"Fishing" for Problem Feeders...

[Simon R. Sansom]

As some of you may know by now, I have a pair of captive-bred Spilotes pullatus, the Tiger "Rat" Snake. The female of this pair has been giving me a little grief when it comes to feeding time. She prefers live mice, even though she'll sometimes take a thawed one.
It seems as though she wants a moving target, but if I'm too close to her enclosure my presence seems to put her off. Maniplating the mouse with tongs does not work. It still means that I have to be in her "space".
So, I went out to the garage and selected one of my fishing rods, brought it in and tied a thawed mouse loosely around the middle and now able to stand seven feet away, I used the rod to dance the mouse around the opening to one of her hide boxes. After about ten seconds...BANG, mouse taken! A firm, but gentle pull on the line released the mouse and she continued to swallow it with no trouble whatsoever. I was quite proud of myself.
Anyone else ever tried a similar ploy? Might be a good trick to remember...

Cheers!
Simon

[Andy_G]

LOL!!!That's funny but i'm glad it worked for you!

[Dom]

lol thats halarious! ... interesting trick .. I can just see someone going in yur room and seing you fishing for a snake with a mouse lol

[Tim and Julie B]

Wow what would your neighbors think seeing you fishing in the house! Truely funny! That's a great trick if someone told me that story I'ld think they were B.S.ing me. I wonder if you could go herping with a fishing rod? Did you cast it?

[Ace]

Boy, I've heard fishing stories in my time but..... LOL.

[Simon R. Sansom]

Thanks everyone!
It certainly worked well, as strange as it may sound.
I can envision this being a potentially effective strategy when dealing with certain difficult baby snakes.

Tim; No I didn't cast it, LOL! I actually just tied a three-foot length of light line to the tip-top guide at the tip of the rod, and Voila!

Simon

[vanderkm]

We had to use something similar but on a bigger scale with our bullsnake when we got her. She would only take live and was aggressive around the cage when she could see anyone - wouldn't take from tongs or dead left in the cage. We used a thin cord with a slip knot in one end to loop around the dead mouse's tail and would then dangle it from above when we were behind her hide. She would strike readily and the slip knot was usually good enough for us to give her a bit of a fight once she bit it, before the knot would fall off (sometimes taking some of the tail skin with it) and she would be convinced she had killer her prey. Was a good intermediate step to getting her to take from tongs. Often seems we use the same methods of prey movement that are used in fishing - short jerky movements away from the snakes really seem to excite their interest.

mary v.

[Burmies]

I'm glad to.

Burmies

[eyespy]

Hee hee, that's too funny!

The only herps I've ever fished for are iguanas. I keep throwing them back and I keep catching them again. Little green doofuses don't seem to know enough not to play with fishing nets. ;)

<img src="http://www.thebeardedlady.org/images/giznet.jpg">

[reverendsterlin]

talk about trolling for snakes...lol