First Feed - Few Questions

[Craiga 01453]

Shake me on the tongs gently and see if he takes it.

Keep us in the loop.

Please don't try to shake Dakski on tongs.
Hahahhaha

This is definitely one of the better auto-corrects recently.

[dakski]

Please don't try to shake Dakski on tongs.
Hahahhaha

This is definitely one of the better auto-corrects recently.

They would have to be big tongs........and you might need a crane, or at least a lift of some kind.

Prednisone every day for the past 6 1/2 years has not been kind to my figure. On the other hand, 6 1/2 years with no signs of my transplanted kidney slowing down. I’ll take that trade.

Besides, Katie thinks I am a looker, and that’s all that matters.

[pHenom]

Alrighty so i tried to feed as he was moving around the enclosure at night. Tried to pre scent and he went into a hide so i used the hair dryer to warm it up. He was staring at it from the hide for a bit but never took a shot. 15g rat fuzzy. I got too close once and he flinched back a bit.

How hot do you try and get they prey? Maybe i didnt use the hair dryer for long enough

[Zincubus]

Alrighty so i tried to feed as he was moving around the enclosure at night. Tried to pre scent and he went into a hide so i used the hair dryer to warm it up. He was staring at it from the hide for a bit but never took a shot. 15g rat fuzzy. I got too close once and he flinched back a bit.

How hot do you try and get they prey? Maybe i didnt use the hair dryer for long enough

Sorry but you probably did the WORST thing possible by offering when it was moving around ...
I did suggest for the first attempt to wait until it was 'settled' under a hide


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[Zincubus]

One last thing... which ever way you choose ... many Royals/ Balls especially youngsters will ONLY strike from under their hides where they feel secure ..

So for the first time at least I'd make sure its settled under its hide for a while then dangle the WARM mouse in front of the hide entrance and DON'T blink !


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[pHenom]

Sorry but you probably did the WORST thing possible by offering when it was moving around ...
I did suggest for the first attempt to wait until it was 'settled' under a hide

He was in his hide. He came out to explore as the sun was coming down so i put the rat fuzzy near his cage to pre scent, he went into his hide within minutes and that is when i used the hair dryer and attempted to feed

[Zincubus]

He was in his hide. He came out to explore as the sun was coming down so i put the rat fuzzy near his cage to pre scent, he went into his hide within minutes and that is when i used the hair dryer and attempted to feed

Thing is these young Royals are generally so nervous .. sure you get the odd one two who will feed anywhere but they are in the minority I'd say ..


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[Zincubus]

I read it as though you'd offered it as it was roaming around . Which is a no~no for young nervous types
I have a couple of good feeders and a couple of nervous ones .
With the two nervy ones I make sure they've been settled in their hides for hours before even trying to offer to them ..

Now those two ( both Albino oddly ) will feed 100% from a settled hiding place but occasionally when I'm feeding all the snakes in the evening- one of these two will be roaming out and about and if I dangle it near it or in front of it's face it actually runs away and scarpers into the nearest hide ... but if won't feed then , not even later . It's just too unsettled by then ..

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[Cheesenugget]

I recently fed my new dum boa, and similar to bp, they are shy little buggers and the babies are known to be difficult to feed due to being so sensitive to stress. If your husbandry is on point, and if it is hungry, they would do what is natural which is to hide, wait for the prey to come by and strike. And feed at night. Your snake may be getting into position when you interrupted him and shove (gently) a food source in its face, who is already terrified of you.

That happened to me with the dum as well. He was not in 'position.' I think it could be I accidentally bumped into his tub before I fed him lol. He was out of hiding but just hanging out. He did not take his food. So I left his food in a section of his tub that has no substrate and hoped for the best.

And.. He ate it overnight.

So lesson learned, try your best to provide the most ideal condition (wait for him to hide and feed at night). If you are as clumsy as me, then leave it overnight and see what happens. This trick did NOT work for my bp so it may not work for you depending whether or not it got spooked because you are there, food is not warm enough, husbandry is off, it is still stressed out and/or it does not recognize what that is. Just make sure to throw out the next morning if it did not eat it.

I usually blow dry the prey for 15 sec each side, more so on the face area and belly after 2x warm water soaks (without bag). One try per week, stay at same type and size of rodent, and try at least one more time f/t before giving him live and try again with the switch.

[Craiga 01453]

OP, to answer your question, the prey item should be warm enough to "trick" the snake into thinking it's alive.
This is another great reason to have a a temp gun. I've fed so many times I don't need to anymore, but starting out its a good idea to put the temp gun on the prey item. Try to get a reading on the whole body, but focus on the head.
Try to get a temp around 100F.