Feeding question for breeders

[ApathyAngel]

@Kerimac

Thanks for the info! I follow Chris on youtube and really like his videos, and I've heard good things about Dynasty, too.

I've got a couple of different possibilities for morphs I'm looking at, but I won't be in a position to buy one for at least another 6 months, so nothing is set in stone. I wouldn't be opposed to a yearling/juvenile either. I was more just curious about the reasoning behind breeders feeding live.

@AzJohn

That's what I was thinking, but then wouldn't you then also need a large rat population, to ensure that you have a steady stream of the right sized babies? I had pet rats when I was a kid, and if I remember correctly (though it was awhile ago, so I may be wrong) they don't stay small for very long. And cleaning their cages felt like a full-time job.

Granted, I've never owned more than 4 snakes at a time, so obviously having a large collection is a totally different thing, but wouldn't maintaining a large rat population be incredibly time-consuming? Wouldn't it be easier to just thaw a handful of them out in water and then just toss them in the baby bins?

Or am I missing something? As I said, I'm not a breeder, and I know that keeping a large collection is completely different than owning a handful of pets, so I'm curious about that process and why it's easier to feed live.

And to the other replies...

I should stick with lizards? You won't sell to me?

Gasp! How terrible! But then how will I ever get a ball python? There are so few breeders out there, whatever will I do?

Calm down, Karen. I wasn't bashing how you run your business. I was asking why breeders do it that way, and if breeders will help transition to f/t when people buy their animals.

Which I assumed were innocent questions. Silly me, apparently.

I mean, defensive much?

Whatever your reasons for feeding live, cool. It obviously works for your setup. You do you. I never once bashed feeding live, I only explained why I personally won't do it.

I know it's safe most of the time. That's literally not the point of my post. The live vs f/t debate bores me. Literally everything that can possibly be said on both sides has already been said. I'm not looking to turn this into yet another iteration of that same tired argument.

I don't have to feed live, so I won't. Simple as that.

I've had ball pythons, jungle carpet pythons, and a retic, and never once had problems feeding them f/t or pre-killed. Never once had a food strike that lasted longer than 2 feedings (though to be fair, I've only owned a total of 4 ball pythons, which is a small sample size. And the youngest is my current one, who is around 6. The others were over 10 when I got them). Literally never once had a snake refuse f/t, regardless of what they were fed before I got them.

Whatever your reasons for why that makes me a bad person, I promise you I do not care. F/t works for me, so it's what I do.

I was asking breeders about it because I've heard babies can be pickier than adults, and since almost all of my experience is with adults, I want to make sure that when I get a baby, I know what I'm getting into and will be prepared for it.

Yeah, silly me.

I was also asking to get a better feel for etiquette, what is realistic to ask from a breeder, because (shocker) I'm not a breeder. I don't know how labor intensive the process is, and if it's realistic to prepay for a hatchling and ask the breeder to transition the baby I prepaid for to f/t until it's big enough to ship. I'm trying to get a feel for where that line is between respecting the breeder's time and protecting my own investment and my future pet.

I know, I know. So incredibly silly of me.

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