Feeding a to large of a prey?!

[Anonymous]

Hey, I was wondernig ... what if someone feed their snake a prey that was a bit bigger then what they should be feeding.
You guys see any problems in that?

Also I have another question, do mice still keep their scent even after they get frozen, and kept in the freezer for 30 days?!

[Jeanne]

I have only seen too large prey fed once, the snake was not able to eat it and gave up.

[hhw]

Ball pythons are pretty smart, and will generally refuse anything that's too big for them. If you've ever fed something that's near their limit, you'll notice they spend a lot of time measuring up the prey before swallowing. I've observed this behaviour in other types of snakes too, including corn snakes and rat snakes. The only type of snake that really worries me about eating something too big is house snakes... they'll try to eat anything you put in front of them.

[led4urhead]

I could defintiely see some problems with feeding a prey item that is too big. For one, if the bp takes it ( and i do mean if for the reason that hhw posted above ) you've gotta think about what that size prey could do to the digestive tract of the snake. They are only made to stretch so far. Same thing goes with the jaw and all its connective tissue and muscles. I've brought home rats that were too big for Andy before, and he wouldnt even eat them. Slither all over them, sure ... but not even strike at or try to eat. If you get home and realize that the rat you've gotten is too big call the petstore ( or ask them while you are there ) if they would exchange the rat for you. I've had to do that twice now. The place i go to is very helpful that way, and if its a mom and pop kind of operation .. they're glad to have the repeat business.

As for the second question, i'm sure they still smell like rodent. I only froze pre-killed once and thawed it back out. Andy took it with no problems. Just make sure you are not leaving it dead before freezing for too long. Otherwise it will start its decomposure process and can be really stinky :shock:

[Marla]

The mice (or other rodents) will keep their scent if stored in quality freezer bags, but not in wimpy little sandwich baggies.

[Smulkin]

Indeed - now if they get wet somehow while you are thawing - say the little sharp rat paws pop a hole in the baggie - THAT can seriously degrade the scent to the point we've had to rescent them in order to get the feed off.

[Anonymous]

Alright, thanks for the information.