I personally feed live on and absolutely as needed basis. I have seen firsthand the damage live can cause in a short amount of time and prefer for my animals health and safety top avoid it. I have several "finicky" eaters that currently refuse to switch and those that refuse get stunned live. Do I like stunning? No. Do I feel it a necessity? Pretty much.
Live (in my opinion of course) should only be used as a last resort option.
@ "I don't have enough time" and "it's not convenient"
For small/medium rats it only takes about an hour, maybe 2 if your tap water isn't hot to thaw them out fully.
1. get bucket
2. fill with x number of rats
3. fill with hot tap water
4. check periodically
5. replace water when too cool
6. feed
I am not sure what people mean when they say it isn't convenient. Having a month or 3 on hand of feeders is much easier than running out to your live supplier every week. When you get down to a few weeks worth, order again.
Bulk buy food is also typically significantly cheaper if you don't breed your own.
Here are my live vs frozen prices if I buy weekly:
Live:
smalls@$3.99 ea x 8
mediums@4.99ea x 10
lg@6.99 ea. x 3
xl@7.99 eac x 3
2 x 3-4lb rabbits ~$10-$14
_______________________
~$146.76 per week
Frozen:
smalls@$1.05ea x 8
mediums@$1.25ea x 10
lg@$2.00ea x3
xl@$2.25 ea x3
rabbits@$3.50ea x2
____________________
~$40.65 per week.
Add in the 20-30 bucks a YEAR it costs to run a small chest freezer(which you can get for about the price of what my weekly LIVE feeders would be), economically(here anyway) there is zero reason not to do f/t.
I understand we all have different space/time/etc and these are just my opinions. I just tend to have strong feelings about live prey for the simple fact that in my novice days I got to see rodent damage. Not too long ago in one of the retic groups I lurk in someone made a poor decision with a feeder(a live flemish giant) and it rip the side of the snake right open. I have not seen whether or not the snake made it or not.
Rats may not "rip them open" so to speak but have you yourself ever taken a rat bite? They take CHUNKS. Mice tend to puncture but a solid rat bite will leave a hole which is an opening for infection/etc.
If you breed your own, there are plenty of DIY chambers for bulk euthanasia to be found online.
My apologies for becoming long winded.
Reply With Quote