Quote Originally Posted by Marduk View Post
You and me both.

Last week I prepared a frozen mouse purchased from a local pet store. I heated him up well under a CHE to avoid getting him wet. The mouse became so soft, his stomach ripped open when I picked him up with tongs. The room reeked of dead mouse. My BP was very responsive to the smell and became SUPER active. I tried feeding him the opened mouse but no go... Mouse temp was about 98 degrees, and his head was 103 (according to my IR gun). He "smells" the food when presented and just stares at it. Zombie dance does nothing; leaving it overnight does nothing.

So envious of all the stories I read where people say, "Hey, just tried F/T and he just took it!" Grrr.
I'll admit I'm one of those lucky people with my guys though my big male still occasionally looks at me like I'm crazy and goes back in his hide but he was on live for 2 years before being switched. He prefers if I dangle it right outside his hide and let it just kind of tremble. If I move it too much, he won't touch it. He also pulls it back into his hide immediately.

A trick for thawing them out without having them pop like that (nothing smells worse than that!) is to let them thaw in the fridge or on the counter (fridge is safer) before heating them up slowly. Every time I've tried to quick thaw whether it's in the oven on low or under a heat lamp, the strikes either have to be to the head or I'm cleaning rat guts up off my snakes and cages. Only my corns will eat an exploded dinner but they'll eat anything... My bp's lose their appetite. When heating, try it in the room with him. If it gets a little too warm, it will smell more and if you can get him in that excited mood before trying to feed it to him, hopefully it will help with a strike and constrict. Just let it cool off some before offering so he doesn't get burned.