol.

And also like others have said, if you find a reputable source for rats, you should be fine. I mean Rodent Pro i believe had some issues with their rats a long time ago and i have been told by a few people, they buy lab surplus stuff so that would make me question them. Also i have heard recently of issues here and there with their quality being questionable. If i ordered online(which now that i have my limit of snakes for now), I'll use Perfect Prey aka Loxahatchee Rodents, Big Cheese Rodents or Layne Labs(i know the whole labs thing in the name but i guess they breed their own, not outsource lab surplus from a testing lab) or Monster Feeders for guinea pigs and piglets.

[Dutti]

I cant wait to see you try and feed a live rabbit to the boa. A rabbit can easily kill a boa if it isnt grabbed right. And same with jumbo rats.

Want proof? Grab a live jumbo rat in your hand and squeeze it hard and see what happens....

Sure there are stories of snakes dying from eating a bad FT rat. There are also stories of them getting 'bleached' from a funky FT rat where they lost all color. But like mentioned, there are far more horror stories about live feedings going bad than the FT issue.

And like mentioned, and i've stated this before too, live can carry parasite. Freezing tends to kill most of the parasite. If you feed live, you should get a fecal done every year.

I too started out feeding live when i was young and back before reptiles became a fashion pet. There was none of these FT companies etc so you really didnt have much a choice. I actually didnt feed the live rat to the snakes, i would kill it first by hitting it on the head real quick and make sure it was dead, not just knocked out as a dazed rat can be even more dangerous. Then i learned about cervical dislocation.

You're like the rebel snake owner, Dutti. You do everything that is pretty much opposite of what the practiced standard is in snake keeping. If it works for you, i guess go for it. Live feeding really isnt such a huge deal but your overfeeding, we have beaten a dead horse on that one and that one is a big deal lol.

And also like others have said, if you find a reputable source for rats, you should be fine. I mean Rodent Pro i believe had some issues with their rats a long time ago and i have been told by a few people, they buy lab surplus stuff so that would make me question them. Also i have heard recently of issues here and there with their quality being questionable. If i ordered online(which now that i have my limit of snakes for now), I'll use Perfect Prey aka Loxahatchee Rodents, Big Cheese Rodents or Layne Labs(i know the whole labs thing in the name but i guess they breed their own, not outsource lab surplus from a testing lab) or Monster Feeders for guinea pigs and piglets.

You are massively underestimating the power of boa constrictor as being one of the most powerful constrictors in the world by claiming that a rabbit or a jumbo rat kann kill a boa if it isnt grabbed right. No way for a rabbit or a jumbo rat to kill a boa unless you put them against a young small boa, or an underfed boa of course. Want proof how powerful boa is? Put a smell of a rat on your hand and give it to a hungry adult boa. The boa is a hunter by instinct if its allowed by its owner to practice its hunting skills. My 5 foot 19 months old boa easily destroys a jumbo rat. Imagine what he can do when he is 8 or 9 foot. Of course my boa has enough muscles and bones to crush a jumbo rat at this young age, otherwise i would not have fed him a jumbo rat. Also a dazed rat is not more dangerous. a dazed rat is a rat that has at least 50% less power than an awake rat. by the way, the last time my boa ate was 22 days ago, so i,m not overfeeding him

[SDA]

To expound on that... Don't hesitate to take your snake in for a checkup if you have a qualified exotic vet. There can be all sorts of asymptomatic creepy crawlies living in harmony in your snake that one immuno compromised illness can turn into a full blown problem. My baby GTP is about to get a full physical from a fecal to checking her overall physical condition. For what I paid for her and how delicate they have a stereotype of being, a vet exam is a great investment to make sure she is in tip top health.

Snakes often don't show illness or are slow to develop life threatening conditions so something that could have killed them can be excused as a rotten food item to someone who has never had a medical expert examine their snake. Just wanted to piggy back this on to a relevant thread.