# quick question on live feeding (sort of)



## Stoke Lad (Jan 26, 2007)

if a snake was a bad feeder could you go down to the pet shop. buy a mouse. kill it. and feed it to snake fresh?

or does it have to be a feeder mouse, and what is the diffrence?

thanks in advance


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

yes you could in a worst case scenario


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## powderpuff_girl (Mar 5, 2007)

its like de ja vu! i just had this convo! from what i gather you can get them freshly killed (not frozen) but this is normally a last resort as the snake may choose live food over frozen and then u have a problem! they can go with out food for quite a while! 
what snake is it? 
my corn has been 2 weeks without food now but i was informed that pythons are notorious bad feeders


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## Stoke Lad (Jan 26, 2007)

an imaginary one :lol2: 

i was just wondering, was thinking of getting a starter colany. so they would all be freshly killed anyway. should i invest in a c02 box/thing?


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## powderpuff_girl (Mar 5, 2007)

Stoke Lad said:


> an imaginary one :lol2:
> 
> i was just wondering, was thinking of getting a starter colany. so they would all be freshly killed anyway. should i invest in a c02 box/thing?


what type of snake are you planning on getting? i dont have anything big i only have a corn, i like to think i know a little about them but i dont know much about other types hunni


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## Stoke Lad (Jan 26, 2007)

a small Red-tail 

well small ATM but i have evrything planned


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## powderpuff_girl (Mar 5, 2007)

no idea on red tails babes sorry


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

I dont think you will have enough problems with a red tail to warrent having to use fresh killed mice that often, and they are so cheap is it really worth killing them yourself


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## bribrian (Jan 12, 2006)

If you're breeding your own from a colony it wouldn't be a problem culling one at a time & feeding it freshly killed (just like feeding f/t). I use a co2 chamber, you can buy them or make them yourself....


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## darkdan99 (Dec 28, 2006)

to be honest, for one snake, it is likely to cost more to breed your own mice than it is to buy them.

caging=£30
food=£1per week
shavings=.25p per week
co2 canister= £5-10
box for co2ing =£1
vairous tubes, nozzels and gagues=£5
add that up, and it comes to nearly £50,plus the time it would take you to set it up, maintain bla bla bla. 

so basically the first 100feeds will be cheaper to buy F/T
(thats 2 years)

after that, you may aswell chuck out all the equeptment and replace it with bigger, and better caging, and a colony of rats.

that will keep you going for a year. 

then rabbits 

basically, it is CHEAPER, SAFER, EASIER, MORE HUMANE, and LESS SMELLY
to buy them frozen, also, you have them avalable, and when the time comes, it is much simpler to change sizes.

i can see how some of the big breeders would benifit form "harvesting" their own mice, but unless you will be using less than say 20-50 per month, it is easier and cheaper to buy them in.


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## Stoke Lad (Jan 26, 2007)

darkdan99 said:


> to be honest, for one snake, it is likely to cost more to breed your own mice than it is to buy them.
> 
> caging=£30
> food=£1per week
> ...


you have a very good point, my parents dont realy want dead rodents in there freezer, whats the cheapest mini freezer?
or i could just buy the dead rodents on the day of feeding?

i will be buying quite afew more snakes after the exams when i can get my lil shed/viv project up and running with my aprentiship funds backing me up and about £1k from selling my old quad and afew more £100's from bank, birthday, selling xbox 360 etc.

so maby a rat/mouse breeding project will be better?


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## Issa (Oct 13, 2006)

if you are planning a feeder colony for a boa I'd probably suggest rats rather than mice.


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

my parents dont like them in the freezer but I just keep them in my second freezer in the garage, I dont think I could bring myself to kill my own unless I really had to, just think though its only meat really


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## Stoke Lad (Jan 26, 2007)

SiUK said:


> just think though its only meat really


 true, but my parents are like "they might have the plage" (if thats how you spell it?) and so on so forth.
i wonder why we dont like feeding live rodents to things but we can quite easily feed insects to stuff. is it because rodents are cute and fuzzy, bigger or more intelligent? - not intended to start a argument, im just wondering


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

I read a couple of papers that say that inverts have no nerves as such and dont feel pain like a mammal dont ask me how they worked it out I dont know.

Also feeding live mammals to to reptile or tarantula is quite dangerous because mice and rats have teeth and could easily bite and do serious damage to your pet.


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

Stoke Lad said:


> true, but my parents are like "they might have the plage" (if thats how you spell it?) and so on so forth.
> i wonder why we dont like feeding live rodents to things but we can quite easily feed insects to stuff. is it because rodents are cute and fuzzy, bigger or more intelligent? - not intended to start a argument, im just wondering


You can reassure your parents that feeder rodents are no more likely to carry the plague than the chickens and cattle bred for human food. Feeder rodents are bred in facilities, not collected from 'the wild' - and you don't get the fleas that carry the plague in these facilities. Not to mention that freezing would kill the fleas anyway 

Most insects can't do as much damage to a reptile as a live rodent can - though if you were trying to feed, say, a giant spiny stick insect or a bunch of wasps to a reptile...

Not to mention that a rodent IS more intelligent and more capable of feeling pain, stress and fear than most insects.


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## Rembrandt (Dec 29, 2006)

bribrian said:


> If you're breeding your own from a colony it wouldn't be a problem culling one at a time & feeding it freshly killed (just like feeding f/t). I use a co2 chamber, you can buy them or make them yourself....


Where would one buy a Co2 chamber?


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## Issa (Oct 13, 2006)

Theres a girl who used to come on here who makes them

Her Web Site Rodent heaven:

Or you can make your own

Small animal euthanasia at home

Step three: Do it - Carbon dioxide chamber


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

Issa said:


> Theres a girl who used to come on here who makes them
> 
> Her Web Site Rodent heaven:


*grumble* She still hasn't added the requested credit for the Rodent Reaper image on the site.

I most certainly didn't sign away my copyright on the image as "work for hire" when I did it for her.


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## Issa (Oct 13, 2006)

ahhhhh sorry didn't know it was a sore point.


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