live feeding

[kavmon]

i feed live also, one thing that i think really helps is. pre-scenting the room with the rodents for about 15-20 min.

this should kick you snake into "feed mode". your snake should be waiting for the rodent.

consistent temps and husbandry also play an important part in consistent feeding.


vaughn

[jenakle]

I also tend to let the scent linger before I place the rat in, by sitting the box on top of the screen for a few minutes. Before I get near the cage with the rat, however, I go in and remove the water dish, the hide Osiris is not using, the 1/2 log, and the acurite. I've had too many feeds where the rat decides to make himself at home in the other hide or behind the water bowl, leaving Osiris to look at me like "Well, fine, but I'm charging him rent."

Removing the extra pieces may disturb Osiris for a minute, but leaving him the hide he's currently in also gives him a chance to wake up and pop his head out on his own. When he looks interested, I drop the rat on the other side of the cage, giving him plenty of readying distance/time.

More likely than not, Osiris strikes before the rat gets a real sense of his surroundings. Once Osiris has swallowed and starts moving towards his hide, I replace the water dish and the other hide. Later, once he's settled back down I'll slip the wood piece and thermometer back in.

I've seen him strike 'wrong' before, but by leaving him alone for a few seconds, I saw he quickly doubled his constricting efforts, completely cutting off the airflow of the rat so he didn't have the energy to fight back. If I'd interrupted, it would have taken Osiris that much longer to get back with the program. (Please note, of course, I would interfere if I saw the rat was actually getting a tooth in, but the little struggling scratches and attempts to bite are usually quickly handled by Osiris' strength.)

[frankykeno]

i feed live also, one thing that i think really helps is. pre-scenting the room with the rodents for about 15-20 min.

this should kick you snake into "feed mode". your snake should be waiting for the rodent.

consistent temps and husbandry also play an important part in consistent feeding.


vaughn

Vaughn ! Forgot that bit in my post. Pre-scenting really keys ours up, especially the ones that are a bit slower to strike. That time with the live rat scurrying around in it's own well ventilated container kicks them up that notch into "gimme gimme gimme" mode.

[Wolfsnaps]

I am not experienced at all...but what about putting the mouse in a pillowcase first and swinging it around. I have heard of some people doing that. Then, the mouse/rat is off balance, uncoordinated, and the snake can grab it. The rodent would just be like "what the?"

[JLC]

I am not experienced at all...but what about putting the mouse in a pillowcase first and swinging it around. I have heard of some people doing that. Then, the mouse/rat is off balance, uncoordinated, and the snake can grab it. The rodent would just be like "what the?"

I don't think that's a good idea. Setting aside the "mean factor"....there's no way of knowing how fast the rodent would recover from the "spin," and at that point, it would be a seriously freaked out rodent on the immediate defensive.

It's far better, for both the rodent and the snake, to keep the rodent as calm and unstressed as reasonably possible. If the other steps already mentioned have been taken, the snake should be ready to eat and will usually pounce on the rodent before its even aware there is a snake in the vicinity.

I'd much rather have the rodent "thinking".... Ohhhh....this is a new place...lemme check it out. Rather than, What the...??? Danger danger danger!!

[frankykeno]

I am not experienced at all...but what about putting the mouse in a pillowcase first and swinging it around. I have heard of some people doing that. Then, the mouse/rat is off balance, uncoordinated, and the snake can grab it. The rodent would just be like "what the?"

Not humane for the rodent, that would be first. Secondly, for me anyways, if my snakes can't handle a live rodent without me somehow disabling it for them....they wouldn't get offered live.

[Entropy]

I agree with most everyone else here. I feed predominantly live and hundreds of rodents a month pass through here. I have had two biting incidents that still didn't make any difference to the girls involved and healed quite nicely.

[J.Vandegrift]

If there was no blood or even any pulled back scales I would not even consider that a bite. If it does not break skin it is not really a bit IMO.

[Kizerk]

if my snakes are in their hide, i dangle the mouse right outside, they "wake up" and start wandering, and then i drop the mouse farthest away from the snake.

but accidents still do happen, one of my females, i didnt see the mouse, even though i monitor them, bite her, but a few days later i was handling her, and i noticed a little cut and immediately put neosporin on it

[jotay]

I agree w/ everyone on the fact of pre-scenting.
Rather then remove the hides I just place a pc of cardboard in front on the one Ozzy is not in. Then I will open his cage door and set the rodent box in there for a min. or two and if Ozzy is ready to eat he will stick his head out of the hide and be in the strike position, at which time I will let the rat loose on the far end of the cage and by the time the rat scampers over his way he strikes and coils so fast the rat doesn't know what hit him let alone get the chance to bite. I know that the pre-scent is what gets Ozzy so hyped up and ready to go.
It works!