Frozen vs Live?

[Steven210]

I have been feeding my corn frozen mice since I bought it (a baby) about 7 months old. Im curious to know since it has been eating its bait dead... does it lose its natural instinct of like biting and constricting its prey? I feed it frozen because its more convienient I dotn have drive 25 min to get one live mouse... I want to start feeding it live since its getting bigger But Im afraid I took away its natural ability to kill

 

[leoman777]

i feed frozen and my snakes still constrict the mice and sometimes when you feed live and then want to go back to frozen they wont accept it and frozen is better because thye dont bite or hurt the snake but im not sure about the instinct thing lol

 

[Zynx_Keekeio]

i would stick with frozen its the best thing and safest too

 

[snakegirl]

Live vs frozen


Live: Mice can give a very painful bite to the snake. mice/rats have even killed snakes before by biting them in the head. Live mice also can carry sicknesses that can be carried on to your snake if eaten.. also is it really worth picking up a mouse every week? In fact am deathly allergic to mice i cant be around them at all and they smell bad and to much work for just a "feeder". also petshop or reptileshop prices for a live mouse are almost always VERY high mine is a $1.25 for any size...no thank you!


as for instinct: I noticed some corn snakes i get that have fed live become VERY mad when it comes to feeding and will strike at anything that comes need there feeding bin and can be a little nippy at you when you go to pick them up.

I have had ones that eat frozen be very calm. my Wild corn snake will not eat the mouse if i move it lol. Has to be in the bin dead and laying there. and many other will take it very simply and not strike,rattle tail, coil around it as much as my snakes that used to eat live do.

Frozen: First off you can store them in the freezer and buy in bulk they last for a year in the freezer and there MUCH cheaper then shop prices. they even ship the mice to your door. many people that do this just breed mice and take care in what they do if there is any sickness the mice are killed off or if one happens to be and does get sold the freezer kills off anything.and the mice cant hurt your snake because its dead.

 

[nayr_elip]

Live all the way

I feed only live active feeders to all of my animals. and hove found that animals raised on frozen tend to stop constricting and to me thats considered loosing some instincts. im not knockin the frozen stuff cuz i feed it to my hatchlings for the first couple meals until they are big enough to handle live feeders.

My BTS is the exception because he needs some green in his life as well as meat. but when i do feed him mice or worms its only live.

I understand the danger of a mouse or rat biting a snake. But the truth is that if you dont leave a live adult mouse or rat in with the snake and not monitor it you should be fine. I always monitor my snake feeding even when feeding pink rats. I figure that since were keeping them from there natural environment the least i can do is make there life as natural as possible. cuz most captive bred reptile would die if let go int the wild

so to make a long post short if you dont feel like taking the time to moitor the feedings than frozen is the way to go. but if you dont mind spending a few cents less (at least thats the difference where i live) and the time to monitor the feeding than THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN LIVE!!