Having trouble feeding. I think my BP is scared of f/t rats.

Kinda depends. All three of my snakes eat different sizes.

The key is take it out and see how it feels. If the stomach moves freely and has no hard sport or cold spots and the skull when slightly squeezed feels warm it should be good to go. Prob between 10 and 15 mintues start checking it. The regualr Hot tap water wont cook it so you really cant do it to long and being in the bag wont cause it to bleed itself of its liquids.

@jbean7916 - Thanks! I will try leaving it next time.

@KMG - So if it's been more than 15 minutes he will most likely not eat? lol That will save me a lot of time. The enclosure is somewhat clear. I will try to put a background anyways just in case. I'll see if my warm hide is too hot. Judging by the temps it seems good but I can never know. I put a thermometer probe underneath the substrate on under the hide right where the UTH is. I did this because if he did decide to dig there I know how hot the very bottom would be. I don't want to risk him getting burned if he dug there. He pushed out most of the substrate on his cool hide out and he just hides there on top of the plastic. Could my cool side be too hot if he did that? Yet I think he likes to dig around because I once saw him dig in the corner near his water bowl and most of the substrate on his back fell into the water.

@Punkymom - How long overnight do you let them thaw in the fridge? If I feed him at night is the rat still thawing during the day if I leave it overnight? Or should I start to thaw the rat in the fridge in the morning so it's ready by night? Don't worry you didn't offend me with the harass comment. I actually felt like I was harassing him. lol I'll try covering the sides with black construction paper but avoid the holes. :) Maybe it'll help. I'll probably wait a week until next feeding. I'd probably lose my sanity if I waited two! lol I haven't handled him since last Friday. As much as I want to handle him I think I'll leave him alone until then just in case. Hopefully he eats next time. :D

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Originally Posted by KMG

Kinda depends. All three of my snakes eat different sizes.

The key is take it out and see how it feels. If the stomach moves freely and has no hard sport or cold spots and the skull when slightly squeezed feels warm it should be good to go. Prob between 10 and 15 mintues start checking it. The regualr Hot tap water wont cook it so you really cant do it to long and being in the bag wont cause it to bleed itself of its liquids.

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Great! Thanks! :) Does the rat being a bit moist from thawing inside the ziplock bag make a difference as well?

Oh noes! Another picky eater! (What, are all BPs re-incarnations of French food critics or something?)

What happens if you give him a fresh-killed mouse/rat pup?

I feed my guy in a brown paper grocery bag in a room with little light in the room. It's nice and dark, secure, and most importantly for my little stinker: he can't get out! I'm not so much worried by the possible "aggression issue" if you feed in the tank, he's about as aggressive as Buddha, but he seems to know when he's in the bag that food is coming, and he starts getting excited and flicking his tongue out a lot. Maybe yours would respond to some sort of Pavlovian "feeding-time" cue?

...still won't eat f/t, but, well...he's a stinker. :P

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Originally Posted by blaze

I'll try warming it in hot water next time. I usually use a hair dryer to warm them up.

Also thanks to everyone for taking the time in replying! :)

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Striking at the prey and recoiling is a sign of a stressed animal, not a hungry one. A angry/stressed out animal is not likely to eat, and if it does, the stress caused during the feeding (poking at the head, etc.) could result in regurge.
Also, moving around does not=hunger. They are nocturnal by nature, and could be probing for escape just as well.


Wait a week, try again.

i soak all of my feeders in very hot water, matter not to the snake in my case.

A moist feeder is fine BUT...this allows the substrate to stick to it more so your snake ingest more substrate than it should. While the substrate MOST LIKELY won't harm your snake to much can cause impaction.

As for your temps. I highly recommend getting a IR temp gun. If your cage floor at the probe is at 90 the thickness of the substrate will make the temp on top of the substrate very and it will be lower.

If you thaw it in water you really have no need to pre-thaw in the fridge. She is explaining like many will thaw meat like a steak or chicken for cooking. You do it so the meat is ready for cooking and doesn't require you to thaw it all the way when you want to cook it. Saves time. Feeders are so small though the water does a great job thawing them out.

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Originally Posted by KMG

A moist feeder is fine BUT...this allows the substrate to stick to it more so your snake ingest more substrate than it should. While the substrate MOST LIKELY won't harm your snake to much can cause impaction.

As for your temps. I highly recommend getting a IR temp gun. If your cage floor at the probe is at 90 the thickness of the substrate will make the temp on top of the substrate very and it will be lower.

If you thaw it in water you really have no need to pre-thaw in the fridge. She is explaining like many will thaw meat like a steak or chicken for cooking. You do it so the meat is ready for cooking and doesn't require you to thaw it all the way when you want to cook it. Saves time. Feeders are so small though the water does a great job thawing them out.

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Newspaper is my substrate. No worries there. Maybe my snakes will learn to read. I use temp gun too. I dont buy the 15 min thing though. My snakes are in my office, and occassionally they want total quiet before they eat. 2 spiders attack well, male pastel likes night time. I don't think you can say 15 min applies to all

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Originally Posted by AdamF

I don't think you can say 15 min applies to all

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Your right. But with his snake be picky, dangling the feeder for much longer is not gonna make it feed. If it doesn't happen it usually won't. Your just wasting time.

Now trying to just lay the feeder in the cage I would leave it longer but still wouldn't leave it longer than 30 minutes.

I am not one that likes to waste a feeder so I try to leave them thawed for the shortest amount of time possible. If they refuse for 15 minutes mine don't get to eat. I'm lucky and my snakes feed great, so missing one meal here and there doesn't bother.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Your right. But with his snake be picky, dangling the feeder for much longer is not gonna make it feed. If it doesn't happen it usually won't. Your just wasting time.

Now trying to just lay the feeder in the cage I would leave it longer but still wouldn't leave it longer than 30 minutes.

I am not one that likes to waste a feeder so I try to leave them thawed for the shortest amount of time possible. If they refuse for 15 minutes mine don't get to eat. I'm lucky and my snakes feed great, so missing one meal here and there doesn't bother.

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Agreed. The hunger/hunt instinct does not increase with prolonged zombie dance. If mine don't hit in 90 secs, they usually wont eat (rare) or want me to leave them alone and get out of the room. I dont have issue leaving feeder over night, but for some reason I do have issue thawing and re freezing.

i have read, in the wild, a BP will eat dead prey it comes upon.

I will not refreeze a rat if I leave it overnight.

As for thawing in warm water, I find that pups take - oh I dunno - an hour? Maybe a little longer? Small rats take a couple of hours. Basically this is what I do: Take rats and place in plastic bag (at this point they're still frozen solid), submerge in bowl of hot water and set timer for 30 min. Come back and check rats. They're never done at this point so I feel the water. Usually it's cooled down considerably so I replace it with fresh hot water and reset the timer for 30 min. Repeat until all rats are thawed. I do the Head Press and the Belly Squish (careful now, those are copyrighted terms!!!) to check for remaining ice. If I feel none then I do a final water change and leave them to warm up for 15-20 min longer. Now they should be nice a warm like a furry burrito from Taco Rat.

As for thawing in the fridge, it all depends on how long you're willing to wait for them to thaw. I usually put them in the fridge before I go to bed for the next evening. By then they're mostly thawed (pups are all the way thawed) and take between 30-40 min to warm up depending on how thawed they are and the current room temp. It takes longer in the winter. I have put them in the fridge in the morning, too. I've also just left them out on the counter for a few hours. It all depends on my schedule and what I'm going to have time for. If it's a church night they'll have been put in the fridge the night before because I don't feel like staying up until midnight feeding snakes.