live food vs dead frozen food?

[Morbids_Mom]

i keep hearing that you should use dead mice and rats to feed your snake, in the wild they eat live food why do you use dead food, i mean i understand that the rodent can hurt the snake but so far when dremora has eaten its been live hoppers or mice. if i need to have dead frozen mice that are thawed to feed her..how do i switch over and make her eat dead thawed mouse? or rat? this has me perplexed..thanks in advance for your help

[mykee]

There is no benefit to feeding live prey. The negatives certainly outweighs the positives. As for them eating live prey in Africa, your ball python doesn't live in Africa and should be fed with safety in mind. To trade your ball from live to frozen, you start early and be consistent. There really is no trick to switching. I've tried them all over 8 years and none of them work. The only thing that does work is to not let them get "hooked" on live prey. That means allowing your animal to eat maybe it's first five meals out of the egg live and then going to F/T. You'll hear a bunch, but there all old wives tales. If a snake doesn't want to eat F/T they never will, regardless fo how much fennagling the owner tries.

[Morbids_Mom]

Originally Posted by mykee

There is no benefit to feeding live prey. The negatives certainly outweighs the positives. As for them eating live prey in Africa, your ball python doesn't live in Africa and should be fed with safety in mind. To trade your ball from live to frozen, you start early and be consistent. There really is no trick to switching. I've tried them all over 8 years and none of them work. The only thing that does work is to not let them get "hooked" on live prey. That means allowing your animal to eat maybe it's first five meals out of the egg live and then going to F/T. You'll hear a bunch, but there all old wives tales. If a snake doesn't want to eat F/T they never will, regardless fo how much fennagling the owner tries.

ok so how do i do it, just kill it and stik it in is tank? or do i dangle it by its tail with my hand or use hemostats? i am unsure what to do, i dont mind keeping live mice and killing them when i get ready to feed dremora, but lately shes not been eating at all for the last 2 months and i am gettting worried, but i think maybe its because i didnt have her temp regulated in the tank, i think i have that fixed now so will try again on tuesday next week when kyle gets paid unless i get some money between now and then. she looks healthy and shes active so i am not stressing too too much yet! thanks mykee

[spikes666]

there is certainly a difference in feeding live vs f/t. instinctavily they eat live, its just what they are used to plus they track their prey by movement and while they are constricting they judge whether it is ready to be eaten by feeling their heart beat and blood flow. in my opinion the best way is to feed them pre killed food. that way the food is already at the natural temp. i hold the food (without tongs) by the tail then when it tries to take the prey i trey to pull it away to give the idea that it is still alive. that way there is no risk of the snake getting scratched or bitten and it is as natural as possible. the only draw back to feeding live or pre killed is that some stores dont take care of their feeder mice and they could carry mites. that happened to me once and i lost one snake over it, but you should be checking them every time you handle them anyways.f/t is safer but in my time i have noticed that it is more difficult to get snakes to take it. alot less issues with pre killed. wish you luck

[spikes666]

there is certainly a difference in feeding live vs f/t. instinctavily they eat live, its just what they are used to plus they track their prey by movement and while they are constricting they judge whether it is ready to be eaten by feeling their heart beat and blood flow. in my opinion the best way is to feed them pre killed food. that way the food is already at the natural temp. i hold the food (without tongs) by the tail then when it tries to take the prey i trey to pull it away to give the idea that it is still alive. that way there is no risk of the snake getting scratched or bitten and it is as natural as possible. the only draw back to feeding live or pre killed is that some stores dont take care of their feeder mice and they could carry mites. that happened to me once and i lost one snake over it, but you should be checking them every time you handle them anyways.f/t is safer but in my time i have noticed that it is more difficult to get snakes to take it. alot less issues with pre killed. wish you luck