Quote Originally Posted by lmartelli77 View Post
Also, I disagree slightly with Mike....I feel that if he is taking the frozen/thawed then keep him on them. They are easier, safer, and have no chance of transferring mites to your snake.
Define easier. If you have a live supplier then what is "easier" than grabbing a rat and putting it in the tank? Seems pretty "easy" to me and actually much "easier" than f/t. Now if you don't have a supplier than I would agree with f/t being easier seeing they will ship to you or you can pick them up at a local show.
F/t does have a 100% chance of no bite issues but for picky eaters alot of snakes tend to break a feeding strike with live. I believe the OP said it took an hour to feed f/t, so I would assume he wants a faster solution, then live is the way to go.
As for the last comment.......: I guess if the colony of rats is infested with mites they could infest the household where the owner lives but seeing as snake mites really only effect snakes then I don't see how a rat can give mites to a snake. But on that note if my rat breeder's colony was infested with mites I wouldn't be buying from him. THOUGH there have been cases as cited by VPI:

"Snake mites usually do not infest mammal species, yet they have been known occasionally to parasitize rodents and humans, taking a blood meal and then moving on (Mader, 1996). Snakes are not known to be parasitized by any of the mite species that commonly parasitize rodents.
Rodents that have been treated with insecticides for mite infestations can be highly toxic to snakes. Over the years we have seen snakes that were poisoned by eating rodents from colonies that were being treated for mites."

But it is very rare for this to happen. If your annoyed with your snake not taking f/t like he used to or showing a lessened feeding response switch over to live and try it out.