Feeding Your Snake Frozen Mice and Rats
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Why Your Snake Deserves F/T rodents
There's usually a big debate over frozen or live rodents. Personally, I prefer frozen, but I have a picky snake, which I'll explain later. First off, snakes aren't the only reptile who will munch on a mouse every now and then. Monitors, tegus, bearded dragons, and even gecko species will eat various sizes and ages of mice and rats. Except for the thrill of watching your reptile hunt, kill, and eat a live rodent, in general, frozen's better for your pet...
Reason number one: Rodents bite... If your snake does not initially grab the rodent in the right spot, it can turn around and latch on, while it's being suffocated by the snake. And, once your snake has fully killed the rodent, and begins to find the head for proper swallowing, the bite is usually noticeable. The bigger the snake, the bigger the rodent, and the bigger the bite.
One of my friend's boyfriend had a Burmese python. He feed it live jumbo rats. And one day, Natas was was bitten by a jumbo rat, who broke a few of her ribs. My friend's boyfriend was rather perturbed thinking his baby was hurt, and immediately, acting on instinct, killed the rat.
Reason number two: Frozen rodents can be kept in the freezer, versus having to buy live rodents every week or two. It is more convenient to feed F/T rodents because you can purchase more at a time, and not have to worry about having to take care of them. But, you never want to keep large numbers of frozen feeders in your freezer if you only need a few because the longer they're frozen, the less nutritional value they have for you reptile.
Many petstores carry packs of three frozen pinkies, fuzzies, mice, etc., which can be the ideal situation for someone with one baby kingsnake, or one juvenile monitor. A person with several snakes would use the entire package if not more at one feeding time, which is why there are several online stores for people who can purchase 50 or more frozen feeders.
Reason number three: Many people believe that by freezing the rodents, the parasites are killed. Now, some parasites will die from freezing them, but on the other hand, some parasite eggs will continue to survive. The best way to avoid feeding your reptile a parasitic rodent, is to make sure you're getting your F/T's from a clean environment, with disease-free animals.
If you are able to purchase a few females and one male, you could breed you own feeders, and find humane ways to kill the feeders before throwing them in the freezer yourself. This would ensure that what you're feeding your reptile(s) is (1) disease free and (2) healthy prior to freezing.
Thawing F/T Rodents
When feeding frozen rodents, fully thaw them out, but do NOT microwave them as it will just blow it up, which I've done. I have placed a pinkie mouse in a small cup of water in the microwave and the guts popped out a tiny hole, but luckily the hole was clogged by the end of the 10 seconds, so it was still usable. To thaw out a frozen feeder, place it in hot water until it's fully thawed.
Feeding Snakes
If your reptile will not eat the F/T rodent, try placing it in his hide, so that he feels more secure when eating it. You can put towels around the tank, again making him feel secure enough to eat the frozen. If all else fails, try dipping it in tuna juice and drying it; this way it has an extra odor, and by drying it with a hair drier, the rodent will be extra heated for the reptile.
If you're adamant about your reptile eating frozen, then you can force feed him for a while to get him used to it, and eventually he will do it on his own. Before you try force feeding, though, I would let him go without food and the option to have food for at least a week or two, before trying again. When you do try to give him a thawed rodent, give him the chance to take it on his own before trying to force feed.
Alternative
An alternative to feeding F/T mice and rats, is to feed freshly killed rodents. You can purchase the live feeder and flick it at the base of the head or by holding the base of the tail (so the skin doesn't come off), thump the rodent on a hard surface to kill it. By feeding a freshly killed rodent, it will still be twitching, and warm versus a still, thawed rodent. The twitching movement of the rodent will further attract the snake to it. Also, because it's freshly killed it cannot harm your reptile in anyway. Many people, myself included, cannot do this.
My Experience
If you're a lucky person who is able to get your reptile to eat a frozen rodent, more power to you! When it comes to my bearded dragon's received a snack, I guess I can be considered one of those people, but when it comes to my ball python... Forget it...
For the first two weeks that I had my ball python, he went without food, as he refused to eat the pinkie mice I had bought him. We tried everything except putting him and the thawed pinkie in a pillow case (which is another technique to getting a snake to eat F/T). The tuna juice wouldn't work, the hide, or towels. After two weeks, I became worried that my small 12" snake would starve. I bought the smallest live mouse at the petstore, and after an hour, he snatched it. From then on it was live all the way. He has boycotted rats before, and I had to degrade him to mice, but he's back on rats. I'm so worried he'll be bitten again (the first pic is him after being bitten), but worse. I sit and watch him until he fully kills and begins eating the rodent (rat or mice).
If I could, I would definately switch to frozen feeders, but I've tried since those first two weeks, and he refuses to take any of it.
