Having trouble feeding. I think my BP is scared of f/t rats.

[AdamF]

A moist feeder is fine BUT...this allows the substrate to stick to it more so your snake ingest more substrate than it should. While the substrate MOST LIKELY won't harm your snake to much can cause impaction.

As for your temps. I highly recommend getting a IR temp gun. If your cage floor at the probe is at 90 the thickness of the substrate will make the temp on top of the substrate very and it will be lower.

If you thaw it in water you really have no need to pre-thaw in the fridge. She is explaining like many will thaw meat like a steak or chicken for cooking. You do it so the meat is ready for cooking and doesn't require you to thaw it all the way when you want to cook it. Saves time. Feeders are so small though the water does a great job thawing them out.

Newspaper is my substrate. No worries there. Maybe my snakes will learn to read. I use temp gun too. I dont buy the 15 min thing though. My snakes are in my office, and occassionally they want total quiet before they eat. 2 spiders attack well, male pastel likes night time. I don't think you can say 15 min applies to all

[KMG]

I don't think you can say 15 min applies to all

Your right. But with his snake be picky, dangling the feeder for much longer is not gonna make it feed. If it doesn't happen it usually won't. Your just wasting time.

Now trying to just lay the feeder in the cage I would leave it longer but still wouldn't leave it longer than 30 minutes.

I am not one that likes to waste a feeder so I try to leave them thawed for the shortest amount of time possible. If they refuse for 15 minutes mine don't get to eat. I'm lucky and my snakes feed great, so missing one meal here and there doesn't bother.

[AdamF]

Your right. But with his snake be picky, dangling the feeder for much longer is not gonna make it feed. If it doesn't happen it usually won't. Your just wasting time.

Now trying to just lay the feeder in the cage I would leave it longer but still wouldn't leave it longer than 30 minutes.

I am not one that likes to waste a feeder so I try to leave them thawed for the shortest amount of time possible. If they refuse for 15 minutes mine don't get to eat. I'm lucky and my snakes feed great, so missing one meal here and there doesn't bother.

Agreed. The hunger/hunt instinct does not increase with prolonged zombie dance. If mine don't hit in 90 secs, they usually wont eat (rare) or want me to leave them alone and get out of the room. I dont have issue leaving feeder over night, but for some reason I do have issue thawing and re freezing.

i have read, in the wild, a BP will eat dead prey it comes upon.

[blaze]

A moist feeder is fine BUT...this allows the substrate to stick to it more so your snake ingest more substrate than it should. While the substrate MOST LIKELY won't harm your snake to much can cause impaction.

As for your temps. I highly recommend getting a IR temp gun. If your cage floor at the probe is at 90 the thickness of the substrate will make the temp on top of the substrate very and it will be lower.

If you thaw it in water you really have no need to pre-thaw in the fridge. She is explaining like many will thaw meat like a steak or chicken for cooking. You do it so the meat is ready for cooking and doesn't require you to thaw it all the way when you want to cook it. Saves time. Feeders are so small though the water does a great job thawing them out.

Yeah I think I will invest in a temp gun. I can use it on my rat pups too right? lol He was in his cool hide all day yesterday. I came to my room last night and noticed he was poking his head out of his hot hide. Woke up and he is still there right now. Sleeping of course. I think he literally just discovered it. Which makes me happy!

I guess I should just stick to thawing in water then. If I use a temp gun on my rat pup, what is the recommended temperature to have it at?

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Agreed. The hunger/hunt instinct does not increase with prolonged zombie dance. If mine don't hit in 90 secs, they usually wont eat (rare) or want me to leave them alone and get out of the room. I dont have issue leaving feeder over night, but for some reason I do have issue thawing and re freezing.

i have read, in the wild, a BP will eat dead prey it comes upon.

Should I just zombie dance for around a minute or two? After that just leave it alone in with him and wait for an hour and see if he eats it? Do you recommend leaving the feeder in his enclosure overnight in my situation?