scenting - how long will rat bedding be useful for?

I know one of the tricks to scent a rodent for purposes of enticing a non feeder, or a snake that only eat mice to eat rats, or switching from live to frozen thawed etc. is to scent the rodent.

I know one trick is to rub the frozen thawed rodent onto a live rat or the rat bedding. I do not breed or keep rats and am not going to as it seems silly to keep them just for their bedding. I have a friend who does, but he lives far away and it would be a pain in the butt to have him give me bedding each time. He would hate me after 2 weeks. I can ask him for some bedding once but if I keep that sealed in a ziplock, how many times can I use it before I would need new bedding?

It would be far easier if I could try some of the scenting methods that I can get the stuff from a supermarket. I heard of chicken broth and tuna juice. I don't know to do that though if someone can enlighten me. I searched and I just see people say dip it, but you mean you feed that stuff to the snake soaking wet? You should heat up the broth/juice and then dip it?

Also, someone mentioned sodium free chicken broth, not sure here is such a thing, only chicken broth with no extra salt ADDED (still has sodium), and also lots of people talking about using BRINE in tuna cans which is basically SALT WATER. What's the issue with sodium?

You could check with local pet stores to see if they'd be willing to give you some of the soiled rat bedding when they clean tanks... Not sure how close you are to a Petco/Petsmart, but it's worth asking if you have one close...

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Originally Posted by Inknsteel

You could check with local pet stores to see if they'd be willing to give you some of the soiled rat bedding when they clean tanks... Not sure how close you are to a Petco/Petsmart, but it's worth asking if you have one close...

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I do not live in the United States and there is no petco/petsmart here. And basically I am SURE they will not give me any bedding when they clean tanks. You'd agree if you lived here and visited these stores. In fact I don't think they would even SELL me bedding. There are just a few shops here and they are not the most pleasant of people.

Besides, I can get bedding from my friend just can't get it all the time so I would like to know how long it will last, regardless of where I get it from.

If you stored it in a zip top bag it would seal in the freshness. :rofl: It would probably last for a few weeks.

Here's a mice to rats and live to f/t trick that worked for us in just a couple of weeks. We would "prime" Julius. We started with a live mouse and then followed with a f/t mouse. The first f/t we had to leave in his tank with him and then a few hours later he drug it off to eat in privacy. The next week we did one live mouse followed by a f/t rat thawed with a mouse. Last feeding we thawed the rat with the mouse for our boa and even though it was ginormous compared to the last rat he still took it without question. :D If you have only one snake you could do the same idea. Thaw together two smaller prey items together so the mouse will scent the rat and visa versa. Offer the mouse and then the other after the first is completely swallowed, repeat the next feed, and then the third week do just a properly sized rat.