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    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

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    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Live vs Frozen POLL

Live vs Frozen Poll

  • I feed live only!

    Votes: 12 13.2%

  • I feed Frozen only!

    Votes: 35 38.5%

  • I feed both and see a need for both Methods!

    Votes: 44 48.4%
  • Total voters
    91
I voted for both.

I'd feed nothing but f/t or p/k by preference simply because it's easier for me. Unfortunately my snakes don't take my personal preferences into consideration.

All my regular boas (BCI,BCC types) eat f/t. They get no live prey. I've never meet a boa I couldn't get switched over.

The balls are punks. 'Nuff said.

One of the viper boas* I have eat prey so small that they don't have a way to hurt the snakes, same with my Saharan sand boas. Due to the prey sizes and the species tendency to starve to death rather then switch it makes more sense for me to just let them eat live.

I will not feed live prey that has the ability to injure my snakes, all it takes is one well placed bite to cause a snake's death. I learned that the hard way and will not repeat that mistake.

*the other viper boa is still stuck on geckos
 
I actully voted #3 becuase sometimes lil corns dont always like to start right up on Frozen at least not for me anyway so I try to feed some live mixed with a frozen one like DanD says to but not all are that easy to fool! He he he (still just a Intermidiate snake keeper have not achieved Pro status yet)
 
I may not own a snake but in the past I have worked with them and other reptiles like tegus, monitors, gators and caimen that ate small mammals. I fed both F/T/prekilled and live. What made me choose which to use was the size of the prey. I don't like putting large prey in with the animal because of the risk of the food fighting back and causing harm. Smaller prey like pinky mice or fuzzy mice where the threat is minimal I chose to feed live. Of course there were times where I had to feed larger live prey but only because the animal refused dead prey. I tried my best to make the dead prey appear as if it were moving by wiggling it around on tongs.

Personally I don't care how others feed, it's their choice. As long as you feed appropriate prey and do it to feed your animal with the best intentions I don't mind. It's the people who are sick minded and just take a random live animal and throw it in the cage with their pet just to see it get killed that bothers me.
 
I voted frozen only, although I do thaw and warm them up first. :rofl:

I too, on rare occasions, will use a live pinky or fuzzy, if all other tricks have failed. I will not however feed live, if the rodent is large enough to defend it's self. That means pretty much anything larger then a hopper is to be off'd first.

I love this part :D ...The Live Pile...for those who haven't seen what a rat can do to an adult Boa or two.



Now don't get me wrong, I fed nothing but live for more then 20 years. I've made the mistake of not supervising the entire feeding, and I've had some snakes messed up because of it. I just thought that's the way it was, that they needed live prey.

Then when I heard of the F/T routine, I tried it out. And not a single one of my snakes refused to switch. I've fed F/T rodents to WC rattlers, desert kings, gophers, even a coachwhip. Not long term captives either, but local removals that wintered with me.

So, IMO, there is no GOOD reason NOT to feed them F/T. That's what is the safest for the animal. Unless you make your animals your secondary concerns. :shrug01:
 
frillielover17 said:
I may not own a snake but in the past I have worked with them and other reptiles like tegus, monitors, gators and caimen that ate small mammals. I fed both F/T/prekilled and live. What made me choose which to use was the size of the prey. I don't like putting large prey in with the animal because of the risk of the food fighting back and causing harm. Smaller prey like pinky mice or fuzzy mice where the threat is minimal I chose to feed live. Of course there were times where I had to feed larger live prey but only because the animal refused dead prey. I tried my best to make the dead prey appear as if it were moving by wiggling it around on tongs.

Personally I don't care how others feed, it's their choice. As long as you feed appropriate prey and do it to feed your animal with the best intentions I don't mind. It's the people who are sick minded and just take a random live animal and throw it in the cage with their pet just to see it get killed that bothers me.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on the part where you said you dont like the idea of sick individuals feeding live prey just to see the kill.. I wish from the bottom of my heart that all our snakes would eat F/T full time. But I do have a couple "older" snakes that are set in their ways & absolutely flat out refuse to eat f/t . As a matter of fact, even with the "set" snakes, we have TRIED & TRIED to get them switched over w/ no success. All of our snakes are fed appropriately sized feeders as are the baby gators.
 
I actually have a few snakes that will only eat dead things and I love that because then I don't worry I can just toss the food in and come back later. However, live is so convenient and once i am producing enough feeders to go around I will have to start prekilling for them. For whoever was talking about having to buy F/T, you could prekill and freeze too and it would save you some $$
 
I chose frozen on the pole as I try to feed strictly frozen, mostly to prevent injury and the chance of parisites as I have no place to currently breed my own rodents and I have to purchase them from other sources. I do feed live to 2 of my snakes, a picky ball and my girls corn snake as they want nothing to do with a lifeless rodent, though defrosting all these frozen rodents is a pain in the A$$! Just my 2 cents.

Jeff Wyatt
 
Twizted Paths said:
Yeah, sure. Nothing better then seeing that one in a million chance of the prey getting in that perfect split second bite through your snakes spine.
Click to expand...

Couldnt have said it better myself. Even tho I have a few picky snakes that wont touch ANYTHING F/T or even on the spot killed & I have to feed them live feeders, I stay right there with them, grippers in hand in case they start trying to bite the snake.
 
Twizted Paths said:
Yeah, sure. Nothing better then seeing that one in a million chance of the prey getting in that perfect split second bite through your snakes spine.
Click to expand...

So let's see, if it's a one in a million chance, and say you have 50 snakes that you feed once a week........
That means that would happen once every 384.6 years


Just sayin.............. :D
 
Clay Davenport said:
So let's see, if it's a one in a million chance, and say you have 50 snakes that you feed once a week........
That means that would happen once every 384.6 years


Just sayin.............. :D
Click to expand...

The red candoia in my photo album is dead because it happened to me recently. I was right there & there was nothing I could do fast enough.


Feeding live solely for personal enjoyment is not acceptable to me.
 
I really didn't want to get into this since Shawn requested this not turn into a discussion, but I've had rodent injure my snake before due to live feeding (back in '98 when I didn't know any better), and I was right there with them as it happened, thought i could 'pull the rodent off' or whatever, but there wasn't much I could do once the rat sunk it's teeth into the neck of my boa as she was constricting.

I also avoid feeding live anytime I can simply because I've had pet mice and rats before and I don't belive any animal should suffer.
 
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