Best way to offer rat on Tongs

By the scruff.. In general, this makes it better seen as food for picky snakes and also seems to help with aim, since you can point the rat's nose in their face.

I started offering by the scruff ever since my first snake refused f/t if I offered by tangling from the tail LOL

I guess I will continue to do as I have always done - offer by the scruff.

Thanks to all of you who chimed in.

Appreciate the help.

Well...... In my experience if ya warm it up well with a hairdryer and offer instantly you can offer it 'balls first' and they will still take it :)


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I always offer by the tail most of the time as sometime if I’ve offered by the scruff they have come off the branch at such speed they have wrapped round the tongs aswell and had to retrieve them after dinner was over, not good when it’s the first one of many,loll


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I hold them just above the hips. Better control than the scruff, way more natural position to present it to the snake in than by the tail. Seems to work for both the pythons, and the rosy boa :)

i hold the rodents by the backlegs i've had a tail detach before lol.

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When I was feeding a lot of pre killed rodents I tried holding them by the scruff of the neck. I had quite a few snakes hit the tongs, probably several at every feeding. I switched to holding them by the middle / end of the tail and it fixed the problem. If you have a problem feeder you may have better luck holding by the scruff of the neck as it's a bit more natural. I've also laid the snake on the bottom of the cage and pulled it back and forth / side to side by the tail, that's about as natural as you can get and keeps the tongs further away from the snake.

Usually I grab them about the middle of the back. Never had one strike or hit the tongs before.

I think I will try out the "middle of the back" next time. I don't like them hitting the tongs at such a force. Seems like eventually someone is going to get hurt.

All the opinions have been very helpful.

Thanks to all