Cut Feeding Costs for Pet Snakes

In these unfriendly financial times we are facing many new obstacles come up daily. Anything from affording the gas to get to work to getting our kids lunches every day at school. Everything can be a difficult choice even down to how we will keep feeding our beloved reptile friends.

As all snake owners know, every snake will have their own personality when it comes to what they like to eat. Most snakes that have grown up on live rats and mice have a hard time switching to prekilled food. This can take some time and energy on your part however, if you are looking for a cheaper alternative to live rats and mice it may be worth the energy.

It will most likely take a few tries and your snake getting hungry before they give in to eating the non moving food. Make sure that when you thaw the food it becomes nice and warm before trying to feed it to them. You may even need to take a pair of tongs and make it wiggle for a minute on your own before they show interest. If you can get them to eat the prekilled food a few times you should be set.

Another method that sometimes works is to first feed your snake a live rat/mouse then give them a prekilled one. This will get them in to mood to eat and can make it easier to trick them. If your snake is still a little guy and only eats one rat/mouse typically then just buy two small ones to try this method with.

The younger your snake is the easier it will be to make this transition. And of course, there will always be those who will have nothing to do with the prekilled rats/mice no matter how hard you try. I wouldn't advise going on with trying so long that your snake looks skinny or unhealthy. You can always give your snake a live treat again and then retry the frozen prekilled the next feeding time.

At first you may just buy a few frozen rats/mice at your local pet store. They can be easier to keep and cheaper to buy, even from the pet store. Once your snake is used to eating the item then you can really save some money by looking up mail order companies that will ship you bulk numbers of frozen rodents.

Even if you order 50 rat/mice at a time they don't take up that much space in your freezer. As with all bulk order companies of course the more you buy the more you save. This way of ordering will also save you quite a few trips to the local pet store to pick up your live feeder rats/mice.

It may also save you some extra money if you are one who tries to keep enough rats/mice for a few feedings at a time. With the frozen rodents there are no extra animals to feed so that your snakes can get fed.

This is not always the easiest thing to get your snake used to but in the long run it may save you hundreds a year. Between the gas to get to the pet store, the higher cost of buying live rats/mice, and sometimes keeping extras around the house, it may be quite a bargain for you to buy frozen.