Feeding: Things i'm learning

[Joykoins]

When i first took on caring for 13 BPs, I did feedings all in the same day. Water sloshing everywhere because I was using the cool water thawing technique. Much frustration with rat claws puncturing ziplocks bags, wet fur, pots of the slowest heating water, all to eventually dangle the reptile equivalent of a TV dinner over a snake's head that ends up snubbing me and obliterating all my hardwork. This whole process took 9 hours.

Thank heavens those days are over :D

I now leisurely pick rats for my Group A snakes and toss them in a sealable tupperware container and let the fridge do the hard work of defrosting for 48 hours while I go live my charmed life. About half an hour before I intend to feed, I get a nice hot (105-110F) pot of water going (sped along with some microwave heated water) and place 2-3 rats in a paper towel lined gallon freezer bag. The bag is submerged and kept below the surface (but not touching the bottom!) by an ordinary ceramic dinner plate, the bag is left open to allow air to escape, but kept from falling into the pot by a little plastic clamp. 15 odd minutes later, the rats have come to their natural body temp (~100F). One final bit of flair, is that I take a heat gun (low setting) and "season" the rat by releasing more scent and create a hot spot for the head, so the snakes are guaranteed not to miss. Tongs in hand, I go to my rack to find practically half of them circling the front of their bins like sharks. From there I open the bin and begin my deception.

With as much stealth as possible, i'll lower the rat into the bin someplace out of sight of the resident, then make the rat do a brief scuffle noise, 2 to 3 times. At this point, the snake knows its not alone. I make the mouse appear juuuust on the edge of their peripheral vision and back out. This is the moment that grabs snake's full attention and it begins the creep. I like to be sure that when the prey is struck, it's not in a bad part of the enclosure that will prevent me from closing the bin or landing in the water dish, so I let the snake stalk into the best spot. One thing i've noticed, is that all of my snakes wait to strike when the prey is facing 3/4s away from them, I'm guessing they dislike it when prey is staring them directly in the eye and also prefer to latch onto the neck to prevent "being bitten". They strike and i'll tug once or twice to struggle then shut the bin. Most would say all that song and dance is unnecessary, but feeding time is fascinating to me and I like simulating the wild for them as it provides enrichment.

What do I do if a snake doesn't take its food? I'll tell ya, it doesn't go to waste. I have divided my collection into 2 feeding groups, A and B, that get fed 1 day apart from each other. Each group has 6 or 7 snakes ranked in order of the size of prey they take. If one snubs its meal, I simply offer it to its feeding twin in the opposing group. If that snake refuses as well, it goes the next snake in the original group (so #2GroupA snubs, #2GroupB is offered, also snubs. #3GroupA is offered). The likelihood of refusals decreases as I go because I have also ranked group members by their appetites. Sparse/picky eaters are offered to first, the bottomless pits last. Any rat thats been heated, gets eaten and if by some miracle I still have some left thawed in the fridge even after GroupB has eaten the next day, they are refrozen for next time (a thing you should only do if you fridge thawed, not cool water or anything else). This whole process takes 2 hours total between the 2 days and hasn't had me throw out a single rat yet. Much better than what I was doing!

What's something you had to learn on your own with your feedings???

[Zincubus]

When i first took on caring for 13 BPs, I did feedings all in the same day. Water sloshing everywhere because I was using the cool water thawing technique. Much frustration with rat claws puncturing ziplocks bags, wet fur, pots of the slowest heating water, all to eventually dangle the reptile equivalent of a TV dinner over a snake's head that ends up snubbing me and obliterating all my hardwork. This whole process took 9 hours.

Thank heavens those days are over

I now leisurely pick rats for my Group A snakes and toss them in a sealable tupperware container and let the fridge do the hard work of defrosting for 48 hours while I go live my charmed life. About half an hour before I intend to feed, I get a nice hot (105-110F) pot of water going (sped along with some microwave heated water) and place 2-3 rats in a paper towel lined gallon freezer bag. The bag is submerged and kept below the surface (but not touching the bottom!) by an ordinary ceramic dinner plate, the bag is left open to allow air to escape, but kept from falling into the pot by a little plastic clamp. 15 odd minutes later, the rats have come to their natural body temp (~100F). One final bit of flair, is that I take a heat gun (low setting) and "season" the rat by releasing more scent and create a hot spot for the head, so the snakes are guaranteed not to miss. Tongs in hand, I go to my rack to find practically half of them circling the front of their bins like sharks. From there I open the bin and begin my deception.

With as much stealth as possible, i'll lower the rat into the bin someplace out of sight of the resident, then make the rat do a brief scuffle noise, 2 to 3 times. At this point, the snake knows its not alone. I make the mouse appear juuuust on the edge of their peripheral vision and back out. This is the moment that grabs snake's full attention and it begins the creep. I like to be sure that when the prey is struck, it's not in a bad part of the enclosure that will prevent me from closing the bin or landing in the water dish, so I let the snake stalk into the best spot. One thing i've noticed, is that all of my snakes wait to strike when the prey is facing 3/4s away from them, I'm guessing they dislike it when prey is staring them directly in the eye and also prefer to latch onto the neck to prevent "being bitten". They strike and i'll tug once or twice to struggle then shut the bin. Most would say all that song and dance is unnecessary, but feeding time is fascinating to me and I like simulating the wild for them as it provides enrichment.

What do I do if a snake doesn't take its food? I'll tell ya, it doesn't go to waste. I have divided my collection into 2 feeding groups, A and B, that get fed 1 day apart from each other. Each group has 6 or 7 snakes ranked in order of the size of prey they take. If one snubs its meal, I simply offer it to its feeding twin in the opposing group. If that snake refuses as well, it goes the next snake in the original group (so #2GroupA snubs, #2GroupB is offered, also snubs. #3GroupA is offered). The likelihood of refusals decreases as I go because I have also ranked group members by their appetites. Sparse/picky eaters are offered to first, the bottomless pits last. Any rat thats been heated, gets eaten and if by some miracle I still have some left thawed in the fridge even after GroupB has eaten the next day, they are refrozen for next time (a thing you should only do if you fridge thawed, not cool water or anything else). This whole process takes 2 hours total between the 2 days and hasn't had me throw out a single rat yet. Much better than what I was doing!

What's something you had to learn on your own with your feedings???

I quickly learnt that all of my snakes ate better in the evenings and most of my Royals preference dim lighting at feeding time and would only strike from under the security of their hide ..

I also had the genius ( lol) idea of blasting each mouse / rat with a hairdryer immediately before offering to the snake . Get results around 99% of the time .


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