Do you dangle or drop?

[mrshawt]

Yes, despite my odd sounding thread titles, there is substance in this post.

For those that feed f/t, do you place the mouse/rat in the tank and leave the room? Or do you dangle it in front of the bp? Which seems to work better?

And lastly, do you pre-scent the room with a warmed mouse, or just a thawed one?

Thanks!

[JeffJ]

Movement, Heat, Smell. those are the 3 major things that help a snake determine if something is food or not. so dangling and doing the zombie dance would work better for most if not all. but this isnt to say that just plopping a lifeless mouse or rat in doesn't work for some as well. but i can tell you that my snakes would probably ignore it... in fact i know they would if i just dropped a dead mouse or rat in.

[Spaniard]

Depends on the snake, some will be fine taking them off the tub floor and others will not eat unless I dangle and they strike and coil. For the most part the dangling is the way to go, I find that really shy snakes sometimes fair better with having the f/t item left in the tub with them. Its all about trial and error.

I pre-scent by placing thawed items on a spare heat mat to warm them up in the snakes area.

[EJ45]

I usually put the mouse close to my snake then back it off a few inches away, usually pretty quicky she "locks in" on it and gets in the strike position.

[blackcrystal22]

Depends on the snake.
My Amel. corn snake will get mad and angry if I do a zombie dance and won't eat it. If I drop it in, he'll eat it.

[addsdad]

Depends on the snake, some will be fine taking them off the tub floor and others will not eat unless I dangle and they strike and coil. For the most part the dangling is the way to go, I find that really shy snakes sometimes fair better with having the f/t item left in the tub with them. Its all about trial and error.

I pre-scent by placing thawed items on a spare heat mat to warm them up in the snakes area.

Exactly. I have two that will eat off the tub floor and the others wouldn't even think about it.

[AaronP]

Most of my snakes I need to move it, but occasionally I'll just leave one in the tub if Iknow they're hungry but aren't striking.

[euphuistical]

3 of my snakes don't need the dance at all. My other one just won't eat period. She's starting to make me worried

[greenex]

usually i dangle, but one guy will no longer touch them unless i leave them in the tank, almost like he's afraid of it or something. i'll look over 10 minutes later and hes chewing on it.

on the other hand, i have a female that will ONLY eat if i dangle it fast

[matt71915]

i only have 2 snakes that will eat frozen/ thawed. I do pre scent the room i just take a couple live rats and put them in a bin next to the cages

one snake will only eat if the rat is layed down "dropped" in the tank

the other snake likes dangled most of the time sometimes he wont strike so i just leave it and he usually eats it

for live i dangle so that the snake will get a good strike at the head. I dont drop the rat in because there is more chances that it wont get a head strike