Update
I would like to add that since this article was written, my ball python has started taking thawed frozen feeder rats. This pleases me greatly, as it is much cheaper than buying live rats every week. Also, I no longer have to watch him kill the live ones. As rats are one of my favorite animals and pets.
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Comments
The entire article is about feeding frozen mice, rats, and other feeders to snakes. I am in no way condoning feeding live feeders, but sometimes you do what you have to in order to feed a snake. Some snakes refuse to eat thawed feeders. Some snakes refuse to eat freshly killed feeders. Are you supposed to starve a snake becuase it won't eat thawed? Some snakes will get very stressed if you force feed. As a pet parent, you do what you have to do, and if that means feeding live, then you must. I do not condone it, and always recommend trying frozen first. And, again, this article is NOT about killing rats or telling the world to feed live feeders, but the PROS of feeding FROZEN!
I would like to say that I am a GREAT pet parent to all my scaley and furry children. I do have PET rats as well as snakes, and love them both equally. My pets are my children, and everyone of them gets loving attention as well as the best that I can afford.
Anita, were you a bit more educated you would take your agrument and put it where the sun doesn't shine. :) This is a good article with useful information. Thanks.
*agrees with SnakeMommy* Feeding live or fresh bait to snakes is not something I could do - not because i'm squeamish but because it's actually illegal in the UK - but I do believe it's good for the snake as it gives them a little variety - like mostly feeding mice and now and again the occasional rat. And Anita, you disagree with Whitney's description of how to kill the rodents...culling them is a lot more humane than putting a little mouse in with a big snake and letting it be killed - like what happens in nature. It's the food chain - fact of life.
Ravyn, I'm actually ok with live mice, but I can't do live rats. Use to be able to, but can't anymore. I've been lucky to get my BP on frozen mice. He used to heat frozen rats, but he prefers the mice. Once a month or so, I do give him a live mouse.
All my cornsnake gets is pre-frozen, thawed rodents. Even if she COULD take live (she seems to have difficulty understanding that food can in fact move), I wouldnt be able to bring myself to do it. Its cruel to the rodent, and there is too much risk to her.
I do have a tip though... To get difficult animals to eat pre-killed, soak it in hot water until its at body temperature. If they wont take the mouse or rat, wait until the next week to feed. After thawing, dip the rodent in chicken broth. It sounds crazy, but it works nine times out of ten!!
Good luck all!!
hey i have been trying to feed my ball python with frozen mices and he dont eat it how i can do to teach hem how to eat them
You can try some of the times that I mentioned above. Try tuna juice, wiggling the thawed mouse. try sticking it in his mouth, sometimes that'll get them to take. Try leaving the boiling hot mouse in a small container with the snake. Try leaving the mouse in the tank throughout the nice, as long as you aren't using a wood shaving bedding; for this case, it's best to put the mouse in the tank at night before bed.
My family and I have a 4 ft. red tail boa and a hatchling ball python. Our boa is eating f/t very well. Our python has not eaten since we brought it home almost 3 weeks ago. We even dipped the f/t fuzzy in the "juice" off of the f/t medium rat (Out of the ziploc bag that we were thawing it in) that we were feeding the boa. We have left the prey in the enclosure overnight (we use newspaper), wiggling the prey in front of it, and when we thaw we heat it basically as warm as we can safely get it. I'm starting to think that our only option will be to try live and then to convert.
You can try putting the head of the fuzzy in the python's mouth. Ball pythons are very picky eaters.
My favorite argument is when people say that of course it is OK to feed live rodents to snakes, because snakes eat live rodents in the wild. Well, then let the snake go after some wild rats, it would do our cities some good. It IS inhumane to feed Pet (or fancy) rats live to rodents, or to bring them home and kill them for that purpose. It is inhumane to go to a store like PetSmart or Petco and buy the rats that are bred to be PETS and then use them as food. Believe me, rats are so smart and affectionate, they are like little dogs, and it is sickening to think someone would take a pet rat that is probably happy and excited about its new home, and throw it into a snake tank.
i have a 4 month all python. I have never had a problem with feeding it since i got it. i started feeding it live mice untill about 2 weeks ago he got bit in the eye by a large mouse. i didnt want my snake to get hurt anymore so i fed it f/t. he ate it nooo problem and now i have been doing some research about feed snakes f/t and it makes more sence to feed frozen thawed. once your snake gets severly hurt, you will learn your leason
Got my ball about 1 month ago, at the time I tried everything from dipping it into chicken brother to throwing the two of them in a pillow case(The mouse and the snake :x) We had to force feed her 4 times... Then I tried a small live mouse and she took it within 15 seconds! Ever since then I have been feeding her live mice and as she gets older and will eventually move to rats I plan to feed her more mice and no rats, that way she can have 2 meals per week and not any rats.. Although I do plan to try and move her to frozen because it is better for the snake(Injury wise) However, I wonder if they would rather hunt live prey or eat it frozen without the thrill of the hunt? If I could I would move her to frozen right now but my latest attempt, she still didn't take it so I am going to try some more methods to convert her in the coming weeks.
