Live or F/T?

[TheSnakeGeek]

live. frozen/thawed is wasteful (if someone doesnt eat), and thawing out 20 rats every feeding day doesnt sound like too much fun. plus i enjoy keeping and feeding the rats. the only one of mine that gets f/t is the retic, and that's simply because once he gets up to rabbits i want him to be used to taking f/t.

[satomi325]

I prefer live. F/T is a waste of freezer space and time for me. If I fed f/t, it would take me hours to feed my snakes compared to the few minutes it takes me to feed live. Plus if a snake doesn't eat, I can just save the live feeder for next week. Refreezing and rethawing feeders is kind of nasty so saving the live rodent is definitely a plus.

Its also cheaper for me to breed my own food than buy f/t. Not to mention my rats get quality care and diet so I know what kind of food my snakes are eating.
And who knows how long rats are dead before they are frozen.




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[satomi325]

, any potential parasites should be killed as well.

Perhaps the adults. But parasite eggs can lay dormant and survive under frozen conditions. They then hatch when thawed out to body temp.

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[JMinILM]

i prefer live. F/t is a waste of freezer space and time for me. If i fed f/t, it would take me hours to feed my snakes compared to the few minutes it takes me to feed live. Plus if a snake doesn't eat, i can just save the live feeder for next week. Refreezing and rethawing feeders is kind of nasty so saving the live rodent is definitely a plus.




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x2

[CaitJaye]

I buy f/t. this way I have food in storage for a month and don't have to worry about trying to get live feeders between my work and school schedule. Also, its great knowing that my bp will take frozen and I don't have to worry about any potential injuries with rats. Its deff more convenient.

[jenna d]

The majority of my BP's will happily take both live and f/t, I mostly feed live since I breed my own feeder rats but I don't produce enough to feed all my snakes and have to outreach within the local herp community for those exta feeders every week. Since most of us feed live we all tend to experience feeder shortages at the same time, this is where my f/t stock comes in handy. Also I generally feed my big girls f/t anyways because its been easier for me to acquire med/large rats frozen, not many people have them big enough often enough for me and the pet stores that do have them waaaaaaay overcharge.

[bcr229]

Also I generally feed my big girls f/t anyways because its been easier for me to acquire med/large rats frozen, not many people have them big enough often enough for me and the pet stores that do have them waaaaaaay overcharge.

That's a good point, the local pet store wants $5-6 for a medium and $8 for a large breeder rat female past her prime, where if I buy in bulk f/t I can get the price down to $3 each even with shipping.

[ARamos8]

All of mine are on F/T. I prefer it to live. I picked up an Emperor Pin back in '11 and she was on live. It took me almost 2 months to finally get her converted. I got lucky this time I suppose considering some just like the thrill... I do tug on the tail a few times, just don't let her know that.

[sunshinenorcas]

I only have my one girl, and in the situation I'm in living-wise, I don't see myself getting many more, so f/t works for me right now- it's less then two dollars for the two small mice I get every week and they don't take a ton of freezer space.

I personally don't like feeding live because constriction is a terrible way to go and not very humane, and with a bigger prey animal, there is a risk (even slight) of something going wrong and MY animal getting hurt... which is a silly vet bill to get IMO. If that's the only way the snake eats, it's the way the snake eats and I'll do it, but if I have the choice I'd probably go for an animal that's already on f/t. It may not be 'natural' but... my snake lives in 10L with an Iron Man background, a dragon head hide and plastic plants with me controlling her heat and humidity. There's nothing about her situation that is 'natural'.

[satomi325]

I only have my one girl, and in the situation I'm in living-wise, I don't see myself getting many more, so f/t works for me right now- it's less then two dollars for the two small mice I get every week and they don't take a ton of freezer space.

I personally don't like feeding live because constriction is a terrible way to go and not very humane, and with a bigger prey animal, there is a risk (even slight) of something going wrong and MY animal getting hurt... which is a silly vet bill to get IMO. If that's the only way the snake eats, it's the way the snake eats and I'll do it, but if I have the choice I'd probably go for an animal that's already on f/t. It may not be 'natural' but... my snake lives in 10L with an Iron Man background, a dragon head hide and plastic plants with me controlling her heat and humidity. There's nothing about her situation that is 'natural'.

Actually in a constriction, the rat releases endorphins which does dull its senses. So its not as bad as you think. Nature has ways to be as efficient as possible. And some f/t rats die horrible deaths from improper use of CO2(some awful people even put their live rats straight into the freezer without euthanizing them first. Pretty agonizing). If the gas was rapidly distributed, it does not put the animal to sleep first. The animal panics and suffocates immediately. Plus CO2 is not painless. Yes, it is the most humane out of all the euthanasia methods, but not painless. It stings the eyes, nose, and sinuses. Similar to having soda go up your nose, but the sensation not stopping.

And rule of thumb with live, feed the appropriate sized prey. Aka no large rats. Many people here won't feed larger than a small to an adult ball python. Medium at the very very most. Smaller rats are younger, thus more naive to danger and will not attack or fight. Its the adults that pack a punch, but is a prey that should not be fed to ball pythons.

If fed responsibly, live can be just as safe as f/t. And f/t isn't risk free either. There are plenty of snakes who have died from f/t feeders.

I think people should feed what works for them whether its live or f/t. But just be aware of what's going on and the risks with both methods and how to do both safely and responsibly.

Just some insight and my $.02.

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