Quote Originally Posted by Jane-Pythons View Post
Personally I start by putting the mouse or rat in warm water, leaving it in the tub for 5-15 minutes (longer wait for bigger food for me) then I drain that, and replace it with warmer, almost hot water but never boiling, for then another 10ish minutes. Then dry it off and wala, feast for a snake. Never encountered any reluctance from my 2 snakes using this method.
I do exactly the same up until drying. I prefer to feed wet prey as long as the snake will take it (very rarely snakes will only take dry prey). The added hydration definitely won't hurt.
I've been using this technique for 15 years or more and it's always worked.