It's going to be much harder for you to switch the snake over to frozen. You want to start frozen now befor it gets too late and it will be harder to switch he snake over.
For all those who think it is cruel to feed live (although ALL my reptiles are on froze/thawed) snakes in the wild WILL NOT take carrion - only food they've killed themselves. As for it being illegal in the UK to feed live - it is ONLY illegal IF you turn the feeding into a 'side show' - ie. inviting others to watch - Reptile breeder/keeper of over thirty years experience
ive had a ball python for about 2 weeks... id say he is about 14 inches long and the pet store says feed him frozen pinkies but he isnt eating them so today i force fed him.what could i do to get him to eat? he could probly eat mice but i havent tried them yet
He could probably eat frozen-thawed fuzzies. You jsut want to stick with no larger than the widest girth of the snake. I would stick with smaller until you can successfully get the snake eating frozen, as it will be much harder to attempt to forcefeed a mouse versus a thawed-frozen fuzzy.
Hey, guys, I know some people are going to majorly disapprove of what I'm about to say but here it goes...my snake grew up eating live mice for two years and then I switched to frozen rats once he was big enough..well before feeding him a frozen one afternoon, I guess i let my guard down and he bit me...well my reflexes caused me to kinda "pop" him back...i know, i know...it was instincts...what sucks is that once i tried to feed him the frozen that day he did not eat and after trying to feed him two weeks later he still wont eat it...have i caused him to to associate frozens with pain or something...how can i get him to eat again?
Reptiles aren't like dogs and don't really associate one thing with another from what I've noticed, but if he hit the glass or something it may make him weary f it. Give him some time, and try again with a smaller thawed rat or something Also consider leaving the thawed rat in the cage/feeding area for a while.
to ibuhalo,
most rats you see in pet stores were not intended on being pets, they were most likely bred to be breeders for food, and wouldnt breed, or are not 'fancy' enough to be for show. The same go for any other pet you see in the stores. They are the animals uaualy unwanted by the breeders, and were only made because someone wanted income.
Ive had a BP for two weeks, and hes not eating... the pet store i got him from said they were feeding him frozen adult mice. I had a BP many years ago that ate live mice and i NEVER had a problem feeding her. she also never got hurt. My question is perhaps im going about feeding her the wrong way? ill thaw the mouse in the fridge over night then warm it up in some warm water, the first time i tried feeding him, i dangled the mouse in front of his cave for about 15 mins, until my arm got to sore, then i just left the mouse in there for about and hour.. he never ate it.. i tried warming it up a little bit again, then i picked his cave up off on him to get his attention and yet again nothing.. this week i went straight for taking the cave out and dangling the mouse there and still nothing... so i just left it in the cage.., im startting to wonder if i should switch him to live mice... any suggestions?
It's only been two weeks. Give it time. If they claim the snake was eating frozen, then stick with that. Typically, all you have to do is just thaw the mouse in just hot water; you don't need to put it in the fridge.
Sometimes it will take reptiles an adjustment period, which can alter feeding habits.
Plus, coming from a pet store you really never know what you're getting.
so here's a question for oyu? how did the frozen mice that you buy become frozen? someone killed them... why would it be any more or less humane to kill a mouse and/or rat that is bred to be killed versus one that was bred to be kept as a pet? what they were bred for doesnt make them different animals, the only difference is that someone deemed one to be sold at a higher price as a pet, and another to be sold at a lower price as a feeder, and then a third at an ever lower price as a frozen feeder, and yes someone did kill it in order for it be frozen for your self righteous pleasure. if you're that adamant about rodents not being killed, then don't own something that requires them to be killed in order to stay around. i get that some people cant bring themselves to do it and that's a personal preference, i have absolutely no argument with that whatsoever. but don't act like you're better than someone else who feeds "pre-killed live rodents" you're feeding the same exact freaking thing, yours has just been dead longer.
that argument is nothing more than a hypocritical moral gray area. get off your soap boxes people.
In many cases, feeding frozen is not the matter of feeding another animal, but feeding safely as live rodents can be dangerous to a snake. I've seen live jumbo rats break ribs on burmese pythons. It's just not pretty. But, like you said, if you don't lke the idea of feeding an animal in any form to another animal, then find another pet.
