feeding live rats

[shaqthaballkeeper]

so our local petstores dont have frozen rats for my ball python so i was going to have my mom pick up a small live rat after she gets off work.i was just wanting to make sure about feeding them live befor i get her to get a live rat.are live rats better that f/t rats.give me some tips and pointers about this.do any one feed there snake live and do yout ever have problems feeding them live?????

[J.Coils]

i don't really know which is better but my snakes eat f/t(frozen/thawed)
its cheaper for me and i can buy them in bulk you know what i mean?
easy to store and there always on hand when i need them.plus if the snake wont eat it that time i just refreeze it and offer it again at a later date/time

[jben]

There's no problem feeding live as long as the rat is the proper size and you supervise the feeding. As for which is better, live or f/t I don't think there is much difference nutritionally.

[Orlandoflor]

well i feed my snakes live all the time but i always watch them in case something happens. its because i breed my own rats and live its easier for me but during the time when my rats are not breeding i have frozen ones and most of my balls would take them just have to move it alot but the truth is i dont know if live is better then frozen.

[wolfy-hound]

Live or frozen are the same as far as nutrition. A FT rat never bit a snake. But live is fine if you watch and don't allow the rat to stay in to harm the snake. Bites from rats CAN happen though.

You shouldn't refreeze rats that you've thawed to feed(especially if you heated them up properly to attract the snake's attention).

[J.Coils]

Live or frozen are the same as far as nutrition. A FT rat never bit a snake. But live is fine if you watch and don't allow the rat to stay in to harm the snake. Bites from rats CAN happen though.

You shouldn't refreeze rats that you've thawed to feed(especially if you heated them up properly to attract the snake's attention).

oh yeah? why's that?

[gardenfiend138]

for the above, it's just never a good idea to defrost and refreeze meat of any kind, especially if it's been heated...

and you could always just kill the rat first so your snake doesn't become accustomed to live and it'll make the switch to f/t easier...

[spitzu]

Just kill the rat... same as F/T.

[PghBall]

I breed my own feeders and feed all of my BPs live. There is no difference in nutritional value though. Can the rat bite your snake? Yes, while being constricted it may if in position to do so. As has already been mentioned, just monitor and have Feeding tongs ready (if you don't have tongs a pencil will work in a pinch) if you see the rat trying to bite. Never leave a live rat in there for any period of time unsupervised. One advantage I like about feeding live, if they do not get eaten, I can just put them back into their tub with the rest of the feeders.

[Amon Ra Reptiles]

We feed all live and have had no problems. Like stated above if they dont eat it well, it's not a waste. With F/T if they dont eat it's wasted. We have to many snakes for them to not eat and have to throw away a bunch of rats.
As for the never re freezing them. Once they are thawed and warmed and left for awhile they will start to harbor bacteria. Just like with humans you dont thaw out a stake and the refreeze it.