Feeding day for my snow corn snake

[maxfox426]

Originally Posted by skittledoo

Apparently I'm ruining my snakes lives by not allowing them to be real hunters

Erm... by this logic, is it also inhumane to not let our dogs and cats hunt their own food? LOL!


Aneira is gorgeous as always.

[skittledoo]

Originally Posted by maxfox426

Erm... by this logic, is it also inhumane to not let our dogs and cats hunt their own food? LOL!


Aneira is gorgeous as always.

Haha ya I think I might need to start sending Bamm and Cricket out to get their own dinner from now on. Lol.

Thank you so much. I'm glad she had put on a little weight since I got her. She was a tad skinny when I got her and now she looks great IMO.

Oh I finally picked up my new little guy I was telling you about he's perfect!
http://chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147689

[sillysally]

I knew a girl in high school that would buy live mice for her rat snake then knock them out before giving them to the snake. Is it more common to feed live ot frozen?

[maxfox426]

Originally Posted by sillysally

I knew a girl in high school that would buy live mice for her rat snake then knock them out before giving them to the snake. Is it more common to feed live ot frozen?

That is kind of a hard question to answer. LOL! In dedicated reptile groups and breeder circles, F/T (frozen/thawed) is the norm. Especially when you are talking with large-scale snake breeding facilities, because it's much quicker to feed several animals at once when you are dealing with F/T rather than live.

However, if you aren't involved with any community like that, it's more common to hear about feeding live, and for reasons like Skittle's aunt believes in. (Mostly information handed out by pet stores selling the animals.)

Feeding live isn't necessarily bad. Even the most experienced snake keepers will occasionally have an animal in their collection that simply refuses pre-killed prey, and it's better that than let them starve.

Your example of stunning the animal prior to feeding I personally find as an acceptable solution... just not one that I would personally be willing to do. LOL! I'd rather just buy the frozen mice and not have to working about disabling a live one.

[sillysally]

That's interesting. I was curious because I was recently at Petco and one of the employees was trying to talk a snake owner out of feeding the live rat he was about to buy.

How do they kill the frozen ones? Are there chemicals to worry about? Do snakes need to eat other things or can they live their whole lives on mice and rats?

[maxfox426]

There are other things snakes CAN eat, but it really is not necessary. Mice/rats for life is just fine for them. However, it is important that they get the whole mouse/rat, because they need the bones/organs in order to get the complete package of nutrition.

As for how the mice are pre-killed, typically they are gassed with CO2 and then flash frozen, so chemical residue is not an issue. That said, it never hurts to look into your frozen mouse source to find out for certain.

[Picklepaige]

Is there anything you can feed besides rats?

I really want a snake, but I can't bring myself to feed rats. I would have no problems feeding mice, hamsters, rabbits, chicks, etc, but I love rats way too much.

[maxfox426]

Originally Posted by Picklepaige

Is there anything you can feed besides rats?

I really want a snake, but I can't bring myself to feed rats. I would have no problems feeding mice, hamsters, rabbits, chicks, etc, but I love rats way too much.

The important thing is that the prey you choose is an appropriate size for the snake eating it. For my cornsnakes (and other species of similar size), mice are perfectly fine. Bigger snakes need bigger food, but that doesn't have to be a rat.

[skittledoo]

Exactly. I think majority of corn snakes tend to stay on mice their whole lives and don't get big enough to really need to feed rats to.

I used to have a ball python and really want another one someday. I also would love a pine snake as well though I think corn snakes will remain my favorites.

One more pic. Just because I love her yellow freckles so much I had to have a closeup

[sillysally]

Originally Posted by maxfox426

There are other things snakes CAN eat, but it really is not necessary. Mice/rats for life is just fine for them. However, it is important that they get the whole mouse/rat, because they need the bones/organs in order to get the complete package of nutrition.

As for how the mice are pre-killed, typically they are gassed with CO2 and then flash frozen, so chemical residue is not an issue. That said, it never hurts to look into your frozen mouse source to find out for certain.

My friend used to work at a pet store and took in a sickly rat as a pet because the store manager was just going to stick the rat live into a bag and put him in the freezer live for snake food.

So as snake owners, what do you do with your snakes? Is is kind of like fish, where you are setting up a proper and attractive environment and observe them? Do snakes enjoy being interacted with?