whats the best way to get snake to go from live to f/t

[Reptile King]

Once you have the mouse/rat thawed out place it in the room with the snake for 30 to 60 minutes. This will allow your snake to smell the food and as well as condition him/her that it is feeding time. Don't give up!

[saber2th]

You could try to heat up some water in a microwave to the temp. that you would drink coffee. Then dip the mouse in the water for several seconds and a
quick dry (just make sure the mouse is not hot) and offer it to the snake. You may have to hold it by the tail and move it around to to fool the snake into hitting it.

just a thought,

Dave

[jben]

please make sure that you use hemostats to hold the food item.

[saber2th]

please make sure that you use hemostats to hold the food item.

good call, jben!!

[exiled reptile]

ive done basically all that except the hairdryer thing it just worries me because i dont want to let my baby to get hurt and it gets a little messy feeding fresh killed because i dont know my own strength end up splattering mouse blood all over ps thank you all

[scutechute]

When I got a couple baby balls last year I started them on live mice, then switched to PK to get them used to eating inanimate food items, and then I made the jump to F/T.

Like was said earlier, I find it best if I thaw them out throughout the day. Not only do you make sure they're completely thawed, but you pre-scent the room also. I agree that you should try to bump up the temps on the food item right before trying to offer them to the snake - either through a heatpad or a dunk in some hot water.

Sometimes with my adult bp, if i'm dangling the food item in front of her and she looks interested but doesn't strike right away, I'll simply leave the rat in her tub and sometimes she takes it without a strike. Sometimes not though.

Good luck...and sometimes I think it comes down to that!

Tony

[j_h_smith]

Hemostats are really needed once the snakes get to a larger size. They cost about $20, and I think that's money well spent.

Jim Smith


Jim Smith