Live or f/t?

[weirdbuglady]

I've talked to lots of people and read plenty of testimonies that bps can be difficult to get switched onto f/t prey.

I just offered my big girl a medium sized thawed rat and she took it right out of my hand! I guess I'm just one of the lucky ones?

Do you feed your snake(s) f/t? Do some eat live while others eat f/t? Do you feed live because they refuse f/t or out of choice? I know lots of people that like to feed live prey simply to watch the "action".

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I feed F/T to all 16 BP for the convinience of having the proper size prey always available. I also raise my own rodents and have no issue feeding live if necessary.

Bottom line people should feed what works for their BP and what is convinient for them.

[The_Godfather]

Live is obviously the worst route to go if you can feed f/t. But when your snake won't touch anything else, you need to suck it up and go live. The only real opportunity for injury is if the snake bites the rodent in the midsection or if the rodent is too big.

[wuffielover]

I fed my oldest ball python live rats for years before switching to f/t, and he didn't hesitate a bit the first time I offered him a dead rat instead of a live one. Then again, he's always been a greedy bugger Never had any problems with the live ones, it just became more convenient to feed f/t. Now all my snakes eat f/t, and all the snakes at the pet store where I work eat f/t (not that there are that many of them, our herp section is pretty small). I've never had any real problems with 'converting' snakes, either. The store's reptile company/breeder that we buy from feeds live, but I've never had a snake from them hold out for more than a few weeks, a month tops, before taking a f/t prey. Guess I'm just a lucky devil!

[Shaun J]

I've talked to lots of people and read plenty of testimonies that bps can be difficult to get switched onto f/t prey.

I just offered my big girl a medium sized thawed rat and she took it right out of my hand! I guess I'm just one of the lucky ones?

Do you feed your snake(s) f/t? Do some eat live while others eat f/t? Do you feed live because they refuse f/t or out of choice? I know lots of people that like to feed live prey simply to watch the "action".

ehh i'm not a fan of those people who feed live to "watch the action". They usually own a snake for the wrong reasons.I feed live simply because my snake readily takes it. I don't want to try feeding F/T and the snake not taking it. I'm a responsible owner who watches their snake while they eat live, to make sure nothing happens. There are irresponsible people who leave rats with the snake for 1+ hours. that's when you present a danger.

[liam]

when i got monty there was a mouse, small little thing, that had been in there for 2 weeks, so i put it in a cgae *cat knocked over and ate mouse*. im gonno try with small pry on frozen becasue she is smallish.. so a fuzzy m gonno start f/t.. and then ill try to move up sizes. but if she dosent take ill buy live and sit there ready to interviene if a fight breakes out.

ps - how do u lot thaw out ur food.... can i use a hairdryer on HOT rather then water.

[rabernet]

I've never fed pre-killed or f/t, my collection has always been fed live, with appropriately sized prey. With well over 2000 live prey fed off since I've been keeping ball pythons, I've never had an injury to any of my snakes.

Live is obviously the worst route to go if you can feed f/t.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on that. If done responsibly, live is just as safe as f/t.

Here's a great "oldie but goodie" discussion on live vs. pre-killed or f/t feeding.
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=24079

[liam]

well, i might have to go live if i cant get it to take F/T.. and i dont wanna pre-kill it means me killing it... couldent do it.


how do the people tht use f/t thaw there mices...

[liam]

i could stick in on my windo seal it would fry it within a couple of mins... bloody hot sun.... its 49C at 3.41pm....thts shade temp, imagine metal in direct sun.

[weirdbuglady]

To warm up the rodents I put them in a plastic baggie in a cup of hot (not boiling) water. For larger things like rats I usually do this twice, once to thaw, again to get them warm.

And even a young ball python can eat an adult sized mouse.