f/t feeding technique

[zachman17]

Just curious...
for those of you that do the "mouse dance," do you do it in mid air, or do you let part of the mouse rest upon the substrate so it might appear more like a regular mouse?
Also,
Is it possible to heat up a mouse too much to the point where the snake doesn't think it's food anymore?

thanks for your input,
Zach

[JamminJonah]

My little bp prefers the aerial technique. Perhaps the mouse's back legs may bounce on the ground but my snake mainly focuses on the head anyway (warmest part - I make sure with a hair dryer haha). I do the floating mouse jiggle. It is possible to "cook" the mouse to a point where it doesn't resemble food to a snake. Mice and rats don't have an extremely high body temp. I have many thaw techniques depending on how lazy I am feeling or how much time I have but the way I do it most of the time is:
1. Arrive home from class/work about 5pm
2. Get mouse out of freezer and put in disposable tupperware (I use the same one and just clean it out - a pack of three was super cheap- you can use the lid or not - at home I have a cat so I use the lid at school I don't so I just leave it open)
3. Set said tupperware next to tank until about 10 pm
4. At about 10 pm get out hair dryer and put on medium heat and aim at head from about five inches away at high speed - aim so I'm hitting the head but the rest of the air stream hits the body of the mouse
5. After 3 minutes or so of hairdryer treatment my bp is on the prowl.]
6. use TONGS and pick up mouse/rat at just about half way down at the spine so it looks like it's standing but slumped over almost - Then just wait for the strike... i still jump a little every time haha.

hope this helps somewhat!

*EDIT*
there are many ways to thaw - some people treat the mouse/rat like a steak and put it in the fridge in the morning before work then take it out and put it in a ziplock bag and put it in warm water for a few minutes - if you feel like surfing a bit try searching these forums for "thaw techniques" or "ways to thaw" or something. I remember a few threads where our beloved members posted their way of thawing their prey items for their snakes.

[PrincessErica]

I wait until my guy is in his rock cave hide, and then simply drag the mouse (with tongs, by the tail) back and forth across the opening, occasionally poking the head inside the hide if he doesn't hit it right away. Usually only takes one swipe across the door and it's gone. One thing is to make sure you're not making the rat look bigger than it is, sometimes they can get scared away if you're holding it legs-up so it looks a lot bigger than it actually is. I try to keep it down on the floor so he knows he can take it, sizewise.

I thaw the last way Jonah mentioned. I keep eat rat in a Ziploc, I take one out the night before, toss it into the fridge to thoroughly unthaw, and then keep changing the water to be really hot while it gets heated all the way through. Takes 30 mins or more with a bigger rat.

If you don't get it right the first time, don't get discouraged. Just keep trying!

[daniel1983]

First I offer each mouse with tongs. If the snake does not take it right away, I just drop the f/t or p/k mice in the enclosure. That always works for me, but I have great feeders

[oorob00]

I just toss mine in the enclosure and they take them no problem.