Sam ATE!!!!

[Chained]

As many of you might remember, my little baby sam, had to be assist fed last week. well im proud to say he finally ate ALL ON HIS OWN! i was pretty suprised too, because it was a rather large mouse, but he gulped it down and is now happily digesting in his warm hide. For all of you that are wanting your hatchlings to eat frozen mice, i will list exactly what i did here.

1. put the frozen mouse in a paper(disposable) bowl, and set it on top of sams cage. left it there for about 1 hour.
2. got a hairdryer, opened sams cage top, and proceeded to warm the mouse on a high heat/low fan setting (nice and warm, without too much noise) i did this right in front of sams cage, and made sure i was blowing in his direction, after about 2 minutes of this, sam started to peek out of his warm hide.
3. i grabbed the mouse behind the back of the neck with tongs, and proceeded to do the zombie rat dance (previously i had held the mouse by its tail, and sam could care less)
4. and making the rat wiggle exactly 2 times, sam proceeded to piledrive the mouse with all of his considerable 70grams of weight, and viciously wrap around and "kill" it.
5. i stayed and watched very quietly to make sure he didn't choke (it really was a big mouse) and after he was done, i left him alone.

I'm no expert by any means, but hopefully this helps some of you that are wanting your young ones to eat frozen mice. Funny part is, i was planning on going to buy a live mouse tomorrow if he didn't take the f/t last night.

[Punkymom]

Congrats!

[Salamander Rising]

As many of you might remember, my little baby sam, had to be assist fed last week. well im proud to say he finally ate ALL ON HIS OWN! i was pretty suprised too, because it was a rather large mouse, but he gulped it down and is now happily digesting in his warm hide. For all of you that are wanting your hatchlings to eat frozen mice, i will list exactly what i did here.

1. put the frozen mouse in a paper(disposable) bowl, and set it on top of sams cage. left it there for about 1 hour.
2. got a hairdryer, opened sams cage top, and proceeded to warm the mouse on a high heat/low fan setting (nice and warm, without too much noise) i did this right in front of sams cage, and made sure i was blowing in his direction, after about 2 minutes of this, sam started to peek out of his warm hide.
3. i grabbed the mouse behind the back of the neck with tongs, and proceeded to do the zombie rat dance (previously i had held the mouse by its tail, and sam could care less)
4. and making the rat wiggle exactly 2 times, sam proceeded to piledrive the mouse with all of his considerable 70grams of weight, and viciously wrap around and "kill" it.
5. i stayed and watched very quietly to make sure he didn't choke (it really was a big mouse) and after he was done, i left him alone.

I'm no expert by any means, but hopefully this helps some of you that are wanting your young ones to eat frozen mice. Funny part is, i was planning on going to buy a live mouse tomorrow if he didn't take the f/t last night.

[HerpIsAhobby]

Congrats to you and Sam. Little ones just need a little extra time and patience.

[Chained]

Congrats to you and Sam. Little ones just need a little extra time and patience.

I know, but it's so HARD to have patience when they're just a baby. it's like "why wont you EAT stupid! you have to eat! eat this mouse, eat it! right now!"

lol, but seriously, you guys know what i mean. with adults i imagine it would be a little easier, as they go off feed for a while and as long as they maintain weight its not too horrible.

but sam was starting to get that little "im hungry but im also too dumb to eat" wrinkle along his side. im just so glad he finally ate on his own.

When he struck that mouse, i got so excited i almost peed a little

[sprockett]

Congrats....my hatchling just ate last night for the first time by himself in 2 months...4 assist feeds....my thread I started is called advice?..explains my story....I know how you feel...extremely excited is northern word for it...I've worried for months..the people on bp.net saved my lil champs life...great bunch of people