weaning him off live prey

[tattoogirl]

I know you guys have been asked this a zillion times. I read all of the back posts, and read most of the feeder how tos. My snake has been fed live since he was born, granted hes young, so hopefully the transition will be easier than with an older snake. I dont want to take the chance of him getting injured, so I want to start feeding him stunned rats, then eventually move on the thawed. Any tips on weaning him? this will be the first feeding with a stunned rat, I want him to be able to adapt. Thank for any help...ill be checking this page all afternoon...hes waiting on me to feed him LOL.

[Pixie]

It's hard giving specific advice without knowing much info on the snake, setup and usual feeding habits aside that it's young and has only eaten live so far.

I would keep as much as possible similar to your regular feeding routine except for the fact that you'll be offering a stunned rat instead. If your snake is hungry, it should snap it up as quickly as it did live. I don't know how you are planning to stun the rat and how big the rat is, I know once a certain size they are harder to properly stun. I personally use the cloth bag/whacking method. Finding the proper way to whack it isn't that easy when you want the prey stunted and harmless but not dead. I suggest you have a couple of rats to practice and have as spares, freeze them if they are not eaten right away and dead of course.

Once you have a stunned rat grab it by the tail with tongs and place a few inches from your snake. If the rat doesn't move, wiggle it around just a bit, try to make it shake a little bit.

I haven't had a problem switching over difficult long time live feeders this way. If they don't fall for it (after 15 min of wiggling) I put the snake back in it's enclosure and try again come next feeding time. Your snake will eat when it's hungry you just have to be persistent :)

Once your snake eats stunned regularly, switch him over to prekilled and then even frozen/thawed.

Pixie

[makeajazznoise]

ok... here is a naive one... I feel silly...but I have to ask. (Please dont ridicule me) All I have ever fed to a snake is live. What is the procedure with using frozen? OK I know (or hope) y'all dont microwave em (ewwww!) but what do you do... take it out of the freezer the night before?

Doesnt this get smelly?

Im just curious... I havent had a herp in years (about 6 or 7 - years that is) and intend to get something soon. If I go with a snake it seems a lot of y'all are advocates of feeding prekilled frozen.... seems safer for the snake... so I want to know the method. Is there a difference if using rat pups or pinkies? Mice? Rats?

[tattoogirl]

awesome. thats just the info i was looking for. Hes about a year or so old (as far as size goes...I dont know his actual birthdate) He eats once a week, a medium sized rat, hes SUPER fast...as soon as the rat hits the bottom of the box, its done. Im going to try the method you described above and see how things turn out. thanks for your help.

[Pixie]

Your welcome tattoogirl :) Let me know how it turns out.

makeajazznoise: It's not a dumb question and I'm happy you are inquiring about it :) Yes, it is safer to feed dead prey to a snake over live wether it be prekilled or frozen thawed, the majority of snake keepers will encourage this practice to avoid unecessary wounds to your snake.

First it's easier to switch a live feeder to a stunned or prekilled prey item. Although some snakes will go from live to f/t, in my experience, I haven't been so lucky.

To warm up a frozen prey item, there are many different ways. I use the warm/hot tap water method and just plop in the needed amount of mice or rats in a tupperware with very warm tap water and voilà! For larger prey item you need to change the water a couple of times as it gets cold quickly from the food thawing out and you want to offer a food item that is nice and warm. I then dab them well on paper towels and offer them with tongs to my snakes.

Others prefer to place the food items in a ziploc bag prior to placing them in hot water. You can also just let it thaw out at room temperature for a few hours before feeding being careful the food doesn't stay out too long. Some will thaw out prey with a hairdryer.

Basically any way that won't cook the food, get too hot and get the job done quickly.

Pixie

[tattoogirl]

well...I took the rat out of the tank and tried to put him in the bag (which I would then place in a towel, Im fresh out of rag towels) the rat got out, ran around, caught him. Take him in the bathroom whack him, ...no movement. Apparently not hard enough. The snake was in his death box, and i open the bag to put the rat in with the snake, out jumps the rat. So to make a long and scary story short, we moved alot of bookcases and yelled and cussed alot and danced around and yelled at the rat and my husband got bit by the rat. I was so pissed by the time a actually got a hold of the rat, he was a goner. All in all, Charlie Travis got his meal, and I need a smoke.

[Pixie]

So your snake took the rat dead? That's great news!

Rats are definitely harder to stun and kill than mice. First time I tried to stun a small rat, I had to smack it like 4-5 times. I was really surprised at how "tough" they are!

Pixie