Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We were finally all ready to go and buy our first snake, already picked out and waiting for us. We went to get it today only to find out that it had just been fed. The lady selling him to us wanted to wait 24 hours before letting him move, so we will pick him up tomorrow. But he is officially ours now.

I asked once before about the benefits of feeding frozen/thawed meals. I'm convinced about the safety and convenience of f/t. But the girl at the store feeds live and highly encourages us to do so as well. She's concerned about the safety of f/t for the snake. She says the mice are often frozen too long and are frostbitten...bad for the snake. I think she's just concerned about the condition of rarely sold frozen mice in her own store's inventory.

My questions are: How long can a mouse be frozen and still be good for the snake? How can you know if it is good or not when you go to feed it? Can I order small supplies of them online somewhere? (I can't imagine needing to keep a large stock since I've got only a single young snake.)

Thanks again for all your help here. I read all the posts avidly and love all the pictures. I'll post pics of my own new addition as soon as I can get some developed and scanned.

Judy
1.0 red cape gopher

You can buy them vacuum packed and they last a long time. Or you could just buy them live and euth and freeze them yourself. Or you could breed them but most people don't like that. I, however, have a love for all animals and enjoy my mice just as much as my snakes. BTW you need to stop taking advice from petshops. I know it's a generalization but in my experience, pet store employees are agents of Satan and their only purpose on this planet is to ensure the death of pets. Not that they are bad people, just stupid.
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Well, I can't kill the mice myself. About the only things I don't feel bad for killing are flies and mosquitoes. I can live with the predator/prey neccessity of life...but don't ask me to kill the prey for it. I'll look into the vacuum packed options and look for an online dealer to order from.

As for the pet shop...I'm obviously not taking her advice because I've come here for more! She's good though. I did a lot of research and looking around before deciding to buy a snake from a petshop...from this petshop in particular. I know they're not the experts that many of you here are, but at this store at least, they take obvious good care of their animals and care more about the animal's welfare than cashing in a sale. I respect how she takes care of them...but will always double-check before taking specific advice.

What type snake is it?

The pet store might be recommending live since it brings you back to the store once per week to buy more supplies for the snake....lol. I'm laughing, but I'm completely serious, too. For your snake, I'm VERY glad you have decided to NOT feed live. Live is bad and prekilled is OK, but thawed frozen is the way to go IMO.

There are a LOT of good mouse vendors out there, but I like cajunmice.com the best. You used to be able to buy them vacuum sealed in packs of 3 (I think) for a few cents more per rodent. Either way, you can buy 6 month supply at once and have no real concerns about the condition of the prey item for your snake. Haired rodents last MUCH longer than ones without hair (like pinks and young fuzzies), so you won't be able to keep pinks as long as you do adult mice. (Pinks don't last that long before freezer burning ONCE the vacuum seal is broken, but that huirts looks more than nutrition if it is just barely freezer burnt.)

The vacuum sealing they use now may last for 2-3 years easily, but I wouldn't store the prey items that long as a SOLE source meal for your snake since some vitamins, etc. do break down over time.

KJ