How to feed f/t

[sgarelick]

I have what may sound like a stupid question but I wanted some insight on how to feed f/t to my juvenile BP. I've thawed and warmed the mouse up but am not 100% sure how to introduce it into the cage. I bought a pair of tongs so am I supposed to dangle the mouse in front of the snake or should I put the mouse down somewhere inside of the cage and let the snake find it? If I put it down in the cage, should it be placed on top of the substrate (aspen) or put somewhere else where the substrate won't get on it and risk the chance of the substrate being ingested by the snake?

Thanks in advance for you help.

--Steve

[weirdbuglady]

First of all I would cover part of the aspen with newspaper or paper towel so no shavings get stuck. Though if the mouse is dry, it shouldnt be much of a problem.

I would try dangling the mouse, or making it "jump" or "twitch" around on the bottom of the cage. Sometimes they have an instant feeding response. Sometimes it takes them about 10 minutes of watching you struggle to finally grab it (I had to perform the dead mouse dance for about 20 minutes for my little guy yesterday before he finally took it). Sometimes you need to leave the mouse in the cage overnight and it'll be gone the next morning.

It can be frustrating at times, and each snake is different. Once it gets onto f/t consistently though... it's a good feeling. My three year old girl loves f/t rats like a fat kid loves cake. Doesn't think or sniff twice.

[Bright202]

I have what may sound like a stupid question but I wanted some insight on how to feed f/t to my juvenile BP. I've thawed and warmed the mouse up but am not 100% sure how to introduce it into the cage. I bought a pair of tongs so am I supposed to dangle the mouse in front of the snake or should I put the mouse down somewhere inside of the cage and let the snake find it? If I put it down in the cage, should it be placed on top of the substrate (aspen) or put somewhere else where the substrate won't get on it and risk the chance of the substrate being ingested by the snake?

Thanks in advance for you help.

--Steve

what i do with my little guy is i put the f/t rodent in warm water, let it sit for 3 mins. Then i let it dry move my snake in a different tub and dangle the mouse in front of him. try it. you don't wanna risk the chance of him swallowing substrate.Usually works good for me. let it sniff it for a bit make it look like the mouse is sniffing it or touching it, mine little guy goes ape on it lol.

Mitch

[SatanicIntention]

I don't see how a completely frozen mouse is going to properly thaw in 3 minutes. Adult mice take a good 15-20 minutes depending on how big they are.

Also, there is nothing wrong with feeding on aspen or other substrates. Their stomach acids can break down bone, teeth, keratin, etc. A little cellulose isn't going to hurt a thing.

I feed all of mine live adult mice in their tubs, around 10pm. It only takes me one hour to feed off 70+ mice. Since Ball Pythons are ambush hunters, I leave everything in their tubs and pre-scent the room for a good 30 minutes. This gets everyone primed and ready, so they know what is going to happen. I then have a particular order in which I feed all of them; big rack first, top to bottom, juvie-young adult rack second, top to bottom, and baby racks. There really is no reason to move them out of their home enclosure, and I feel it puts too much stress on them. Stress = possibility for regurgitation. It is also a good opportunity for them to bite you, being that they are in feeding mode before you put them into the feeding tub and then again when you are putting them back into their home enclosure. Doesn't make much sense to me

[Krazy99CL]

I don't see how a completely frozen mouse is going to properly thaw in 3 minutes. Adult mice take a good 15-20 minutes depending on how big they are.

Also, there is nothing wrong with feeding on aspen or other substrates. Their stomach acids can break down bone, teeth, keratin, etc. A little cellulose isn't going to hurt a thing.

I feed all of mine live adult mice in their tubs, around 10pm. It only takes me one hour to feed off 70+ mice. Since Ball Pythons are ambush hunters, I leave everything in their tubs and pre-scent the room for a good 30 minutes. This gets everyone primed and ready, so they know what is going to happen. I then have a particular order in which I feed all of them; big rack first, top to bottom, juvie-young adult rack second, top to bottom, and baby racks. There really is no reason to move them out of their home enclosure, and I feel it puts too much stress on them. Stress = possibility for regurgitation. It is also a good opportunity for them to bite you, being that they are in feeding mode before you put them into the feeding tub and then again when you are putting them back into their home enclosure. Doesn't make much sense to me

sounds good, but Ive been buying my f/ts from a local pet store and my snake didnt have any interest. Could it be that they had it in the freezer with the bag open. Freezer burn smell?
I was thinking to buy it in bulk(rodentpro, big cheese, etc) like you guys do and do it that way since it probably smellls better, for the snake.

[kurgan]

Some snakes will happily eat a rodent that is warmed up and just left in their cage, many need you to do the rat/mouse dance with the tongs. I'd start out doing the dance as they are used to live prey then in a few weeks try to just leave it in there.

I have always bought in bags of 25 but I am going to stop - with just one snake to feed each bag lasts over half a year and I am noticing a huge amount of waste/skipped meals towards the end of the sack. I keep them in individual zip locks too so they are sealed as they can get. My advice would be don't buy in bags of more than 10 meals/snake at any one time.

Defrost them inside zip lock bags ina tub of warm water then when thoroughly defrosted stick the bag back in fresh hot water for a few mins to warm them up. The bag means they don't get wet or lose thier scent.

[MPenn]

Sometimes the snake will not go for a previously frozen rodent because they are not of the proper temperature. They need to be about body temp, ie. 90F +.


If nothing else, hit the rodent with a little warm air from a hair dryer.

I also had to add that Becky gave some good advice here:

Also, there is nothing wrong with feeding on aspen or other substrates. Their stomach acids can break down bone, teeth, keratin, etc. A little cellulose isn't going to hurt a thing.