• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

live feeding now/FT later

S

sparkplug

New member
I was wondering if I feed my corn snake live pinkys now and feed it FT later if she would get used to just wanting live food in the future. I don't have a supplier for anything other than pinkys or full grown mice in my area and I don't like having to kill the pinkys before feeding my snake. She is eating 2 pinkys per feeding sessions so I am about to have to start feeding her larger mice and would order frozen ones when that time comes. Thanks for the help.
 
I am new to corns but at least with a king snake I was able to go from live to frozen and everything in between with out any difficulty.
 
Killing the pinks yourself is kinder than letting the snake just eat them, as typically they don't constrict when they are at pinky stage. That means that as they're suffocating inside the snake, they are also being burned by the stomach acid. It's much kinder to stick them in a baggy in the freezer.
 
I've had no problems doing this. I've gone from live to f/t to live again with my snakes(corns, kings, ball python) and have never had any feeding issues.

Shiari does make a good point, though - putting them in the freezer first will make things easier on the mice. They will run out of oxygen before they freeze so it's somewhat more humane.
 
Shiari said:
Killing the pinks yourself is kinder than letting the snake just eat them, as typically they don't constrict when they are at pinky stage. That means that as they're suffocating inside the snake, they are also being burned by the stomach acid. It's much kinder to stick them in a baggy in the freezer.
Click to expand...

I have been putting them in the freezer and doing just that but I thought it was a slower death than live feeding. Thanks for your help. I guess I'll just keep on FT. It does seem like they would die faster in the snake. A warm suffocation or a cold slow one. :confused:
 
sparkplug said:
I have been putting them in the freezer and doing just that but I thought it was a slower death than live feeding. Thanks for your help. I guess I'll just keep on FT. It does seem like they would die faster in the snake. A warm suffocation or a cold slow one. :confused:
Click to expand...
Actually, you can give a good 'flick' on the top of the pink's head to kill it quickly. It's a good way of getting the transition from live to f/t because the pink will still twitch a little.
 
sparkplug said:
I have been putting them in the freezer and doing just that but I thought it was a slower death than live feeding. Thanks for your help. I guess I'll just keep on FT. It does seem like they would die faster in the snake. A warm suffocation or a cold slow one. :confused:
Click to expand...

The snake is faster, but more painful. Freezing to death, you get cold, then numb, then sleepy. It's actually quite a gentle way to go. And pinks would end up dying quite quickly because they have no fur and no way to keep themselves warm.

Suffocating hurts, and being burned by acid hurts even more. The stomach acid would be getting into their throats and lungs and burning every exposed surface.
 
I read somewhere pinks take less than a minute to die in the freezer. (if kept seperated so they couldn't huddle together)

This was awhile back, and I seem to remember the person actually timing it because she wanted to rest her mind that they didn't suffer a long time.
 
I euthanize little pinks by placing them loosely in the freezer. I have noticed that they pass quickly in the extreme cold. My chest freezer is set at -10F. I have gone in and checked after a minute and found them to already be dead.

Larger rodents will be humanely euthanized by cervical dislocation or if I have large animals or a large amount of animals, I use the CO2 method.

Wayne
 
medusacoils said:
I euthanize little pinks by placing them loosely in the freezer. I have noticed that they pass quickly in the extreme cold. My chest freezer is set at -10F. I have gone in and checked after a minute and found them to already be dead.

Larger rodents will be humanely euthanized by cervical dislocation or if I have large animals or a large amount of animals, I use the CO2 method.

Wayne
Click to expand...

Thank you Wayne! I try not to talk out of my butt, without actually doing the thing, but if I read something I will give it a mention. Glad to be collaborated :)
 
Mine don't have a problem switching back and forth it all depends on whats available(Im only feeding fuzzy's now). But when the time comes that they need hoppers I'm going to make a CO2 chamber or just order them but idk since I only have two snakes:shrugs:
 
Not to rile anyone up but i plan to go in the opposite direction from f/t to live then maybe when i get to full sized mice prekilled. I want to make the feeding expirence as real as possible.
 
<sarcasm> Why yes, providing a "natural" experience is much more important than protecting your snake from injury and parasites.</sarcasm>
 
The Newguy said:
Not to rile anyone up but i plan to go in the opposite direction from f/t to live then maybe when i get to full sized mice prekilled. I want to make the feeding expirence as real as possible.
Click to expand...

Then why not stop feeding your dog out of a can or a bag and teach it to kill a cow?

What you are proposing is NOT in the best interest of your snake....(and it is cruel to boot).
 
The Newguy said:
Not to rile anyone up but i plan to go in the opposite direction from f/t to live then maybe when i get to full sized mice prekilled. I want to make the feeding expirence as real as possible.
Click to expand...

Seriously???

I love it when people try to go back to Nature with their snakes. Because that's what they need. :rolleyes: Let's make it as real as possible.

<sarcasm>So lets go bring Fluffy <~(joke) into your back yard and we will let him go. Then go buy appropriately sized rodents, live of course, and let them go. That way Fluffy can escape if he is being attacked by said rodent because it's defending itself, the rodent has a sporting chance to outrun Fluffy and then maybe a Crow can come down and eat Fluffy, because ya know everything needs to eat! Can't get any more real then that!</sarcasm>

Please! Why fix something that ain't broke? OR Were you doing this just to get a rise?

Wayne
 
I had a friend from high school who feed his ball python live mice, until the poor snake got a bight from a struggling prey. After that the snake only ate pre-killed. I even killed mice for him by grabbing the tail and slamming its head on the edge of the table. The snake had to see the killing and do some nose taps on the mouse to make sure it was dead before eating. What a drama queen.
 
The Newguy said:
Not to rile anyone up but i plan to go in the opposite direction from f/t to live then maybe when i get to full sized mice prekilled. I want to make the feeding expirence as real as possible.
Click to expand...

Good call!

dontfeedlive1.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top