Whoopsies....now I am in trouble

Hmm, I'll have to try that. Only I can't get him to take thawed anything so the "primer" will have to be a p/k mouse. In the past I've tried leaving the thawed rat in the cage while he's nomming on the mouse, since he'll eat "seconds" mice that way, but he's always ignored the thawed even though it's right in front of his nose after eating.

Given how uppity he is today when I went to open his tank to switch his hide (and found him using his hot hide anyway >:( ) maybe I can try super-heating a f/t rat pup and see if he goes for it?

I never had success with this. And btw, your hands DO smell like prey after you have handled the prey items.

You mentioned not wanting to go in there after a prey item your snake's hovering over but not taking and I don't blame you. I've retrieved food to reheat like that and I just use a hide - either a spare or the one I lifted off of her and kind of 'shy' her back. She'll retreat far enough that I can get my hand in there and grab the tail of the feeder and she can't get to my hand. Hemostats would be safer than this method but if you don't have a set, then the hide trick should work. You could in theory use anything to block his sight/path to your hand but seeing as the hides I use are bowls, they work pretty well.

I'm always extremely careful to never touch the rodent without gloves and/or tongs. Not for hygiene, I don't have any problem with mice, live or otherwise, but simply to make sure I smell as little like prey as possible. It used to be less of a problem when I first had him and was feeding him in a grocery bag outside of his tank. I don't know if it's because he's gotten older or because I'm feeding him in his new tank now, or maybe he's a little hungrier if two mice or a rat pup don't do it for him anymore, but around feeding time he gets a lot more......responsive. I don't want to say aggressive, because even though he comes launching out of his hide if he hears the top open when he's hungry if I'm patient and leave my hand near him he settles down, trigger-happy maybe? If it's been a few days after a meal he doesn't do it. I'm seriously considering moving him to weanling rats, even though every time I look at them they seem a little too big for him. He's not even a year old.

Weaned rat should be fine for 1 year old. How much does he weigh?