hand feeding?

does anyone ever just thaw the mouse until its warm and throw it in with the snake and walk away? i usually do that and she always eats it like that; i think shes knows its dead too because she doesn't strike it or choke it, she just crawls up and opens her mouth and starts swallowing.... last week my boyfriend didn't have time to wait so he dangled the mouse by its foot with a pair of children's scissors and hissler struck and choked it but if you have plenty of time it works the other way as well.

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Originally Posted by HisslersMommy

does anyone ever just thaw the mouse until its warm and throw it in with the snake and walk away? i usually do that and she always eats it like that; i think shes knows its dead too because she doesn't strike it or choke it, she just crawls up and opens her mouth and starts swallowing.... last week my boyfriend didn't have time to wait so he dangled the mouse by its foot with a pair of children's scissors and hissler struck and choked it but if you have plenty of time it works the other way as well.

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I have a couple girls that will ONLY feed that way, I have to leave a F/T rat at the entrance of the hide, and it's gone the next morning. BPs are individuals though, and many (if not most) will not eat a F/T rodent left on the cage floor. Most of my collection gets live rats weekly, but I have a few that insist I cater to their individual needs specifically (i.e. live weanling black mice overnight 3 times a week, 4-5 live rat crawlers/wk, and those are both adult females :tricho:) I just need a sign that says "BP hotel room service, here for your fastidious desires" :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by HisslersMommy

does anyone ever just thaw the mouse until its warm and throw it in with the snake and walk away? i usually do that and she always eats it like that; i think shes knows its dead too because she doesn't strike it or choke it, she just crawls up and opens her mouth and starts swallowing.... last week my boyfriend didn't have time to wait so he dangled the mouse by its foot with a pair of children's scissors and hissler struck and choked it but if you have plenty of time it works the other way as well.

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what is your thawing method? I'm always looking for more thawing methods since my BP seems to enjoy a variety of heat signatures.

I think I *really* like this web site. For about 2 months now, since I got Nag, I've been looking around for a GOOD, knowledgable source for my snake questions, and it seems i have finally found it.

So anyway, Thank you all for the answers. I guess I never really thought about getting bit. It's just so....je ne sais criox....I really enjoied hand feeding him. However, since I said I never really though about that part of it before, I believe I will buy a pair of hemostats and start using those instead.

Another question though if you dont mind. Just for the hell of it, I put a mousie in the microwave and thawed it out. it was wicked nasty and I threw it away cause I wasnt sure if it have been partially cooked would effect Nag.

My question is, I know all snakes are different as night and day, however, do any of you actually warm the food up for them or do they feed for you at room temp mice? Nag has been eating room temp mousies and seems to be content as far as that goes, but I want to know if trying this with another frozen mouse might bother the snake if it was indeed partially cooked.

And one last time...Thank you ALL for your replies...even the funny posts. Will certainly give me something to do on nights like tonight when I have bad insomnia yet again.

Some of mine will take room temp f/t rodents and others will only take warm f/t rodents.

What do you mean partically cooked? How are you defrosting the mouse?

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Originally Posted by JamminJonah

what is your thawing method? I'm always looking for more thawing methods since my BP seems to enjoy a variety of heat signatures.

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i always just throw it warm water for a really long time, and then when i'm ready to feed the snake i run it under very hot water for about a minute so it's really warm (it will never get TOO hot it cools quickly so it wont burn them or anything) and thats it... but if the snake takes forever of course i gotta do it again. how many other ways are there to thaw it? im scared to do anything else i dont wanna partially cook it or anything!

I know somewhere on here is a thread about a handy little gadget MedusasOwl has for defrosting her f/t mice.


I wouldn't suggest ever using a microwave. You are going to likely make your microwave totally gross for you to use (exploding mice bellies are NOT nice) as well as providing a partially cooked prey item - microwaves cook from the inside out so you won't even know it's cooked from just looking at it. Snakes are designed by nature to eat whole live prey so even when using f/t we need to stick as close to what their digestion was designed for....so no partially cooked prey. Just let the prey item thaw at room temps for a few hours, pop it into a good thick ziploc baggie and put it in a bowl of very hot water for 15-20 minutes or so (depending on size of prey - pinky mice heat FAST, big rats heat slow). Feel it's head and it's belly for warmth. A lot of people give the prey item a blast of hot air from a hair dryer on the belly and head to help raise those temps and it seems to help the snakes focus in well on their f/t prey.

If the snake doesn't eat it right away, give it another warming up as thawed prey loses heat incredibly quickly.

If you can't find hemostats, big tweezers or a small pair of simple kitchen tongs work just great too.

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Originally Posted by Gurgie

but I want to know if trying this with another frozen mouse might bother the snake if it was indeed partially cooked.

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Snakes lack the ability to digest cooked meat. A partially cooked rodent will sit in a snakes stomach and rot, which could/probably would cause an infection that would then prossibly/probably kill the snake if not caught in time and treated.

Hope this helps.

-adam

Just a heads up I started a thread called:

Thawing Methods Round Infinity!

to discuss thawing and feeding methods, I figured we'd gotten off topic enough to merit a new thread. Please feel free to travel over there and post your thawing methods i'm always looking to try new ones!

- Jonah

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

Some of mine will take room temp f/t rodents and others will only take warm f/t rodents.

What do you mean partically cooked? How are you defrosting the mouse?

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Well, I wanted to try thawing a mousie in the microwave to see how it would work, and put it on for 60 seconds and it partially cooked. Usually I put it out in a separate container and set it on the fridge so my cats dont find it and let it thaw by itself.