Whitney - I'm glad you feed your reptiles frozen instead of live. As a fellow rat owner, they are wonderful animals, highly intelligent, and very loving. I understand what you are trying to do here and I appreciate it. My issue in general is with the sadistic people that enjoy seeing animals suffer and life destroyed. Who in their right mind enjoys watching a snake kill and eat a rat??
The fact that your boyfriend's friend named his snake Natas (Satan spelled backwards) tells me everything I need to know about him and why he has a snake.
He is actually a very good guy. He no longer has the snakes because they were getting very aggressive towards him and his girlfriend. They are now with more experienced keepers.It wasn't to watch them feed and watch an animal suffer but more towards just feeding them. They kept a few of the feeders as pets (weren't bred just solely pets).
I do prefer frozen, but on occassion my BP won't eat frozen to save his life, so he gets live once in a while, and I can't watch though. I wish I could get him constant is F/T feeders. That is the main reason I like my rosies better; constant F/T feeders.
I agree stupid people like Anita can stick where the sun doesn't shine, it's the circle of life. But I have a question, I gave Nagini a bath & wrapped her on a towel to dry & she ate the towel. She is 7ft & 3yrs old. Is my baby going to die without surgery? Cause it's $2400.00 Please tell me what to do mrscgstevens at aol
What is wrong with the snake?
To this day i can never forgive myself for putting a live junbo rat in with my 12 year old boa. Could only find one large rat in the county, and it was live. Always fed f/t. to her. Needless to say i did not stick around to monitor the feeding. When i got home i found my boas intestines hanging out of a gapping hole in her belly. And the rat munching away on some part of her inerds. Still alive i took her to a vet, but she could not be saved. Still chokes me up to this day 20 years later. Now i keep my freezer stocked with rodents purchased from a reputable breeder. Now if i purchase a live rodent i just invite the ex over to bitch em to death__lol.
I haven't read all of the comments, but mouse droppings rubbed on a thawed rodent can help palatability for your reptile. If you have a pet mouse or rat, use the bedding and this can help to get the snake or lizard to eat.
As I stated in one of my reptile hubs, however, Royal pythons can be picky. We lost two to food issues, one because it wasn't started properly. The best cure is prevention!
I believe I have mentioned these options in my hub about feeding Ball Pythons, and how picky they can be.
As a person who owns plenty of pet rats, I have to tell you all that they are the sweetest animals I've ever owned. They are extremeley affectionate and loving. I know that snakes have to eat, so if you HAVE to feed your snake, please buy the frozen food. A rat gets scared when put into a snake cage and it is pure terror for them. They are like little dogs, very intelligent and caring. I'm not being a crazy anti snake person, but please don't feel your snakes LIVE animals. Its just inhumane.
-Cerena
It's funny all the comments about feeding F/T vs Live. Yes I have raised all sorts of rodents for food and pets. Rats are really smart. With that said. Do you know how they kill the rats and mice before they freeze them? They suffocate them with Co2. Alot of the time with dry ice. So not only do they have a "humane" death by suffocation. They also get to freeze. I had to kill a rat recently for my bull snake. I can promiss you I killed him alot more humane than freezing. Oh one more thing if you have a problem with the food chain. DON'T GET ANIMALS THAT PREY ON OTHER ANIMALS!!!! Duh!
I have a ball python and he is still young. maybe about a year old. He doesnt like frozen so we have been giving him live but sometimes he still doesnt eat them! I dont know what to do and I have been worried about him. He does eat but not as often as i think he should. Is there anything that you think would help get him to eat?
As long as the snake is eating and is not losing weight it should be fine. What size are you feeding and how often do you think the snake needs to eat?
well we went to a shop that specialized in reptiles and amphibians and they said that we should be giving him rat fuzzies. They are about the size of a mouse hopper, but my snake doesnt like his food being too active so we thought the rat fuzzies would be better. He wont eat unless it has been over 2 weeks since he last ate. I know they can go that long and be fine but I hear a lot of people saying to feed them once a week. This is my first snake so im kind of new to how they act. I've had many other kinds of pets before but none of them have every refused food. I know I might be over reacting but he's my baby and I love him, I want him to be healthy.
Consider F/T it'll cut down movement. Ball pythons are the world's worst feeder, yet because of they're temperament are considered good beginner snakes. In terms of feeding and diet, I wouldn't necessarily consider them great for beginners.
Anita says:
2 years ago
What is wrong with you? Live feeding is bad enough, but them you are telling people how to kill the rodents? Jesus christ!!!! You dont just bang the animal on a table or flick the base of its skull. People like you shoulsnt have animals at all. God forbid someone takes your advice and breeds their own feeders. You people that live feed just suck ass.