Live or dead

[AmysAnimals]

I don't want to start a debate but I need to know.

I never thought I would even think about this seeing as I love rats and mice BUT I love snakes as well and know it's just natural for them to eat rodents. Should I feed live or frozen/thawed. I know there is some risk when feeding live. What would be the safest way to do this? I feel like it's probably better for the snake to eat live than to eat dead animals. What do you guys think...with out fighting over it! lol

[Stewart_Reptiles]

The KEYS here when it comes to feeding is RESPONSIBILITY and KNOWLEDGE

Know your options, feed what you feel comfortable with and do it RESPONSIBLY whether it is live or F/T or P/K

People need to feed what works for them an their animals base on KNOWLEDGE not based on fear of the boogieman that is propagated by people with no real solid live feeding experience.

I mainly feed live I feed over 250 live prey each months and have done so for a few years and there is no horror story here and I am not the only one.

[Royal Hijinx]

My opinion, and there are many out there, is to get them on f/t if you can. Less chance of the snake getting injured, especially when you get to bigger rats. All of mine are on live right now, but I closely monitor each feeding to ensure the snake is not getting bitten.

[AmysAnimals]

As it turns out, I am going to have to feed live anyways. My family doesn't want dead animals in their freezer. I will have to learn how to feed live, then. I have plenty of time to do it though. Do you know of any tutorials on how to feed live responsibly or is it just something you learn as you go?

I'm thinking of getting my own mini freezer if I can, though. I really do want to feed live but I do not want the snake to get hurt. I could not prekill an animal, it's just not in me.

[Mike41793]

As it turns out, I am going to have to feed live anyways. My family doesn't want dead animals in their freezer. I will have to learn how to feed live, then. I have plenty of time to do it though. Do you know of any tutorials on how to feed live responsibly or is it just something you learn as you go?

I'm thinking of getting my own mini freezer if I can, though. I really do want to feed live but I do not want the snake to get hurt. I could not prekill an animal, it's just not in me.

I feed both my snakes live. Theres really nothing to it. BUT as was already stated the key is to MONITOR the feeding. To be on the safe side I monitor the entire feeding but thats bc I only have 2 snakes. All i do is take out the water dish and drop the rat in the tub. I always have a ruler/pen/popsicle stick on hand just in case. Once the snake gets the rat you have to watch to make sure the rat isnt biting, if he is just stick the ruler in its mouth. Also if the rats leg is kicking and scratching the snake then i just grab the foot and hold on until its dead. Once the snake loosens its coils and the rat is dead you dont have to watch the rest but i always do just in case. This is just how i do everything, but there are certainly other ways to do it. Honestly the only reason I feed live right now is the same reason as you, my parents dont want rats next to the hamburger and frozen waffles in the freezer lol. I have considered buying a mini freezer for myself but right now for me feeding live is just as easy. Once I get out of college I'll definetly switch my snakes over to f/t though.

[Inknsteel]

It's truly all about personal preference... I feed all my snakes live.

Live feeding is perfectly safe as long as you take very minimal precautions. First, don't leave a live rodent in your snake's enclosure unsupervised. You want to keep an eye on the rat from the time it goes into the tub until your snake has it coiled. If your bp has a bad strike and gets the rat in a way where the rat could possibly bite the snake, you may have to use a pencil or chopstick or something to put in the rat's mouth for a few seconds until the snake has killed it. Don't worry about kicking feet. They all struggle a little when being constricted, but try to keep your intervention to a minimum so you don't stress the snake.

It seems like most people on this forum advocate feeding F/T. In my opinion, when you start to acquire multiple snakes, F/T starts to become impractical. I have 14 snakes at the moment, but my collection will continue to grow. I wouldn't want to take the time to thaw 14 rats, blowdrying the head of each rat to heat it up to ideal temp, then doing a zombie dance for each snake. That would be WAY time consuming. Also, when feeding F/T, if the snake refuses, you just wasted a rat. Feeding live, if I have a refusal, the rat goes out of the snake tub and back into the rat bin to be fed off the next week...

[AmysAnimals]

Now I am kind of afraid that my dad won't let me have a snake because I would also have to keep rats. lol

I used to have pet rats...they smelled terrible. But I guess if they are gone in a few weeks it shouldn't matter right? I'll have to discuss it with him. He's already agreed to me having a snake sooooo...haha I think I only want to keep 3-5 rats at a time that way I don't have to go back to the reptile store each week. The GOOD reptile store is about 20 - 30 mins away from me. =/ Not too far but driving every week can be a pain just to get a rat thats going to die that day. I would need to get rat food and an enclosure for the rats too.... I can use a small tub for them too, I guess. Sorry I am going on and on.

I've really got to look into things. =P

[mandalorian]

I had the same issue about putting frozen rats in my freezer. Looked on cl and found a 5 cu ft chest freezer for $40.00. Sits in my garage and when its closed, use it to thaw out and warm up my rats. Stocked up on a bunch of frozen rats at the Pomona show. Much more convenient to walk into my garage on feeding day then driving to the reptile store. Hope this helps.

[AmysAnimals]

Another thing with the freezer thing is placement. I already have a fridge in the garage and no where else to put a freezer lol. I would have to see about that though. I'm probably just going to do live feeding.