frozen mice

[lance]

okay i think i already know the answer to this
but why are we freezing our mice
i've always bought frozen but just got a good deal on live
is it because of safty of our reptiles if so what about pinkies they don't seem to be much of a threat
or is it because of parisites and does freezing them kill the parasites or just make them dormant
i'm not trying to cause a debate between feeding live vs. frozen & thawed i just wondering
and as for terminating the little guys someone said to hang the pinkies buy the tail and thwack them in the head is this acceptable or is there a better more humane way
also how long should they be frozen
sorry for the long post this live thing is new to meo>

[Big Mike]

The great debate....Pinkies can be fed live with very little or no risk of injury to the snake. It you can get the snake to eat dead ones then it should be easier to move on to dead or f/t bigger mice in the future.

Freezing does kill a lot of parasites so that's a good thing. Frozen mice are usually cheaper and definitely easier to store. Of course one you move to bigger mice the chance of injury to the snake occurs so I think F/T is the way to go...once you snake will eat that way of course.

Whacking a mouse may seem cruel but it's pretty instant if you do it right. Another humane way is dry ice in a closed container...they drift off to sleep and then die. Good for killing lots of mice at once.

I'm sure you will get lots of replies so take it all in to account.

[Christina]

I dont know I have done research on uthenising rodents and we have found that whacking them over the head is less painfull and quicker. The dry ice burns the skin of the rodents before they die. The older they are the longer it takes them to die that way.
Freezing them does kill off parasites we will not feed anything untill it has been frozen for 48hrs first than thawed.
Christina

[lance]

thanks guys the help is greatly appreciated
oh well off to whack a mouse i go i guess

[stormyva]

For your snakes safety and long term health feed pre-killed. Frozen thawed is even better! No chance of rodent bites and a much lower risk of your pet getting parasites!

This is a link to a very good article about feeding per-killed prey.
http://www.redtailboa.net/modules.ph...page&pageid=32

Here is a pic taken from the above article:

Credit goes to Dr's Mader & Frye for the pics... This pic is from Slaponte at redtailboa.net

[lance]

wow thanks stormyva

[Jeff_Favelle]

Let me put it this way. If you had 70 adult snakes to feed and they don't follow the same feeding schedules, how fun would it be to go buy food every single day? I like going to my basement and getting all the food I need.

[lance]

point taken jeff thanks

[Syst3m]

I breed my own, make sure they have a proper gut load, and then I smack them against a table. I then freeze them to kill the parasites. Someone mentioned dry ice to euthenize mice. If you burn the skin then your doing it wrong, you want to use the Co2 sublibation process to kill the mice by suffocating them, not freezing them. Building a gas chamber using dry ice or Co2 Cylinder is the proper way, Clean simple and painless.

F/T could be cheaper if thats your concern. My concern is proper growth and health.

[lance]

hi syst3mthanks for the advice
i've always bought f/t
before but i got a really good deal on live(.25 vs $1.50 +tax)
so i thought i'd go with the live
yeah so i whacked and froze them i'm going to leave them till tommorrow much to my lizards and cats dismay then feed them
as for raising them myself i'd love to but my wife can't be in the house when i feed them mice let alone raise them lol
so thanks for the help i just did'nt want to do to much overkill if i didn't have to but better to error on the side of caution i guesse

[Syst3m]

Thats great actually if you can get a great deal on live feeders, I would buy them in bulk and let them fatten up myself for a few days then mass freeze them. Thats a great way to make sure your snake gets some extra nutrients in its diet.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Lance, if you're getting them for $0.25, then don't bother raising your own! That's cheap man! . As for feeding live, a lot of people do it. Its not as bad as some of the horror stories you see. Just make sure you watch until the rodent is being swallowed, or take it out of the cage. But you already know all that stuff.

Cheers buddy.

[KING]

25!! thats crazy!!!

[KaHane]

Hey King PM me!!

[Lisa]

Freezing also breaks down the cell membranes making the prey easier to digest.