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 HecTorBar305 |
Tips on switching from live prey to pre-killed…. |
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Posts: 321 (07/26/08 20:27:38) |
I have this male that I acquired about three weeks ago and he only seems to take live prey left in his cage over night. I need some tips or advice on how to switch him to pre-killed food. I get really worried when I leave a live prey item his cage. When I present the pre-killed food item I get a lot of defensive strikes even some wraps but he immediately drops the food. Thanks ahead for your advice. Hector |
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MegF42 |
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Posts: 2056 (07/27/08 03:38:10)
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If it were me, I'd keep holding the mouse when he strikes in order to make him think the animal is still struggling. After a bit, then remove the tongs and
see if he continues to hold. If not, I'd try again. Keep teasing until he does hold. I had an amazon, that while he didn't refuse f/t would often just
strike and drop it. I finally just pissed him off enough that he wrapped and held it. If you do have to leave live prey in the cage, make sure it has food so
that it doesn't end up using the snake for food.
5.5~Cornsnakes
3.4.1~Green Tree Pythons 2.1.2~Amazon tree boas 1.0~California Kingsnake Assorted: Horses, dogs, and cats www.Franclycac.com |
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Jeff Godbold |
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Posts: 500 (07/27/08 03:59:28)
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Try pinching his vertibral area on the coils gently...it will eventually piss him off! Once he gets good and testy, hold a F/T mouse/rat and quickly touch the
sides of his face, or coils about 2-3 inches behend his head, while pulling the food item away after each repeated touch. That has always triggered a feeding
response out of every snake in my collection.
Still having trouble, let me know and I can explain further. |
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PITDRAGON |
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Posts: 389 (07/27/08 04:57:48)
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My trick is to make sure the room is really dark ,and make sure the mouse is dried off with a paper towel.I have had droplets of water scare the animal into
not eating
Joey |
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Shiloh Hawkesworth |
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Posts: 1680 (07/27/08 06:56:50)
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The above are all good ideas...
I have had some success with offering the meal a few inches below the animal, not ground level... Sometimes the head on approach startles the animal into not eating. As a worst case, I have feed a "small" live meal, as soon as the meal is down to the point that the animal can take another, quickly offer a died off F/T... I have had success with a few animals doing this and after a while I was able to get them to take F/T without feeding a live meal prior to... A lot of it is about timing... If you offer it too soon it will hesitate and if you wait too long it may not be interested... A dark room would probably help...
Shiloh Hawkesworth
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cleve360 |
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Posts: 770 (07/27/08 08:23:20)
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Good suggestions all.
I'd add: make sure the food item is hot enough. For problem feeders, I always use a temp gun to make sure the F/T is at live mouse temps (98-99 I think). Thawed and heated mice cool off quickly, and some snakes are put off by a mouse that acts alive and then turns out to be dead - they know something's wrong the second they take it, and are dismayed by accidentally biting into a zombie. Then you can also go the super-heating route, but I haven't ever found that necessary. |
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HecTorBar305 |
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Posts: 326 (07/27/08 19:26:48) |
Thanks everyone for the tips and advice. My next feeding should be close to the end of next week. I will definitely be putting most of this stuff to work. Wish
me luck!
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lilsoljha3 |
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Posts: 23 (07/28/08 07:00:42) |
Yes I agree with everyone else. I actually just fed my new juvenile GTP last night. I know the previous owner served her live fuzzys, but I like f/t fuzzys. I
just made sure it was dark for at least 3 hours to get him settled into night time mode and heated up the f/t fuzzy in it's plastic bag in hot water. I
made sure it was pretty warm and fully thawed out, then moved it infront of her face with the tongs like it was alive. When she eventually grabbed it, I used
tongs to keep moving it and make sure she grabs it tighter.
Only thing I noticed is my new GTP will take a while to actually let go of the mouth grip and eat it. My other older one will only hold it for a little while then eat it a lot faster, while the other one is still gripping it with it's mouth. |
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CarlosEcharte007 |
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Posts: 1437 (07/28/08 07:11:19)
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Hey Hector,
Keep in mind number one priority for this animal is to get some food into him (live, dead, ft, however) because of how skinny and weak it is(if it is the animal i am thinking about). Once he has had a couple of meals in him, I would try these different techniques on him so that it doesnt stress him out now while he is still taking on some nutrients(In my opinion). I personally would wait a little longer before really stressing him out, if you push him too much he may not even go for the live prey in the cage and could end up going the sour way. Patience is number one key when it comes to animals like this.
Carlos Echarte
Coneroks1@aol.com |
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