Frozen mice. I feed my ball live mice and I am not planning on making the switch, but I am curious on others opinions of frozen mice, and if this does anything to lower the snake's instinctive hunting skills? I know that snakes see in thermal energy "sight" and I'm wondering how well they can notice frozen mice, and how they do it? Thanks, guys, just for my own knowledge

i used to feed my snakes live mice but found it easier to feed frozen thawed for a few reasons.

1.) would rather not risk bites to my snakes and having them get infected or worse
2.) scared prey can leave rather fatal wounds on a snake who is not hungry at the time
3.) depending on where you are, buying live can get rather expensive
4.) you can keep bulk frozen feeders in a freezer for several months
5.) many snakes switch over easily from live to frozen thawed

or instead of frozen you could always prekill the mouse and throw it in with the snakes so it lessens the risk. either way, for my snakes eating frozen thawed doesn't do anything to their hunting skills. sometimes they still like to constrict the thawed mice. and you have to warm it up anyway with thawing it out. you don't want any left over frozen bits in the mouse because it won't settle right in the snake's stomach. if you do decide to ever do frozen make sure they're warmed up completely before feeding. my snakes will eat the mice while they're still wet but other snakes like them better dried off.

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You seem to be laboring under the beleif that you feed the mice to the snake still frozen. Or thats how I interpret your post.
You do not. They are thawed and warmed up.
If a snake could even be convinced to swallow a still frozen prey item (which I doubt) it would be disasterous for the snake.
Feeding frozen and thawed does nothing to interfere with their hunting skills as anyone who has ever made the mistake of getting their hand betwen a snake and the prey it is heading toward can attest!
And heat is not the only thing that a snake zeros in on.
They also hunt by smell as well as the sight of movement.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I don't think I would feed live if I didn't absolutely have to. (We'll soon find out.)

I've heard and seen way too many horror stories concerning live prey and what they can do to a snake. I would rather not risk a beautiful animal in my care becoming seriously wounded when all I need to do is go and get some frozen feeders and the problem is solved.

One thing I hear all the time is an argument you've made - someone is afraid that they will lose their hunting skills. Forgive me, I'm genuinely not trying to be sarcastic here, but I don't see how it matters. I mean, unless you were planning on releasing it back into the wild some day it wouldn't necessarily need to have those same instincts. A captive animal is much different than a true wild one. We expect it to live in a cage that we provide, put up with us invading all the time, drink from a (usually) static water source that we provide, and we expect to be able to handle them at least occasionally. These are things they wouldn't have to deal with in the wild. Since we're already changing so much of their lives, and we're not planning on turning them loose to fend for themselves, is the hunting instinct really essential to their well being? (This is, of course, assuming that the terms "feeding" and "hunting" mean two different things.)

I guess that's another discussion, though.

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Oh yeah, of course I sounded stupid when I reread by post. I knew that they hunted by other senses rather than heat, i was just curious. i didn't know that you warmed them up, however, stupid me. sorry about that. But thanks, DarkMagic, you kind of changed my view on the whole frozen mouse thing. So you're sure it's not difficult for the switch? I'm asking because I know that you can store them in bulk and I figured it would be easier considering the only pet store that carried live closed down (it was pretty bad poor animals) But thanks so much for the information

I periodiaclly get online and order a couple of hundred rodents. They deliver them frozen to my door and in the freezer they go. Of course I do get some funny looks from the UPS man when he found out what he ws delivering!
You DO have to have understanding housemates though!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

my snakes are corns and they switched over quite easily from prekilled (used to be live) over to frozen thawed. i was amazed at how easy it was. since you have a ball you might have to try a couple times for him to get it, and again you may not. all snakes are different, some switch very easily and some need a little work. i was even amazed when my rosy boa switched over to frozen thawed easily. so all you can really do is try it and see.

when I am preparing a frozen thawed mouse, what I have done is I bought a tupperware container with a lid strictly for feeding purposes and defrosting mice. i put them in the container with warm water and put the lid on, leaving them for about 5-10 minutes. i switch the water out again (the water usually gets cold by then), dumping the water and putting new warm water in. so basically you're gradually letting it defrost. you'll want to make sure its completely defrosted as well. some people like to put the mice under a heat lamp for a couple minutes or use a hairdryer to warm them up. as I had mentioned before, my snakes will take the mice while they're still wet, others want them a little more dry. you could also put the mice in a ziploc baggy and defrost them in the water that way. whatever you do, do not defrost them in the microwave...that could be nasty. some people will get temp guns and things like that because their snakes like their prey warmer than usual. its all up to how your snake will eat them so its trial and error but once its figured out, its sooo easy!

another great thing to do (i speak from experience here) is when you get a shipment of frozen mice, separate them into individual baggies. i have three snakes that I feed once a week so when I get a shipment, i separate them into bags of three to use each week. that way, there is less of a chance of you exposing the entire bulk of the mice to the air. one of my first shipments of mice were exposed to the air too many times due to me constantly opening and closing the bag. well one day I didn't close the bag properly and more than half of my shipment went bad...and I had ordered 50 mice. so I have learned if you separate them you only use what you need while the rest stay "freshly" frozen lol.

its definitely something you should consider. online sources like RodentPro (which I use) are so much cheaper to buy in bulk including shipping than what you would pay for each individual mouse in a pet store. something to think about. when I buy in bulk I have mice to use from anywhere from 3-6 months at least, so thats not gas i'm wasting running to a pet store each week and money i'm saving in the long run for all that time.

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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

Well you've totally changed my opinion on frozen mice. Thank you very much for all the information i really appreciate it

I have a snake noone wanted. He was fed live rats before coming to me and he has the marks to show for it. Another friend has a snake that was blinded by the previous owner feeding it live. Both snakes switched to f/t quite easily.

I ordered mine in bulk also, and that was definitely the most convenient option. Cheaper, and they lasted so long. Didn't bother any of us that they were right next to the popsicles in the freezer. To warm them, I just put them in some warm water, and kept refreshing it with more warm water until the mouse or rat was the right temperature. Very easy to do.

As far as hunting skills, my snakes most definitely "hunted" their warmed up frozen/thawed prey! I would never have wanted to get my hand caught between them and their dinners!

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