Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering what everyones take is on feeding your bp prekilled vs alive. I have been feeding my bp live mice,and I havnt really experienced and problems. I'm afrid to feed him prekilled for the sole fact of I don't want him to stop eating, because I know of many people who's bp's stoped eating when their diet was changed to pre-killed.

So, I just wanted to know who here does what when it comes to feeding, and what their opions are. Thanks in advance!

My BP was eating live, but as soon as I got him I switched him to prekilled and he hasn't refused a meal yet. I like prekilled just for the fact of keeping them in the freezer. I've raised mice and rats before and the smell was terrible.

I've heard of snakes getting wounded from feeding live, but I've never had experience with that since I've always fed my snakes thawed.

I just recieved my bp last Tuesday and he ate a live adult mouse the next day and then again today...rather voracious . I would prefer to feed him frozen/thawed, but my boyfriend is more in charge of him than I am and likes live for the "i own a bad as* snake" factor. Boys...I will never understand. Anyway, if anyone adds to this forum and has any good solid arguements for feeding f/t over live, I'd appreciate it. I've discussed the eventually eating large rats that could seriously injure him, but he says we can switch him when it comes to that point. help? thanks

We feed our python live rats and mice. She hates the frozen ones. We watch while she is eating to make sure there is no problems. Right now the rats are only up to 3-4 weeks old and they are handled by all of us so they are quite calm. We are going over to mice because they are smaller and we can keep them longer. Maybe when she gets older we might have to wack the animal if it is bigger but for now she does quite well with live food.

If you feed a snake live prey- there will eventually be an occasion where the snake just isn't in the mood to eat. At that point the snake is prey to the mouse or rat and in a cage, the snake has nowhere to go to get away from this thing chewing on it. But maybe you're thinking- I always watch to make sure nothing happens to my snake? All it takes is a bad grab and wrap by a constrictor and your snake gets bit. Rodent bites can be nasty (puncture wounds) and cause infection. Vet bills aren't cheap and some snakes can develop a fear response to types of prey that have bitten them before. I've kept snakes that only ate live prey and it can be a challenge to get them to switch. Switch over now- before you have to deal with switching from mice to rats. Frozen mice and rats are cheaper in bulk and they are less likely to carry parasites that can harm your snake.

Just a few reasons I prefer f/t to live...
Lora

There's just a small risk of a bite every time you do it. This can be minimized by feeding several of the smallest possible sized prey item. But I always think no risk is better than some risk. Also, storing several mice in the freezer is economically more efficient than driving to a store every week to buy one. That doesn't work if you breed your own, of course.
He should eventually get tired of watching it kill things, it's the same every week and snakes live a long time.
I'm not saying I never feed live, but I only do it when it's all the snake will take and I'm not willing to wait the snake out.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Rodents have pretty bad ass teeth that will kill or seriously injure even the most bad ass of ball pythons. Switch now while the snake is young. If you wait too long the snake may not accept frozen thawed meals. And i doubt you want to be feeding large live rats to your snake.

Rob Woods

Melissa Kaplan's Herp Care Collection
Last updated August 17, 2002

Feeding Prekilled vs. Live Prey ©1995 Melissa Kaplan

Here's an argument Melissa Kaplan makes for prekilled vs live.
http://www.anapsid.org/prekill.html