Frozen/thawed

[Zincubus]

I hold it by the tail at one end of the enclosure and shake it a little, she came closer, flicking her tongue and then went for it a couple times, but missed each time. Maybe she could tell it was already dead and didn't like it anywhere in her enclosure so she was trying to defend against it?


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I'd persist with that approach BUT wait until evening - keep lights low - warm up with a hairdryer and then dangle in front of the snake IMMEDIATELY .. they only hold the heat for a few seconds ... also 3 or 4 of my Royals will ONLY strike from their hides !!

[EL-Ziggy]

Some snakes are stubborn when switching to f/t but only a few never make the transition. Sometimes it takes a lot of patience and a little tough love but if you only offer f/t the animal will eat eventually. I have yet to see a healthy animal starve itself to death when food was consistently offered. I agree with super heating the prey item with a hairdryer and trying the zombie dance. Those things have worked for me in the past. You can also try leaving the prey item in overnight. I have one snake that won't take food from the tongs. I have to leave her food in the enclosure overnight and it's always gone by morning.

[Lizardlicks]

Honestly sounds more like the snake def wanted to eat but wasn't being presented with it right so she was having trouble aiming. Heat it up like Pit said- I actually aim for a temp of 101 on the head since that's a rat's internal body temp- then hold the rodent by the back hips with tongs and offer it head first. No dangling, it's not a pinata.

[SpaceJellyfish]

You want blast it with a hair dryer and get the head around 95 degrees......

I remember thinking the hair dryer tip was crazy. I had a issues getting my snake to eat at first (my fault from inexperience) and ever since I've used the hair dryer he hasn't refused a meal. He strikes as soon as he sees the rat. It's like magic!!!

[SpaceJellyfish]

Honestly sounds more like the snake def wanted to eat but wasn't being presented with it right so she was having trouble aiming. Heat it up like Pit said- I actually aim for a temp of 101 on the head since that's a rat's internal body temp- then hold the rodent by the back hips with tongs and offer it head first. No dangling, it's not a pinata.

I second heating it up to around 100F. It takes me a bit of time to open his viv so I heat mine to around 105F so it has room to cool a bit.
I found my snake had an easier time striking when I held the rat by the hips/back. Holding it by the tail seemed to make him miss or have a less stable grip on the rat.