W00t!

[Marla]

Seymour ate! After all the striking, constricting, and abandoning we've been seeing, we finally picked up a little live mouse and gave it to him. He watched it for a few minutes, waiting for it to get in a good position, then he killed it neatly and ate it headfirst (you'd think I wouldn't have to mention that, but Hanover goes for the belly first and then finds the head).

We tried to follow it up with a frozen/thawed while the feeding response was in gear (after the last upright gulp) and he did strike and constrict, but abandoned it just like the other f/t we've tried. Obviously he is not happy with f/t, and we don't want him losing his good muscle tone and weight.

So here's the plan: we'll be feeding him live and trying to follow with f/t for the next month or so, and see if that works to get him switched over. If either of us had the stomach for it, we'd try stunned or fresh-killed, but I don't think we can do that. I got told that holding the mouse by its tail was too mean, fer cryin out loud.

Also, while we were at Petco picking up meece, we chatted with the employee I mentioned before who has a number of snakes, and she mentioned that people often drop off bp's at their store when they don't want them anymore. We gave her a card and told her to call us if they get one in, and she said she'd do that and pass the card along to the reptiles manager as well. The response was good enough that we were thinking we'd drop off cards at a few more local pet stores. We can start our own small-scale bp rescue.

[Ironhead]

That's good to hear!

I have resisted feeding f/t because he has only had live his entire life. But I was also told by the former owner that he would only eat white mice. Well, i gave him a black mouse his last feeding because that is all the pet store had, and he had no qualms about the black mouse. Whent after it just like all the white ones, so, this next feeding i am going to try a f/t on him and see if he will take it.

[Mike]

marla, congrats on seymore eating! and your plan sounds good. holding mice by the tail is mean? ha! you can just put them in a bag and slam then into a wall...no tail holding involved.

ironhead...im glad your finally gonna try f/t. jump on the bandwagon! everybodies doing it! haha.

[emroul]

Congrats on Seymore! That's really great to hear. I have FINALLY switched over one of mine that was not taking anything but live. She now officially takes f/t (at least she did once). One down, one to go..

Wonderful news anyhow.
Jennifer

[BallKingdom]

Congrats!

Rescues can be tough to maintain. You'll need to have a boat load of room and a small budget for medical expenses that will most likely come along. As Rusty, she has a rescue.

[Marla]

Carl, I think that's great you're gonna try f/t. It's certainly worth a shot, even if he does turn out to be picky.

Mike, I don't think I can do that.

Jennifer, congrats, I had seen that! I hope to get him switched over, but at least he is eating now!

John, I had considered that, and I do have a limited amount of room in my current setup but will have more when I move (I don't have much furniture ). I also have a friend who's a vet tech who has helped out on our other critters for various things, so I think I'll be able to handle a small-scale rescue myself. I don't have the budget or room to do it big-time, but if I move them through every few months I think I'll do okay. Thanks for the tips.

[gozetec02]

Well i have never been able to feed frozen/thawed mice or anything like that i bought a 6 pack of hopper once and my first BP (JOJO) and and my newest Patches, he didnt like them at all i thawed one out in hot water and put it in the tank i used the thongs to make it look like it was alive i dangled it in front of him and nothing not a strike i even touched his head a few times with it i left him in a box by them selves and nothing so i abandonded the whole frozen mice thing. Now what i do is i get hoppers most of the time and i alternate their meals like a full grown mouse then a hopper then a rat pup. And yes i feed live if the mouse is a big one and i see that he is very active i knock it out first then put it in the tank and i move it with the thongs and he goes right after it i think fresh dead is better anyway. but as far as the rat pups and the hoppers i feed those live they dont pose much of a risk to either of my snakes and plus i think they enjoy the hunt. 8)

[CTReptileRescue]

Hi Marla,
I just thought I'd add my two cents as my husband and I run Rusty's Dragons.
If you have the room, (remember you need to isolate each animal) and have the time, (At our house it is a two person full time job), and have enough money to bring each animal to a qualified DVM. (Please know that my husband and I are both certified vet techs, and yes we still have our herp vet on call 24/7 and she sees each individual animal). I am sure their is a million more things to add. But if you can have the above things it is always nice to see true hearted rescues. Just remember their is such a thing as rescueing rescues. Many people have a great love for specific animals, and start a "rescue", But they never adopt, or find new homes for the animals they take in, they just hoard them. There is a fine line between the two, and you always have to stay on top of it. Just ensure you don't take something in that you don't have the room for or the time for. Everyone has a limit, and if you overload yourself, you end up hurting the animals instead of helping them.
Also check your state / town / county ordinances, laws. Many individual counties and towns have different laws on certain species. even on how many you can own. So that is always good to know.
Well sorry to ramble, I guess this isn't really just to Marla, It's to whom ever wants to start a rescue. It can be done, But it is allot of work. It is definately a lifestyle. My husband and I have been doing this for a little over ten years, and this is our life. There are many setbacks and heartaches, But the rewards are absolutely priceless.
Thanks
Rusty

[Marla]

Rusty,
Thanks for your input. I appreciate the thought and effort you put into it. I do realize there is a limit to what I can do, and I am not looking to start a large-scale or multi-species rescue. When I move this summer, I expect to have a herp room for my snakes and places elsewhere in the house where I can house additional animals in isolation. I'd only consider taking in a couple of animals before then, or possibly a couple of groupings worth that came from the same initial location and could be expected to have already cross-contaminated and could therefore be housed in a shared rack (not shared cage).

I will not have access to a herp vet 24/7 as far as I can anticipate, but would have access to a vet tech at irregular hours and a vet during regular hours and would make use of that. That's not perfect, but better than most of the rescue animals are likely to have in the first place at least. I will check for local ordinances (and thank you for that reminder), but I'm pretty sure there is not a limit on bp's that I could house at once (though I can't have a single corn snake).

Thanks again for pointing out factors that should be considered by anyone thinking about starting a rescue, of whatever size and species.
Marla

[Tigergenesis]

Don't know if this will help with your transition to F/T, but I finally learned that my little guy will eat F/T as long as the outside temp of the prey is at least 108 degrees. At first I thought it was a coincedence, but then I conducted an experiment - and lo and behold, he would not strike unless the temp was at least 108. And another thing, my BP has actually only struck the prey directly from the tongs once. What I have to do is, first get the prey to 108 minimum, dangle over and in front of him, and drop the mouse. As soon as it hits the ground he strikes. I suggested this method to someone on another forum who was having problems and it worked for them too.

Picky little guy - but I love him!

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