pre killed vs frozzen

I know a lot of you feed frozzen and Im sure alot of people prekill the pray my queistion is for those people that pre kill instead of frozzen by what methods do you use to do the prekilling

 

The old rat in the pillow case and smack it agains a wall is usually the most common, but cervical dislocation is the best. Place the rat on a hard surfave and hold down it down with a screw driver or thin metal rod at the base of the skull of the rat then give a quick hard pull on the tail. This should separate the spine.
(It's a lot easier to thaw a rodent )

 

I buy them frozen, kinda got to me whacking them in a pillow case on my concrete porch.

 

pillowcase, once hard smack (not so hard as to smash the prey, but good enough to kill immediately and painlessly)

99% of the time it's frozen, though.

 

Pretty much what was already said. It's the easiest and cleanest method of doing the deed. the idea if to keep the stress and pain for the rodent to a minimum so you have to hit it hard enough to kill it the first time.

 

thanx everone I usally just wack them with a wrench i was woundering how you all do it

 

wack!?!?! WRENCH!?!? *gasp*

 

whats the difference between a wrench and a pillow case???

 

Well, I'm glad that this discussion is not live vs non-live prey, but I do have a couple of things to add.

There are potential problems feeding freshly killed prey, especially if you don't know how the prey has been raised and housed.

Live rodents can carry bacteria and other nasties that can cause serious problems for predators - especially captive predators who may not be exposed to these sorts of problems on a regular basis as their wild counterparts may.

Freezing will help to kill 99% of the problems that prey items could introduce at meal-time.

So, not to say don't feed freshly-killed - after all, most snakes prefer a freshly killed rodent over a frozen/thawed one - but just be careful who you're buying your rodents from. If you're not sure about how they're fed, raised or housed, and have any doubt about possible parasitic or bacterial transfer from rodent to snake, then go with frozen until you find a live supplier you're 100% sure about.

 

i agree, axe, and i've only fed fresh-killed once. it was for a young snake that wasn't wanting to eat. anyway, everything else is always frozen.

 

I can vouch for buying mice from a bad pet store. On two occasions the mouse brought ticks into the cage, and yes, my snake abby became thier host. Luckily I was working at the kimball animal hospital at the time(co-op program for my high school) and mr. kimball took care of it free of charge.

for the past year I've been going to PETCO and haven't encountered any problems.

I also feed my ball pre-killed prey, but I use the soffocation method. Maybe I'll try the pillow case method next time becuase it seems more humane. I hate knowing the the prey is suffocating, but thats the way I was taught to do it

 

Pre-killed is the best way to go as long as it's frozen. It's mostly invisible parasites that I'm concerned about. But, you're right, there is the risk of external parasites too.

Usually I buy my frozen rodent supply 3 months at a time when I go to a show (Tampa, Orlando, Daytona)... If I run short, we have a local guy that delivers our crickets each week and he can bring me some over.

 

one problem, she won't accept frozen prey anymore....thats what I used to feed her.

 

Yeah, Ball Pythons can be funny like that.

 

shes living up to reputation quite well :lol:

 

My snakes (all of them) never seemed to be interested in dead prey (pre-killed or frozen). I've always given them live prey, same with my Knight Anole.