Spider accepted first meal!

[DemmBalls]

My 2 weak old female spider accepted her first meal tonight! I offered her a small mouse and she did not hesitate to feed!

What are your views on F/T vs Live food items? I have always offered live, but have been considering switching to F/T. Now that I've been getting more snakes, I think it would be much more convenient to keep a supply of frozen food on hand. What do you all think? Is it normally difficult to switch them from live to F/T?

Thanks!

[luna13]

i have always fed live and honestly i prefer it over F/T...it just feels weird to me, but i know people that have fed F/T for ever and there snakes do great so my saying is "if it works for you than keep on doing it"

[CoolioTiffany]

Here are my views on both live and f/t, good and bad:

F/T:
Good:
-not a lot of money
-easy to store them
-the freezing process kills parasites

Bad:
-less nutritional
-larger mice/rats cost more
-freezing process eliminates most of the nutrients

LIVE:
Good:
-more nutritious for your snake
-can make your snake more healthier
-smaller sizes in rodents do not cost a lot

Bad:
-cause serious injury/death
-bites/scratches at your snake if left alone for too long
-could have internal/external parasites

Personally, I like the f/t over the live. I've always fed f/t to my snakes except for when my Dumeril's was being a picky eater.

[tbowman]

I feed F/T. About the "loss of nutrients" I'll say that a snake can be just as healthy on F/T than live, if not better. It's not a major concern.

[Woffy]

I feed my Boa F/T rats, but my Ball (Ivy) doesn't seem to want to make the switch from live just yet. I don't ever let the mouse out of my hand (I hold it by its tail) until Ivy has got it firmly secured. F/T is just way more convienient.

[Kirks_Herps]

i prefer f/t . for a few reasons. the safety of the animal, if you have a larger collection its aloy easier to have a few hundered frozen rodents around than live. we freeze alot of human food to keep it fresh etc. does it mean that your frozen peas or steak are less nutritious ? im not sure, but ive raised hundreds of snakes over the years and they have always done fine. but ive always said if it aint broke dont fix it, do what ever works for you because if you ask 10 different people you will get 10 opinions

[DemmBalls]

Thanks for the replys everyone. There is a small reptile show in the area this weekend...I may pick some frozen rodents up and give them shot.

[NorthernRegius]

Most of my collection are on FT, all of my hatchlings are started on L fuzzy rats & then I convert them- most will convert but I do have a few that will only do Pk or L. I'd prefer that they all go FT, but it's on going... good luck with yours, chances are your snake will switch.

[DemmBalls]

Most of my collection are on FT, all of my hatchlings are started on L fuzzy rats & then I convert them- most will convert but I do have a few that will only do Pk or L. I'd prefer that they all go FT, but it's on going... good luck with yours, chances are your snake will switch.

How large do you typically let your hatchlings get before switching them to f/t?

[iCandiBallPythons]

How large do you typically let your hatchlings get before switching them to f/t?

I typically begin trying to switch after the first few meals with a pretty high success rate.