feeding Q...help please !

[Brandon.O]

ok im tryin to switch from live to f/t , since they dont sell frozen at the pet store here i bought a couple mice and killed them (humanely) and froze them .then i took them out and thawed them out i took rockie (snake) out of his cage and put him in the fedding tank ,then got a pair of tongs and grabbed the mouse and lowerd it into the tank he looked intrested but confused, he never struck so i tried again and again wiggling it in front of him but nothing ever happend so after about 10 minutes i took it out and then the next week i just tossed it in there and left him alone and he again looked intrested but he never did anything, what should i do !

[emroul]

Do you know how warm the mouse is when you introduce it to Rockie? That is the main thing (imo) that confuses a snake about f/t. I have almost 30 ball pythons, and every single one of them takes f/t rats without hesitation- as long as I do it right. The water they are in MUST be over 105F. I don't know why. If the rat is right at 100F, the snake won't even look at it. So, maybe you can try that if the water wasn't hot enough. And patience is usually the key with these guys. Especially when making the switch to f/t. Sometimes my best feeders still take 8-10 minutes to even look interested (and by that time my arm is getting pretty tired, lol). But eventually they take it.

Oh, also, how exactly do you offer it? You can try to take the mouse by the scruff of the neck and make it look alive by prancing it around the floor of the enclosure. This is what I have to do sometimes, and it works 9 times out of 10.

Good luck,
Jennifer

[Brandon.O]

i havent tried the scruff thing....its not that im scared, i just dont want him to mistake my finger for his food but i guess i will give it a try. i put the mouse in a plastic bag and then put the bag in really warm water to defrost it, how do u get it warmer ? ohh and by the way i think its awesome that u have so many ball pythons i was thinking about getting another one he was about 2 feet long and looked very healthy but i decided to wait until i am a little bit more experinced with the one i have already.

[emroul]

i havent tried the scruff thing....its not that im scared, i just dont want him to mistake my finger for his food but i guess i will give it a try.

You said you have a pair of tongs, right? Just use those, and you should be ok.

but i decided to wait until i am a little bit more experinced with the one i have already.

That is a very smart thing to do. Most people "impulse buy", and it drives me nuts. Good job!

Jennifer

[Brandon.O]

thanks, the tongs are wierd they are like cooking tongs and they are really big so i think it might scare and/or confuse him i saw a pair at petsmart that looked like gigantic tweezers, im going to pick up a pair next time i go.

[Alkaurkharim]

I bought a pair of "Children's Chopsticks" to use as tongs. They work very well. They cost me like 2$. Here's a pic: