I have a small flock of chickens and I let them brood their own chicks. Well this afternoon a 2 day old chick was trampled dead. It was freshly killed within 2 hours so I fed it to my BP. He is ready for Medium rats now but I am using up the small ones first so I fed him a small rat soon after he took the chick. (Today happened to be his feeding day anyway so I already had it thawed.) He accepted both quite quickly and when I peeked in to check on him he was acting like he was ready for more, came to the top of his enclosure ready to strike again! Guess I am just lucky he is such a good eater.
When I was just learning about how to feed frozen thawed I did as I seen in a you tube video where someone dried the mouse with a hair dryer after thawing it in a bucket of water, so that is what I had been doing. But one time I was in a hurry. After thawing in a baggie in the fridge all day I set the baggie in hot tap water for about 20 minutes or so as usual. The rat was wet as the baggie leaked but offered it that way as I didn't have time to dry it. He took it just fine and it didn't take as long for him to swallow it so after that I don't bother trying to dry the rat when the baggie leaks. I think the warm and wet rodent may give off more scent because since I have been doing it this way he just about comes out of his box to grab it. He knows it's out there when I have it outside of his enclosure. Before he even sees it he's hunting for it. Also I think because it is wet he can swallow it easier plus he gets more liquid that way too. Is there any reason I should dry the rodent? If the fur has too much water can he get water in his lungs from it? If that is a possibility would blot drying it be good enough?
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