They will only take live mice. Anyone have any suggestions on transfering them onto frozen/thawed or fresh killed? Ive heard its better, but does it really matter?
I have converted both of my Colombians, one male and one female, to F/T in the first feeding attempt with no hesitation. Generally, if the F/T being offered is warmer than room temperature, it will more closely match the body temperature of a live offering. It's my contention that live prey is a HUGE mistake and I'll elaborate a bit to explain. Both of my particular animals came from respectable breeders who fed live in the very beginning, which is common, due to a breeders' inability to foresee what a buyer may choose to feed later, and to stimulate the initial feeding response in the animal. Best advice: Start with rats and stay with rats! ALWAYS feed frozen and thawed and NEVER feed live prey with one possible exception...small harmless pinks in beginning stages of feeding. Small rat pinks are much preferred to mice with respect to nutritional benefits as well as innumerable other reasons...(i.e.-less odor if raising your own feeding prey, no need to make a switch to rats in very short time, etc. etc.) Also, both ate 3 small-medium sized mice yesterday, is that alright? Much better to offer one prey item of the proper girth-(equal to girth of snake at widest point of body), than to stress the animal with multiple prey items to be swallowed. Take your rat pinks, fuzzies, hoppers, etc. and thaw in bowl of hot tap water. Allow 15 or 20 minutes for smaller prey and increasingly more time for larger prey items to thaw and become warm throughout. Refresh the warm water as needed and especially right before you plan to remove a prey item for feeding. Pat the very warm rat pink, fuzzy, hopper, etc. with a paper towel and handle ONLY with tongs or hemostats to avoid human oils and scents to contaminate the prey item. Dangle the prey item in front of your snake(s) and I can assure you that unless they are under a great deal of stress or unhealthy, they will strike and coil the F/T with the same intensity they would a live prey item. You asked if it really matters...YES! is the short answer. If you wish to protect your snake from serious bites and potential death from infection, scarring, etc., it's imperative to feed Frozen/Thawed as opposed to live...ALWAYS! HTH!
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