Argh can't convert to F/T

Hi guys, my juvenille ball has never refused live mice but for the life of me i can't get him to take F/T, he's actually scared of it and goes into his hide. Tried leaving it in the cage overnight, still nada. Here's what im doing, maybe someone can show me where im going wrong.


Put the frozen mouse in a small plastic container, soak in slightly warm water about an hr and 15 mins


Add hot water until the water in container is very warm, but not scalding hot (dont want to cook the thing), leave another 15-20 minutes.


Pat down quicky w. paper towel to dry a bit, then offer. I wiggle it w. the tongs from up high, from the ground, doesnt matter. Someone please help, my boa takes FT no prob, but my ball is from a pet store and probably not CB so im starting to wonder if it'll ever happen. :(

I'm sure everybody has their own method, but what I do is:

I take the mouse out and put it in a ziplock bag, and I let it sit out for a few hours to thaw out(usually about 4 hours)

Then I make sure its fully thawed, then I run hot water and I let it sit in hot water for about 30 mins, and then I re-run hot water and let it sit for about 10.

I make sure its not too hot(which it's usually warm) and then I feed. Some snakes like you to wiggle it in front of them, some of them just like you to put it there and they will get it when their ready.

What it kind of sounds like to me is your wiggling with your hand, and the snake sees its food(mouse) held by this huge hand & arm and it probably scares it away, to as where if you were using tongs, tong's don't emit any type of body signature heat. Like I said though some snakes will eat it, my anaconda I hold the mouse by the tail and wiggle for a split second and she hits it and coils it.

I am actually going to be trying f.t tonight, wish me luck!!

But this is what I am going to do. Take the frozen mouse and stick it in a DOUBLE SEALED zip lock bag, make sure you squeeze all the air out th bag before sealing. Find a small container, (I use a won-ton soup container)and fill it with really hot water, place the zip lock with the mouse inside of it. Wait 15 min, and replace the water with new hot water. Wait anoter 15 min, and remove mouse from bag. It should be pretty much completely dry, at this point I just put the mouse under a heat light for about 30 seconds before I offer.

This in my opinion is probably the best way for a picky f.t eater to get the idea. I always would just throw mine directly in water as well and mine would hide there heads from it. I think snakes that are really used to eating live are a little more picky in how the f.t is offered, and NEED to be offered dry prey first. I was only able to get mine to eat f.t once, and this is how I did it. I have just been lazy lately, but now I have 5 snakes and it would make sense to me to convert. Good luck!!

P.S Invest in some Hemostats!! Tongs are big and bulky, hemo's are very thin and don't interfere. And when your offering make sure you grab the scruff of the neck, and wiggle it as if it really scurrying across the floor.

thanks, i was thinking the wetness might have put him off, will try that....and i have hemostats, just called em tongs lol

awesome, yeah they work great.

Let us know how it all goes!

My little guy went 4 weeks without feeding on f/t and I was soaking them in hot water to thaw them, the 1st dry one I offered he jumped right out of his hide for.

I pull out a frozen mouse out of the freezer in the morning before I leave for work, toss it on a plate and set the plate on top of his cage. By the time I get home it is thawed and he knows its there. I toss it in a zip lock and then dunk it in hot tap water for a few min to bring its temp up a bit. I haven't had an issue with him refusing a f/t since. :D

Easiest way to feed f/t guaranteed. Works as long as your room is heated. No wet rodents, no drying of rodents, just simple feeding.

Set your rodents out in the room in a ziploc bag. Do this before you head out the door for work in the morning.

Return home and lay em all out. I put mine in a sterilite container lined with paper towels.

Hit each one's head with a blow dryer before offering and offer off tongs.

Has worked for me for as long as I could remember.

HTH

I don't like the idea of anything defrosting by sitting out for more than four hours, so I pull mine out of the freezer and into the fridge the night before feeding day.

About an hour before feeding, I put it in a plastic container, and let it sit on top of my snake's tank until it gets to room temperature. He starts to notice the scent and gets interested.

Before I offer it, I blow dry it until it's fairly warm.
Then I dangle it by it's tail gently until he hits it.

However, my guy is CB and has been on frozen thawed all his life. But maybe a longer prescenting time will help with your guy.

Ok PVDgod I got some good news!!

I got all of my animals except for one to take the f/t. I think this will work for you as well. Heres what you gotta do:

1. Get your f/t out of the freezer and let it sit out for like 4 hours or so.(I baught mine from petco at around 3 and just never put it back in the freezer, and by the time I was ready to feed them it was about 8 and they were completely thawed.)

