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 #1871710


Dragon Lover
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 Live versus Frozen?????

So both my guys, My Butter who is one year old and my Amel who is five, have stopped eating. They just don’t want to eat. Especially my little one. Someone mentioned maybe I should go live.

They have both been eating frozen/thawed ever since they were hatched. And, let’s face it, thawing these suckers out is a pain in the butt.

So guys, give it to me staright. lol


What are the pros and cons of feeding live?

Edel
09/30/08  05:21pm

 #1871748


Jynxer50
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   Message To: Dragon Lover   In reference to Message Id: 1871710


 Live versus Frozen?????

Pros

Don’t have to thaw them out. :)

Cons

Possible injury to your snake
less convienant than frozen (to me, at least)
Might be less expensive to buy frozen
your snakes wouldn’t be accustomed to it, and they might not constrict hard or long enough.

I’m getting breeder mice, but I’m still going to kill the mice before I feed them to my snake. My cousins boa died from an infected bite from a rat, and it was just the sweetest snake..so i just couldn’t risk it. my friend does it with his corn with little problems though...

Jake
09/30/08  05:58pm

 #1871828


Reptilefreak23
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   Message To: Jynxer50   In reference to Message Id: 1871748


 Live versus Frozen?????

I have fed mine on live (manyother species of snake as well... if you start them out on live, they will be fine because they learn to kill on impact. and also I dont feed my big snake big mice, that takes away all problems
I just feed them 3or4 pinkies or fuzzies.
thats just my oppinion though I have never had a single problem with this method.
09/30/08  07:02pm

 #1872037


Scaly
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   Message To: Reptilefreak23   In reference to Message Id: 1871828


 Live versus Frozen?????

Almost all my snakes eat live, you just have to watch very carefully, I think your better off to feed one or two appropriatly sized mice instead of several pinkies. Another option would be to just stunn the mouce before you feed the snake, one thump to the head. I do not feed my big Red Tail Boa live, she likes f/t and I wouldnt change that due to the size of the rat she needs. Now all you mice lovers dont freak out about how inhumale it is to feed live, its a fact of nature. If neither of your snakes are eating it might be something else though, you arnt keeping them togrther are you? And, hows your haet and humidity, etc?
09/30/08  10:18pm

 #1872838


Reptilefreak23
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   Message To: Scaly   In reference to Message Id: 1872037


 Live versus Frozen?????

and also when I said I feed 3-4 pinkies or fuzzies... well mine are bigger than normal, sry just thought id point that out so someone doesnt go off feeding a full grown snake 4 pinky mice the size of a quarter. and those are generally the ones you find frozen at petstores (new borns) which in m oppinion do not carry the nutriance they need for a single feeding



10/01/08  10:14pm

 #1875398


Guitar Boy 3
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   Message To: Reptilefreak23   In reference to Message Id: 1872838


 Live versus Frozen?????

Pros
No thawing out
No funky thowed out odor
snake works his/her muscles
if the snake doesn’t want it just kill it and freeze

Cons
Possible injury to the snake
Possible parasites if the rodent doesn’t come from a clean store
Mouse suffers

I have to feed live sometimes because the store my be out or some circumstances where I have to, the best tip I can give is supervise it, watch it until the mouse is dead



10/05/08  02:26pm

 #1875515


Bluegrassbond82
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   Message To: Guitar Boy 3   In reference to Message Id: 1875398


 Live versus Frozen?????

I have never had a prob. with live feeding. with corn snake or ball pythons. Truth is you will never get everyone to agree either way. I would say it would be more of a risk for you since yours have never had to deal with a live prey item. On the other hand snakes are real instinctual creatures,and may pick up on what to do right away. Best of luck.
10/05/08  05:22pm

 #1876122


WolfRin
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   Message To: Dragon Lover   In reference to Message Id: 1871710


 Live versus Frozen?????

i have only feed live once when the pet shop was out of frozen pinkies so i had to get a live one and freeze the rest. i dont personally like feeding live because its harder to keep them. with frozen u can keep a years worth of food and with live you would have to buy mice every week (or when ever u feed your snake) or breed mice.

pros:
no thawing out

cons:
snake might get injured
harder to keep

to me its just to much of a risk to feed live because even if u do watch them theres still the possibility that it would bite your snake

if your snakes have been eating frozen thawed mice then it could be a health problem thats making them not want to eat, they could even be stressed out. what r your temps? humidity? r they close to a shed? how long have they not been eating? r they in separate tanks?
10/06/08  05:05pm

 #1878229


Bluegrassbond82
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   Message To: Guitar Boy 3   In reference to Message Id: 1875398


 Live versus Frozen?????

OFF TOPIC. I think it is funny you mentioned that the mouse suffers. I personally don’t have to much problem with that, but my fiance hadn’t fed our snake in a while (I had been doing it) and she was about to cry for the poor little mouse. I was at work and she calls saying I don’t think I can do this. So I guess that might be a real issue for some.
10/10/08  12:23pm


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