To shake or not to shake, that is the question

My question is if you feed f/t and have been doing it for your snake or snakes for a while, how important is it to give the feeder a bit of a shaking, you know by grabbing the feeder tail or leg and shaking it after the snake has wrapped up the feeder. I've seen video's where people do this to make the snake feel like the f/t was live so they shake the bitten and wrapped feeder. Is this important to keep doing this or is it just a waste of time and the snake doesn't care if the rat/mouse is dead already especially if it has been eating f/t for several months or more. People with a lot of snakes do they take the time to shake the wrapped up feeder. I ask this question because I usually feed when it's pretty dark in the room ( an infra-red light in the room light socket at best ) and I would rather just skip the shake the wrapped feeder part.

Depends on the snake. Some of mine will eat carrion, most need the zombie dance

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Originally Posted by Oxylepy

Depends on the snake. Some of mine will eat carrion, most need the zombie dance

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The zombie dance isn't that the dance you use to get the snake to strike? The shaking I am asking about is after the snake has bitten and wrapped it up. Then you grab the feeder and shake it like a live feeder would struggle if wrapped up by a snake.

Overall, most of my snakes are different from one another.

A few, I may have to be pulling the rat away for a strike. Some, shake, with others a drive by is needed.

Sometimes each individual snake will make me change things up.

Now my big Boa, as soon as the rat is within 8-12 inches of him, if I blink I miss seeing the strike, instantly the rat is coiled.

You wil just need to see what works for you.

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Originally Posted by ballpythonsrock2

The zombie dance isn't that the dance you use to get the snake to strike? The shaking I am asking about is after the snake has bitten and wrapped it up. Then you grab the feeder and shake it like a live feeder would struggle if wrapped up by a snake.

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Oops, you posted this while I was typing

The after shake is up to you and what works best.

I like to do it just because I want the feeding process to be somewhat realistic.

But is it necessary? Probably not for most snakes. But if you have a flakey eater that is is known for striking and wrapping and not eating; then I believe the shake will increase the odds of swallowing. Or if your snake is easily distracted by you being in the room and not swallowing, then I believe few shakes every 10 seconds for 30-40 seconds may help.

Just to be clear, by "shake" I am actually just gently tugging on a foot or on the tail with my tweezers/hemostat.

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The only snakes I have ever had to do that with are problem feeders who are used to live and completely confused by dead prey. I have only ever needed to shake for about 1 to 2 feedings before it isn't necessary

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Originally Posted by Oxylepy

The only snakes I have ever had to do that with are problem feeders who are used to live and completely confused by dead prey. I have only ever needed to shake for about 1 to 2 feedings before it isn't necessary

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That is what I was thinking. I will leave off the gentle shake ( tug ) for now and see what happens. If I discontinue and he swallows just fine then feeding will be a little easier to do. If he stops swallowing I will go back to the gentle tug idea. Thanks a bunch for the input of you both and others that possibly reply. I confess I had to look up the word carrion I just always heard of it as road kill. ;)

When I said carrion I mean for those snakes I can just straight warm the rodent and place it in the enclosure, it won't be there the next day. No zombie dance, no shake, nothing. They are also the snakes who often won't even allow a rodent to hit the enclosure floor. I bet I could open the enclosure and throw the rodent from across the room and they would snatch it mid air. But when they aren't paying attention, a dead rodent can just be placed in there.

As a note, the above may not be replicable for others, I do NOT feed on a regular schedule. Sometimes my snakes eat 3 times a week, other times they wait almost a month between feedings (for young snakes, my one adult female is currently being offered food bimonthly because she's on a seasonal fast). I find that this generates a strong feeding response