Thanks but No Thanks

[PolishPython]

Ok, so Sunday I went to a guy who rescues reptiles house for some supplies, real nice guy hooked it up. Mentioned to me to try F/T mice for my BP's he said its cheaper and if they take he will pick me up some at the next show in Hamburg 2 weeks. So I just tried today and I ended up with 3 Pissed off snakes now its too late the pet store isnt open so now they have to wait until tomorrow after work.

[Mike Schultz]

They will be OK

While I am a strong supporter of 'i'd rather have my snakes eating live than not eating" I have to ask, how did you go about feeding f/t? Are you sure you are doing everything right?

[steveboos]

You can't really just go to your snakes and say "eat this dead rodent." It takes some patience and a little dancing to make it work. Plus it takes time if your snakes been have eating live for a long time.

Stephen.

[PolishPython]

I tried as much as I could dangling it from the tail dancing it all around on my 2 babies .....now my bigger normal struck twice but missed by a mile I got the impression he wanted to try me and sayin what the heck is this crap lol so I will continue with the live.

[Freakie_frog]

now my bigger normal struck twice but missed by a mile I got the impression he wanted to try me and sayin what the heck is this crap lol so I will continue with the live.

that tells me that the rats wasn't warm enough. if it's smelling the rat and striking at you then you need to hit that rat with a blow dryer.. real quick and warm him up

[piper]

I tried as much as I could dangling it from the tail dancing it all around on my 2 babies .....now my bigger normal struck twice but missed by a mile I got the impression he wanted to try me and sayin what the heck is this crap lol so I will continue with the live.

How did you thaw them out? How long did you thaw them out for? Were they warm enough? Did you prescent? How long have you had the snakes for? Were they eating f/t when you got them? How old are snakes?

[SiscoReptiles]

I agree, the rat needs to be warmer. Thaw the rodent in water that is a bit above luke warm until the rat is soft and thawed all the way through. Then dry it well with a paper towel until it's dry and fluffy. Then dangle it in front of the snake. If the snake shows interest, hold it still. if the snake doesn't show much interest, make the rat "walk away from the snake slowly", this will sometimes trigger a strike. Balls are an ambush predator, so if you start dancing a cold rodent on top of the snake, the snake may ball up and be less likely to eat the f/t rodent.

Rick

[Kaorte]

Probably would have eaten them if you blasted them with a hair dryer for a few seconds before offering, if they wouldn't take it from you they might have eaten it if you left it in the enclosure with them.