mouse to rat transition (its a no go)

[Super_Smash]

k, this is the second time i've tried feeding Pandora a rat. the first time she was scared of it and flew into her hide, and tonight she's just kinda starin at it. she'll go and practically rest her head on the dumb thing, and then look at it. i've tried waving the rat in front of her and doin the rat dance, but its no good. its been in her tank for about.... a half hour now, and nothing.

silly snakes.

anyone suggest anything?? :?

[Blink]

Shes been eating mice with no problem right?
If she isn't fasting, I'd scent the rats with a mouse.

[Super_Smash]

yeah, she's great at eating mice. i'll try rubbin the mouse on the rat tomorrow or so.. hopefully that works!

[led4urhead]

You may wanna give her a couple of days between tries. That way she can calm back down and get a bit more hungry.

[Blink]

Yeah, I'd do what Carson says ... and give her a few days, after I'd scent the rats with the mouse.

[BallPythonBabe448]

hmmm....do you feed live, FT or PK? if you feeed ft try a PK rat it might have more of a scent....and if you feed PK you can try a live to see what happens

[Super_Smash]

i feed her f/t.... i couldnt do the whole smashing the rats head thing. lol, my dad said he could kill the rat for me but i'd just feel too bad. im gona try to rub a mouse on it, hopefully it'll work

[Blink]

hmmm....do you feed live, FT or PK? if you feeed ft try a PK rat it might have more of a scent....and if you feed PK you can try a live to see what happens

The last thing in the world she should be doing is feeding live buddy.

i feed her f/t.... i couldnt do the whole smashing the rats head thing. lol, my dad said he could kill the rat for me but i'd just feel too bad. im gona try to rub a mouse on it, hopefully it'll work

I feed Tantrum a small rat about two weeks ago, the rat was kept in the same bag as the f/t mouse ... the horrible smell of the mouse pretty much rubbed off onto the rat.
A few days ago I tried feeding her a pre-killed rat and she wouldn't take it, most likely because it didn't smell like the mouse.

[Ginevive]

Maybe it's not thawed to a warm-enough temperature? I know that someone (I think it was Smulkin) suggested warming the thawed rodent with a heatlamp for a few seconds befpre feeding, so the prey gives off a better heat signal to the snake.
I know that one of My Bps, Goblin, will not touch f/t unless it's warmed pretty hot. You just don't want to cook the rat, though, which will cause chemical changes and lessen the nutritional value.

[msolorz]

Helix sells heat strips that you can plug into the wall. They work great.