julius ate prekilled!

[bchapman]

i bought two live mice with the intent on making one dead and offering it to julius - and feeding him the live mouse if he made a stink about not eating the dead one.

however he did manage to eat it! all is well now. how long does it take to get him on to F/T prey after getting him to eat prekilled? because i now have a frozen mouse in my freezer.

the other mouse chewed its way out of the box, and scared my cat so my cat didnt even eat it. i picked the mouse up by its tail and it bit me twice and put two holes in my thumb. there were no sad feelings when i dispatched that little jerk off to the great beyond (my freezer).

will julius be able to eat the frozen one in a couple of days or will he need another prekilled mouse? id rather not kill them if i can help it - it didnt make me feel very good to do that

thats all

[cassandra]

Wait until your next feeding day, i.e., in a week, and then offer the f/t mouse.

Copied and lightly edited from rodentpro.com:
"Remove the number of prey items you need from the bag of prey. You can place them in a clean plastic bag and soak in warm water, or leave in the refrigerator overnight to defrost, warming up in warm water.

Always make sure that not only is the frozen prey thoroughly defrosted but that it is warmed up to a temperature above room temperature. You do not want your warm reptile eating cold prey, and warming the prey also makes it smell more strongly, and thus more attractive, to your reptile, and may be especially important when feeding reluctant feeders and when in the process of converting live feeders to killed."

Do not microwave the f/t prey - they have a tendancy to explode. Eeww! Don't worry about the prey being wet (if it is after defrosting in water). Your snake needs moisture anyway and damp/wet fur may help with swallowing as well.

[frankykeno]

Actually if you use a decent ziploc small freezer bag you're f/t prey can stay dry. Sometimes also a quick blast from a hair dryer on high makes that f/t prey even nicer...toasty warm and yummy for your snake.