Thanks everybody for your kind words of advice. I’ve tried to follow them all, but it seems, without luck thus far.

Last night I took a thawed fuzzy rat out of the fridge (having left it there overnight) and warmed it up in a ziplock baggie by submerging it in hot water. When it was warm all the way through I left it atop the screen on the snake enclosure, with the CHE above it. The smell of rat permeated the air of Salzedos enclosure and, as in the past, he emerged from his hide with his little tongue flickering excitedly. He even ‘stretched’ upwards towards the rat after a few minutes, prompting some hope on my part.

I took the rat in a set of 16” tongs and slowly lowered it towards him. As before, he examined the offering with seeming interest, including a few ‘striking’ poses. I thought for sure this was going to be it. However, his attention quickly turned to the tongs and he stretched up further, past the rat, to examine them!

What is his fascination with the feeding tongs?

After examining the tongs he started to retreat to his [cool] hide, so I placed the rat on top of the hot hide and left. This was around 11pm.

I had hoped that by this morning the offering would be gone, yet there it remained; a warm white fuzzy mockery of my parenting skills. (It was still quite warm.) Oh, and Salzedo was sleeping in his hot hide, right below it.

Quote Originally Posted by MelissaFlipski View Post
How were you feeding live? Can you try to make the F/T process similar in more ways - like how long you leave it in?
Sorry for my lack of clarity; I’ve never fed him live. He was raised on live by the breeder before I got him on Nov 18th. (His last meal was on the 16th) I’ve been trying to switch him to F/T since. He shows interest and signs of wanting to eat, but then shies away.

Any more suggestions are more than welcome and very much appreciated!