Vicky Chai Tea
Oh absolutely live should be tried before force feeding. That's not what I meant at all lol. I just mean that it's not totally 100% out of the question is all. I know of several corn snake breeders who got their snakes eating on their own after MONTHS of force feeding. The snakes grew up fine and healthy as well as eating on their own.
Well, there is a good section about force feeding, it's just kind of at the end. I could always put it in its own little section though, to help it stand out. I'll think about that.
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True, some nutrition is lost after freezing but there is absolutely zero evidence to suggest that enough is lost to cause malnourishment in any way. I would think that of the thousands and thousands of breeders across the US who own thousands of snakes each, feeding all f/t, that there would be several reports of malnourishment. I have never heard of any and if you ask around I'm willing to bet you wouldn't hear of any either. So unless proven otherwise, the facts show that it is a perfectly healthy diet for them.
I'm not saying that eating frozen/thawed would cause malnourishment, simply that it doesn't contain AS MUCH nutrients as rodents that have not been frozen. Kind of like how certain brands of cat food don't cause malnourishment, but other brands are BETTER for your cat.
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And these professionals you're talking about should realize that the amount of time they would spend coaxing each snake to eat f/t should be about the same amount of time they're spending waiting until each snake has constricted and killed it's prey. If they're doing that at all. If they're not then that's extremely irresponsible and I wouldn't consider them professional.
Frankly the couple who runs The Snake Keeper are two of the most successful people in the ball python industry. I've witnessed their feeding routine, and it made a lot of sense to me. You really don't have to wait beyond seeing the snake grab the prey, because it's extremely unlikely that a rodent could escape from that kind of grip. The care they provide their ball pythons and emerald tree boas with is excellent. Also with f/t you have to wait for the rodents to thaw as well before feeding.
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Incorrect, rats are higher in fat than mice.
This is a plus if you are raising larger snakes like boas and pythons, but can easily lead to obesity in rat snakes and other colubrids.
No offense, but this thread IS about ball pythons, not snakes in general.
smile The advice and information I give pertains solely to ball pythons.