I'd advise against thawing the mouse out in water,I been told by quiet a few friends that depletes the nutrients..so what I do is,thaw it out at room temperature and then place the heat lamp over it for 5-10 mins tell it's fully thAwed and warm,I then open the package/ziplock bag it's in and place it on top the screen so Kocur can smell it,once he smells it,tongue is going and he is out and ready to feed..
Quote Originally Posted by bcr229 View Post
Some tricks when offering f/t rodents:
- Make sure the f/t mouse is completely thawed and warmed up before feeding.
- Try thawing it both wet (immerse directly in warm water) and dry (put roden in plastic bag and then in the water), and see if your snake prefers one over the other.
- Heat the head using a blow dryer so it's slightly warmer than the body.
- Brain the f/t mouse before offering it to your snake, some will go for the smell.

Kudos for teaching your son responsibility. I'm doing the same for my daughter and she helps clean the enclosures as well. Before cleaning I remove the snake and put him in a separate tub temporarily, as we don't want to risk him getting hurt if something falls or gets dropped when we're moving hides, water dishes, etc. I've also never had a BP even threaten to bite. The most they'll do is hiss if they're blue. OTOH my king snakes are very food driven, to the point I'm hook training them to break the response.