Feeding Live VS Frozen

[zina10]

The argument some people make about it being natural in the wild and therefore good in captivity is completely illogical.

It's natural for wild snakes to be exposed to parasites and predators too. But it is completely illogical to do the same thing in captivity lol.

Incidentally, freezing a prey item kills any internal or external parasites in/on it which can only be beneficial.

Then you have all of the aforementioned dangers to the snake and the suffering of the prey animal etc.

I think each to their own. But I will always feed frozen thawed unless absolutely necessary simply because there's no reason not to and every reason to.

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You are preaching to the choir

I agree, as I have said. And I do feed f/t.

On the other hand, there are times when feeding live is necessary.

When I did rescue, I got some snakes that were in incredibly rough shape. Just getting them healthy was not easy, nor quick. Back then, many were imports. I would never, ever withhold live food from an animal out of my own principles. Those snakes needed to eat. I tried everything else first, but if live was what was needed, so be it. I didn't put all my time, energy, care (and money) into fixing them, just to let them starve. There were some that even needed gerbils to get started (imports).

I also have to say that EVERY SINGLE ONE was eventually switched to rats, and frozen/thawed rats at that. But it took time and patience and first priority was to get some weight on those snakes and get them healthy. As soon as possible I switched to pre killed as well.

Then there are hatchlings. I've had plenty of f/t food for them, and plenty of patience. Yet, there are some that just want live food to start out on. I'm not about to "wait out" a hatchling because of what I believe in. They don't have those kinds of reserves and hatchlings can be tricky. So the ones that needed live food, got live food. Again, all eventually switched to not only f/t but rats (from mice) before they were re-homed.

I also understand why breeders or people with a lot of snakes feed live. Its simply difficult to feed a large collection with frozen/thawed. So some would say, so what? Then they shouldn't have that many snakes.

I think that is wrong to say. Thanks to those (good) breeders we now have a large selection of quality CB animals, and it has cut down on the misery of imports. I do remember when most BP's that people bought were imports and how difficult it was for the beginners as well as the snakes. And how many perished during the entire process.

Most breeders have a lot of experience, they breed their own rodents and feed them well (no sick, gross ones) and they know better then to leave rodents with the snakes. They respect and love their animals as well.

Besides, if someone simply prefers to feed live, and does all they can to minimize the risk, I'd be the last person to harp on them. With all the reptiles that are being housed incorrectly, mistreated and neglected, that alone is simply not an issue at all. Whatever works for whomever, as long as they try their best to do right by the animal.