Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been feeding my snakes pre-killed for as long as I can remember. My rat breeder has been pushing me to go over to frozen. It seems half of my aquintances do one or the other. I can think of pros and cons to both. What are other peoples opinions? I just don't see a real benefit to it for me.

Seriously, IMO there are advantages/disadvantages to both

Frozen, you can stock up and all you need is a freezer. Comes already dead so you don't have to kill it yourself. But you do need to thaw and once thawed, fed off or thrown away.

Fresh killed, you're dealing with a live animal that must be cared for. I raise my own rodents so no big deal to me. Also, you have to off it yourself. If not killed, can be fed/saved till next time.

And IMO, Frozen has to have lost some level of nutrition, may be minimal, not even enough to notice but must be some. I know my F/K fed snakes are thriving on their diet. Since I've never fed F/T I can't say it's the F/K vs F/T. Could be they'd do exactly the same with F/T.

>>I have been feeding my snakes pre-killed for as long as I can remember. My rat breeder has been pushing me to go over to frozen. It seems half of my aquintances do one or the other. I can think of pros and cons to both. What are other peoples opinions? I just don't see a real benefit to it for me.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

there are a couple of reasons for frozen thawed- one- you can buy in large quantities cheaper and store them without feeding- 2- freezing helps kill any parasites the rodents may have-

Freezing doesn't kill all parasites. It will kill most. Salmonella in chicken is a great example. Just because you froze the chicken don't mean it's safe to eat raw.

I feed all mine frozen/thawed (f/t). The only problem I've had was getting two babies to eat the f/t...it took alittle patience but they finally started eating them and have since fed strongly. Both of those were boas; my corns and others don't hesitate on anything! I prefer the f/t because I can order it in bulk, and unless you are raising your own feeder mice/rats, it is much cheaper than buying them at a local pet shop. Also, I don't have to go to the pet shop each week, and I don't have to worry about the store not having what I need. The frozen mice/rats do lose some nutrition during the frozen period, but not enough to effect the snake. The threat of parasites from freshly killed prey is much higher than the threat of malnourishment issues from frozen, IMO. (the freezing process kills most, if not all, parasites) All snakes are different, and some won't even look at a dead mouse/rat at all...I've heard of others that won't eat unless the prey had been f/t twice to make it good and soft and smelly lol. If you are thinking of switching yours to f/t, most pet shops have them, so get a couple and try before you spend $$ on a big order!
-----
-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
0.0.1 colombian boa (Athena)
0.0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (TBD)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
0.0.1 betta fish (Captain Morgan)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)

if you have a bunch of snakes its easer to just go to the freezer than to drive.

plus its cheaper
-----
jake

my addiction:
0.2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
0.1 amelenistic corn snake (maizy)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)
1.0 albino cal king (zeus)
0.0.1 wc garter (zim)
hybrid breeders association
hybrid haven

My snakes will eat either frozen or killed.
I raise my own rodents and its much easier for me to walk out in the garage kill a couple rats and drop them in the cage. I do put some in the freezer when I have more than I can feed off before they get to big.
-----
Jason