2. Take the mouse and put in a double seal ziplock let it sit in really hot water for about 10 min.(use something to hold the mouse under the water)

3. While your doing the take the bag that the mouse was in and place part of it in the enclosure of the snake so they can smell it.(I just put half the bag in the top of the tub and used the lid to hold it there.) This is REALLY effective! My one girl who I really didn't think was going to take it came storming out of her hide about 5 seconds of the bag sitting in there.

4. When thats done feel free to give it a quick blow dry to give it some more heat, and grab by the scruff and play mouse for the snake.

All of mine took it except for my pastel male who is a screwball. Hes very strange and really was more interested in coming out of his tub more then anything, so I'm making him wait a week to eat. I think I need to catch him off guard with a nice pre-scent and then offer. He was already very active before I arrived so I feel he was distracted. I hope you were successful!

Nice man, glad that worked for you.....i'm going to try it tonight and let you know how it goes, it seems that pre-scenting works well for a lot of people so i'll definitely give it a shot.....will let you know how it goes, wish me luck! :snake:


oh wait a second....my frozen fuzzies come in a bulk pack, so i dont have a individual bag (i like that about the gourmet rodents petco has, individually wrapped, but pricey) to put on top of the cage....maybe i'll just leave the frozen mouse on top of the cage to defrost for a couple hrs, that should get the juices flowing....i hope!

OR!!

Take the bag of all of them and leave it half way in with the lid cracked. Just make sure they stay dry during the thawing process and I think all should go well for you. Good Luck!!:gj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pvdgod

oh wait a second....my frozen fuzzies come in a bulk pack, so i dont have a individual bag (i like that about the gourmet rodents petco has, individually wrapped, but pricey) to put on top of the cage....maybe i'll just leave the frozen mouse on top of the cage to defrost for a couple hrs, that should get the juices flowing....i hope!

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Sandwich bag?

Pre-scenting is key. If I have a picky eater I won't even try unless I get some kind of reaction by pre-scenting first. The hairdryer trick works great too. Aim for the head because if the butt is hotter than the head it may go down backwards. Feed LATE at night, in a dark, pre-scented room. And it really helps if the snake is hungry!

She ate it!!!! Thanks guys, my life is so much easier now and my bp is better off.....i just let it defrost on top of the cage for 3 hrs, half hr in warm-hot water, quick wiggle w. the 'stats, she struck and knocked it down like a champ. :gj:

Congrats, :D

Now go write down exactly how you did everything while you still remember. :giggle:


dr del

did you you warm inside a bag or did you just throw the f/t right in the water by itself? But awesome job none the less!!:banana::banana::banana:

no, inside the bag...i wanted to keep it as dry as possible because i offered wet during all my unsuccessful attempts and i thought that might have been the issue with my BP not taking it.


Here's exactly what i did, i hope it helps someone else like you guys helped me!!! I avoided the blow dryer because i used a small fuzzy and didnt want it to explode, im sure its fine with larger rodents.



Placed the frozen mouse in a dry ziplock, remove air and close tightly.


Left the bag on top of the cage for 3 hrs ( i have some cardboard on top of my tank to keep humidity in, i left it on there instead of directly on the screen)


After 3 hrs the fuzzy was pretty much fully thawed. I filled a small container with warm to slightly hot water and left the bag in there for 30 mins, replacing the hot water after 15 mins and making sure mouse was submerged the whole time.


Remove mouse which was dry and warm to the touch, not hot. i would assume you have to be really careful with pinks and fuzzies not to overheat as that can become a hot mess if overdone.


Offered mouse using hemostats and wigglied in front of her, she took it after a few tongue flicks, id say about 10 seconds and she was chowing down!!!



Honestly i never thought this would make me so happy, i know some of you guys can relate lol!!!

A GREAT way to deal with fussy eaters is to ask the petstore for some dirtied mouse litter. Thaw your mouse ( make sure that it is DRY) then roll it around in the litter. Your little guy will be after its prey like greased lighting. Well.. that is its worked every time for me so far. Good luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pvdgod

Honestly i never thought this would make me so happy, i know some of you guys can relate lol!!!

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lol I know exactly how it is. Its weird.. you go from owning dogs and stuff and always like " UGH.. Poop dutie...' But when I got my Pythons it was more like "YAY!!! My babies are healthy!!!" I still have issues with feeding rat pups to my little female though.. She just switched ( In one shot ^_^ so proud) to mice pups from hopper mice and I'm sure its because I rubbed it in mouse litter. Rat pups are SO CUTE!!! but they are food.. oh well you can't win them all. Good luck with your snake! Any pics of it?

it really is quite rewarding when you get the desired outcome :gj: