Benefits of live feeding?

[AKballs]

http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/processing



Not much loss but loss just the same.

[MarkS]

There are no benefits, there are no detriments, feed your animal what it's willing to eat... End of story.

[MasonC2K]

It's about the snake's preference and my feasibility.

My snakes prefer live. And I can't feasibly buy and store FT in bulk. I've have to buy a separate freezer that I can't afford nor do I have room for. I do, however, have an arrangement with a local pet store the buy rats and mice at wholesale price that all of my snakes with gladly eat when they are hungry. What little is refused can be put in a holding tank for the week or taken back to store for them to resale.

It benefits me financially to feed live right now.

[Slim]

Not much loss but loss just the same.

And variable based on freezing technique, length of storage, storage temp, and even the individual prey animal being frozen and thawed. Also, when calculated on a Gaussian gradient, the difference falls with-in the circular error probable of the data presented...meaning, there may be a slight difference, and, there may not be. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the study you found and posted was done without a control group.

*EDIT: In the interest of accuracy, I re-ran the data from the 2003 USDA study and the only factor that falls outside of the Gaussian error gradient is Vitamin C. I do not believe rats are a significant source of Vitamin C, so I'll let you draw your own conclusions about that part of the data.

Watching a snake stalk, strike, and constrict (in a reasonable time frame too). You know the exciting day of the week where it's more than a pet rock.

Mine stalk, strike, and constrict F/T, so I wouldn't see a real difference with live. I'm old enough to have had a pet rock, and I can assure you, no BP of mine is a pet rock.

[ChunkyLoverYYZ]

Ugh I hate this forum. The simplest question turns into animosity.
I'm out. Thanks for the info.

[MarkS]

Ugh I hate this forum. The simplest question turns into animosity.
I'm out. Thanks for the info.

???? What animosity ???? I really didn't see any, it's just a discussion.

[EricWright]

Have you ever watched a lion chase a gazelle in a 15'x15' cage???

You know most nature shows stage things like that. Every wonder why the crab doesn't get away from the hungry fish in the brightly lit clear water? Because he's tied to a string or dropped in front of the fish. Do you think the cows, pigs, and chickens you eat died a humane and painless death in a CO2 chamber?

[adamjeffery]

i cant believe that no one has mentioned teh one true benefit to feeding live. your snake gets exercise and builds muscle tone when feeding live. the act of hunting, constricting and swallowing a live animal is much more intense for the snake then just constricting and swallowing a f/t animal. it is a true benefit to the animal.
is that WHY i feed live....no. i feed live because its easier for me to feed 50 snakes at a time.
adam jeffery

[Amon Ra Reptiles]

Ugh I hate this forum. The simplest question turns into animosity.
I'm out. Thanks for the info.

Unfortunately that's bp.net for ya. We used to spend A LOT of time here but the bickering gets really old. It sucks but you really can't say the sky is blue on this forum without counting on someone to argue with about the shade and hue.

[DooLittle]

I only have one guy that must eat live. I wish he would take p/k because I worry everytime I feed him. I know its what they do, and he is capable of handling himself, but still, I am a mom and worry. All my others get p/k. I don't have room in my freezer for f/t. So p/k vs f/t works better for me. No time spent thawing, no space taken up in freezer.