True Or False?

[SGExotics]

I heard that F/t Rats fatten up the snakes more than live... I heard they "pack on weight".... Is this true? I really hated f/t, but now it starting to seem a lot more convienient than live. I started breeding rats and its a PAIN to have to keep buying them food, bedding, new bins, cleaning them, and they barely produce anything.. Maybe a few litters a month, which i then have to buy small rats for the majority of my ball pythons until around 30 days when the rats are big enough to be eaten by the snakes.. Then when a few more weeks go by, They ALL get too big for the snakes to handle! LOL So im thinking about scratching the whole breeding idea and ordering from rodent pro in LARGE quantities and buying a mini freezer... Would this be a good idea for a collection that is going to get pretty big? What do you think?

[Haydenphoto]

I heard that F/t Rats fatten up the snakes more than live... I heard they "pack on weight".... Is this true? I really hated f/t, but now it starting to seem a lot more convienient than live. I started breeding rats and its a PAIN to have to keep buying them food, bedding, new bins, cleaning them, and they barely produce anything.. Maybe a few litters a month, which i then have to buy small rats for the majority of my ball pythons until around 30 days when the rats are big enough to be eaten by the snakes.. Then when a few more weeks go by, They ALL get too big for the snakes to handle! LOL So im thinking about scratching the whole breeding idea and ordering from rodent pro in LARGE quantities and buying a mini freezer... Would this be a good idea for a collection that is going to get pretty big? What do you think?

Try AFR they are really easy to breed you dont have to clean the cage as often and the smell is really not that bad if you keep the cage clean you get almost no smell and they breed like crazy ! I have 4 trios and have way to many rats to feed all my snakes and im up to 12 snakes Hope this helps .

[sg1trogdor]

Try AFR they are really easy to breed you dont have to clean the cage as often and the smell is really not that bad if you keep the cage clean you get almost no smell and they breed like crazy ! I have 4 trios and have way to many rats to feed all my snakes and im up to 12 snakes Hope this helps .

I think you meant ASF's (African soft furred rats) And they are very aggresive from what I have seen ackhem heard And to the OP make sure they are legal to own where you live they are illegal to own in california but then again everything is illegal here lol.

[Haydenphoto]

I think you meant ASF's (African soft furred rats) And they are very aggresive from what I have seen ackhem heard And to the OP make sure they are legal to own where you live they are illegal to own in california but then again everything is illegal here lol.

OOPS haha ya i meant ASF's lol ! Na there ok i have about 150 of them . They can be a little aggresive around there young at times but for the most of the time there ok !

[takagari]

them lil jerks hurt when they bite.

I find they do take longer to grow to adult size than a rat to comparible size though.

[Wh00h0069]

In my experience, that theory is incorrect. My ball pythons do much better on live than on f/t. Therefore they put on a lot more weight by eating live.

[Simpson Balls]

I freshly kill them then feed it off. I find it not really a difference between f/t and live. Live only gives your snake the extra gram or so. Not much of a difference.

Daniel

[nixer]

it has been said that f/t if kept too long looses nutrients....i highly doubt live will ever loose any of that

[Freakie_frog]

F/T is a good option if your worried about the feeders getting to big. ASF's never get to big but they do have a learning curve to them when it comes to housing and handleing them.

[Skiploder]

it has been said that f/t if kept too long looses nutrients....i highly doubt live will ever loose any of that

I've seen where it has been said, or where someone has stated "in my opinion" or "in my experience" but I have never seen conclusive proof that there is a substantial loss of nutrients.

There are several oft-quoted and referenced articles that are pointed to when this debate comes up. Problem is that they are based on opinion and not scientific fact.

In my experience (again - no scientific proof) I have seen no difference in the health or weight gain of my animals. I currently have two yellow tail cribo brothers - one who will eat F/T and one who turns his nose at anything but live.

At 36 months of age one is 2481 grams and one is 2512 grams...........and for the record, the one eating live is the lighter of the two. Six months ago the live feeder was nominally heavier......so go figure.

Is there a loss of nutrients in frozen feeders? Probably - but it is most likely dependent on the length of time the item has been frozen.