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First off, I want everyone to know that I think that frozen/thawed is by far the best way to go for all of the already stated reasons(parasites, attacks by prey items, ect...). Hpwever, I have heard such phrases on this site and others that say their is no excuse for not feeding f/t. I will respectively disagree. Since this is a debate, I want it understood that I am not advocating live feedings over F/T. I am simply stated that since this is an imperfect world, there are certain situations that a F/T may not be a immediately possible. I will try to explain and give a few examples. First example as we all know some species of snake are reluctant to take rodents. This could arise from many different reasons varing from certain species prefer rodents to wild caught stressed individuals that just won't take anything but what they are used to in the wild. Whatever the reason for the reluctance to eat F/T we have many, many different ways to help our snakes overcome their "reluctance" and we should try as best we can to use those "tricks of the trade" first. However if after awhile it may become an issue of nourishment and a live item may need to be selected. At this point we should not abandone our attempts to persuade the snake to F/T, we should continue to try for F/T. Luckily in my own experience and from what I have heard from others, most of our snakes take to F/T with a little effort long before health issues become apparent. I have had two cases that this is not the case(both being BP that I have raised since babies). These two BP's are being very stubborn and are taking more effort to switch. Progress is being made as now after a year of trying we are off live and onto F/K. I am confident that they will be onto F/T within a few months. This is just one instance and I am sure we can all think of several others that might arise and lead us to feed live prey. To summarize it is my opinion that live prey should be a last resort used only in case of steady, unhealthy decline in the animal due to not feeding and that F/T is possible with hard work and patience.
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