Possible to switch to pre-killed rats?

My snake is a little over a year old and didn't eat pre-killed mice, so he's been eating live mice and then switched to rats. At first, he ate immediately so it wasn't a problem. Over the last few months he's become finicky and stopped eating right away. Since I don't want to leave the rats in the cage, this makes feeding him a pain.

Is it possible to switch to pre-killed food and how could I go about doing this?

If he's not taking live currently, he's probably not gonna take prekilled either. How old is he? It's the breeding months, so he might be fasting, looking for a mate.

I'll let some others describe some tips on how to switch to pre-killed food. I could throw out some ideas and stuff, but I never had to try them, so I wouldn't be speaking from experience.

Edit: Just re-read your post and noticed it sounds like he still eats, but takes him longer? Sorry if I read it wrong. :)

Yeah, he's eating. It's just that I'm paranoid about leaving rats in the cage with him and he takes a long time, so I have to do it when I can be around. Even then, I know that I'm taking a chance because I really can't watch him every second.

I've heard that sometimes putting the snake in a bag with a dead rat is one way to do it....

Yes, absolutely, and I switched a live rat feeder over to a dead rat feeder with no trouble by skipping a meal and offering a pre-killed rat. She took it on the first try, so that's what I'd suggest you try first. If that doesn't work you can try the more involved approaches with dancing zombie rats or an overnight bag. :)

You may want to cut back on feeding to once every two weeks, instead of what I'm assuming is every week right now (just a hunch).

i noticed that you said you can't be there every second. when you're feeding live you really should be there to monitor just until it's killed. you never know if you'll get a crazy mouse/rat that will attack him so it's always best to be there to pull it out just in case. i can't give you any advice on the pre-killed switch cause my girl has always eaten live, but trust me on the live thing. keep an eye on them ;)

Thanks. I'm aware of the danger, and like I said in both of my posts, this is why I want to switch to pre-killed--some people may have several hours a week to give undivided attention to monitoring their snakes' feeding processes, but it's not convenient for me.

RE: Marla and HHW-- Thanks for the advice. I've been feeding him one mouse a week instead of rats for the past few weeks, trying to get him a little hungry to make the switch easier. I guess I'll skip a week and then try a dead mouse or rat. Do they feed on smell or heat signature though? Is their a proper method for thawing and an ideal temperature for the snake to recognize the rat as food?

1.) Get a prekille/frozen thawed mouse/rat.
2.) Put the frozen thawed/prekilled rat in a plastic bag, make sure there isn't any air in the bag, and make sure its sealed tight.
3.) turn the fosset on as hot as it will go
4.) fill apropriate sized jar a little less that all the way up.
5.) Place the bag with mouse/rat inside it, in the jar.
6.) Wait till the water is cooled down, and take the mouse/rat out, and put it one a heating pad for about 30 seconds.
7.) Feed snake.

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Originally Posted by sbirocco

RE: Marla and HHW-- Thanks for the advice. I've been feeding him one mouse a week instead of rats for the past few weeks, trying to get him a little hungry to make the switch easier. I guess I'll skip a week and then try a dead mouse or rat. Do they feed on smell or heat signature though? Is their a proper method for thawing and an ideal temperature for the snake to recognize the rat as food?

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You're welcome. Rat normal body temp is the same as ours, so 98.6 or a little higher is ideal temp for serving deceased rat. :) Smell and heat signature both play into feeding, with smell identifying it as a known prey item and heat signature helping with both locating the prey and recognizing the size of it.

There are multiple thawing/warming methods that work for people and you'll find one that works for you. I use hot tap water to warm prey in a ziplock freezer bag (the thinner ones tend to let more water in), which can take three or so fills with hot water if the prey starts out frozen. You may want to let the prey thaw overnight or during the day to get a headstart, if you can do that without unintentionally feeding another pet. ;) Also, bear in mind that the freezing process does begin to break down the cellular structure, and prey that thaws and is refrozen or that is warmed too quickly has an alarming tendency to rupture and create an impressively disgusting mess. :puke:

is it better to switch to dead before u switch to rats im still on mice andi had to skip the last week (b/c of shedding )
i feed monty on sundays
so should i go for a dead one this week?

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to try to make the switch as soon as possible, but I just realized that I'm going home from school in less than a week. I doubt he'll be hungry enough by then, and he'll probably be reluctant to try something new after making a two hour drive, so I guess I'm going to wait until January.

Happy Holidays

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Originally Posted by alexrls

is it better to switch to dead before you switch to rats...?

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I don't know what's better but here's what we did with our royal when he was feeding on live mice. We went from live mice to F/T mice, and then later to F/T rats. Like Marla, we let our guy wait a few extra days before giving him a rat. We feed warm on tongs.