Switching to f/t...

[TurboSE]

I'm switching to feeding my Ball frozen /thawed mice and I have a few questions.

How do I thaw the mouse?

The guy at Petco (only nearby place that sells f/t) said soak it in warm water and just throw it in...that doesn't sound right to me...

What are the "tweezers" you hold the mose with called?

Do I really need them, or can I use something else?

Do I hold the mouse by the back of the neck???

:grab: = cool smilie...

[Big Mike]

I thaw my mice by putting them in zip lock bags and putting them in a cup of warm tap water. I change the water a few times to keep it warm. Right before I take the mice out, I change the water again so that the mouse is fairly warm when I give it too the snake. Usually takes 30-60 min for an adult mouse to thaw. Make sure that though.

Some snakes will take the mouse even if it's soaking wet from being thawed. Just make sure that you don't get loose substrate all over the mouse because the snake would swallow it too.

The "tweezers" are called hemostats...they are just tweezers with a locking device. I use long nose pliers.

I grab the mouse with the pliers behind the neck and I use a knife to slice the nose of the mouse...this has helped in getting my snakes to eat F/T. I usually just drop the mouse into where I'm feeding the snake and they get it. Sometimes I have to make the mouse dance around so I grab it and make sure the nose of the mouse is towards the snake.

Once you get it feeding on f/t...buy in bulk. It's quite a bit less expensive.

[TurboSE]

Thanks...

[Burmies]

Just leave the frozen mouse out on the stand for a few hours until it is thawed.
I have no idea what the tweezers are called I use a pair of tongs.
You can hold it there if you want your snakes to bit on the nose of the mouse.
If you have anyother questions just let me know.

Burmies

[Snake_Hunter]

Hey TurboSE
The way that i was feeding my BP was i got a cup with a locking lid on it that doesn't let the heat out. I'd fill it will hot water and put the mouse in a sandwich zip lock bag and throw it in to the cup, close the lid come back 15mins later and if the water was cool and the mouse hadn't yet dethawed then i'd fill with more hot water and leave again for 15mins. As for feeding i just removed it's hide and got a pair of steak tongs(helps when you have like 4 pairs in your house), and make the mouse dance for like two secs and BAM!!!! done. Unfortunetly my BP decided that he doesn't like f/t mice so now hes on live. Anyways hoped that helped.

Andrew

:groove:

[BurmBaroness]

If you danced the mouse for 2 seconds and then BAM, done, how do you know your BP doesn't like F/T?? Sounds like he was taking them fine at some point? I seriously hope he does not get injured by the live mice.

[Snake_Hunter]

Hey BurmBaroness
For a while there he was then he just decided that he didn't want to take them anymore so i switched him over to live and BAM started eating like a machine again so now what i do is i just stun the mouse and pick it up by the tail with tongs bounce it around once and done like dinner. I also stay and watch it till it has completely killed the mouse for saftey reasons. Anyways hope that helps ya out with an explantion.

Andrew

:groove:

[Jeromerules]

Meh. U don't even need tongs. or pliers. All I do is thaw the frozen mous out in a bag in hot water in the sink. Than I Grab it by the tail and dance it around infront of my snake and he takes it right away. No problems. He nver misses. I've never been bit. So it's all good here. No tongs needed. It's not like the BP is Venemous.

[marisa]

It has nothing to do with the BP

[marisa]

It has nothing to do with the BP being venemous. The tongs prevent them from notcing the heat from your hands, and seeing yours hands as food.

I use the same method as Big Mike
Marisa

[fr0glet]

Dancing around?? Hahahah!! That's very funny to picture. :D

I tend to feed several snakes at a time, so I pull the right number of rodents out of the freezer and lay them all on a paper plate. I treat rodents just like any other raw meat, which means covered with cling wrap and defrosting in the fridge. I put them in there in the morning and they're ready that evening. I stick them in front of the space heater for about 5 minutes at the very end to warm them up.

I then place the rodents in a feeding tub, wash my hands, then put the snake in the feeding tub and put the lid on it. I check on them in 15-30 minutes. If they haven't eaten, sometimes I will leave the snake in the tub with the rodents overnight. I have a controlled environment herp room so the temp never gets too cold for them.

A few points worth noting....
-Soaking your rodents in too-hot water can partially cook them and make them explode. There's some sick threads about that over in the Food For Thought forum.
-Warm water on a dead rodent is a perfect bacteria culture. You wouldn't defrost chicken breasts in a cup of warm water on your counter would you? To me it's a not-worthwhile risk.
-Once defrosted they can never be frozen again
-Guts and brains are last to defrost, so check them before offering the rodent. Feeding partially thawed can be deadly for your snake.

Lastly I always feed in a seperate feeding tub for a couple of reasons... 1 so my snakes never associate my hand entering their cage with feeding time, and 2 so they can never ingest substrate. I think my snakes are particularly gentle eaters because I don't wiggle the prey, they just slither up and wrap their lips around it. No striking.

[Snake_Hunter]

Hey Fr0glet
I've never feed my snakes in seperate feeding tubs and they've never ingested any of their substrate, and i've never had problems with them seeing my hand and going into feed mode. But then again thats just me. Now I not trying to say your method is wrong or anything or that you should change it I'm just saying in my experience i've never had problems with that.

Andrew

:groove:

[Edwin]

I defrost my rats by just placing them on the counter overnight, or using fr0glet's method described above.

I do not feed in a separate feeding tub, I usually just drop the rat in and let the snake chow down. Depending on the size and type of substrate, I may serve the rat on a paper plate. They are really cheap if you go to a printing company and ask them for their rejects (misspellings etc). Some snakes need to be entertained before feeding, so I jiggle them with either hemostats or a pair of chopsticks.

Hope this helps.