retic problem

jjpython · 07-27-05, 04:27 PM

i have a young retic that has been eating live since she was born, now everytime i try to feed her fresh kill she wont take it. i can understand for a couple of times but im starting to waste my time and money on a live rat then kill it , then she wont eat it, now are there any tricks that you guys have came across that worked for your retics.the reason i dont want to feed live is that she getting to bigger rats and i dont want her to make a mistake and get bit. it has happened to my baby burm and i dont feel like going through that again.

JimmyDavid · 07-27-05, 07:46 PM

Bigger rats? A retic won't keep on eating rats for that long. When she's bigger you have 2 reasonable choices: bunnies or chicken. I have a retic that will eat live or dead, no problem. But i have another that will take only live chicken. No problem with me, she want's it, she gets it...

jjpython · 07-30-05, 09:37 AM

but would you feed your retic live bunnies
dude if that took a bite of your snke it would be bad

h_and_jreptiles · 07-30-05, 09:49 AM

no dont feed live what you do is get some tongs and wiggle it around in the cage
until he grabs it and each time you do that wiggle it less and less and eventually you can just toss it in ....

jjpython · 07-31-05, 09:57 AM

no but my snake doesn't like when i wiggle the prey in front of her , i belive that she is very scared of it because she iis always in defensive mode when i feed dead prey but when i toss in a live rat she chases it. im just wondering if feeding live for the time being will be fine and is there a chace in the future for her to take f/k even if i feed her live for a while.

jjpython · 07-31-05, 10:41 AM

this is my baby girl, with my other girl holding her

oliver · 07-31-05, 11:02 AM

Nice retic thats a really nice loooking one....

Oliver

sc00t · 07-31-05, 01:10 PM

one way I got my bp to eat prekilled was that I fed him a small live mouse then right after that a dead one and the was the frist time he took it after trying for months and now he eats them everytime

jjpython · 07-31-05, 05:27 PM

yeah but she wont do it as soon as she sees me comming to the cage after eating the live rat, she goes strike crazy anything that moves, makes a shadow its insane but the good thing is she wont bite me when i handle her, she is a wierd little one but yeah i agree with oliver she is very nice looking

kevyn · 07-31-05, 06:31 PM

Trying to get a retic off live can be tricky. I know most of the big breeders in the U.S. feed live rabbits to their retics. It doesn't really cause alot of problems. The retics that I've picked up from Mike Wilbanks posed no problem switching to f/t. One of the things you can do is just place a f/k in the enclosure and leave it there. Try this at night when the room is dark and everything is quiet. Sometimes using a chicken to scent the prey item works really well too. You could also just let her get good and hungry. This can take awhile, but once it's hungry, it'll eat anything. Best of luck.

jjpython · 07-31-05, 08:28 PM

yeah ive tried leaving food in the cage over night and she wont take it, i dont know if i can find chickens around here.

daiyoukaii · 08-01-05, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevyn

You could also just let her get good and hungry. This can take awhile, but once it's hungry, it'll eat anything. Best of luck.

/\this works

dont feed her next feed day and wait about 4 days and handle her as you would normaly, then on the forth day after her missed feed show her a live rat and see if she gets interested and leave the room after that still with the rat dont handle her for two days and offer her a pre killed, if it doesnt work just wait another day and so on. try it and see if it works if it doesnt then you also have a burm right? you can feed that the rats the retic refuses till she finally eats..

JimmyDavid · 08-01-05, 11:59 AM

Rats can bite and don't make good live items. But, please, tell me you are not serious about the "danger" of feeding live chicken or bunnies. Some of my snakes have grown to big beautiful animals eating nothing but live chicken and rabbits. I have yet to see a "dangerous" bunny.
I have a complete different vision of the nature cicle, from most forum members here. I keep snakes and i love them. I don't really see "pets" in my cages. Not in the sense that it's a big lump of meat, growing on easy food, that i can look upon just for the sake of it. I have snakes so that i can be as much in touch with nature as possible. I like to see them climb big rocks and logs (that's why i have monster enclosures, wouldn't keep them any other way), i like to see them slither around and of course, i like to see them hunt. That's what brought me to this hobby. You see, i believe you should earn what you eat. that's nature's way of completing itself, and i think it's beautiful. Don't get me wrong, i don't value the life of my snakes more than the lives of those bunnies that serve the purpose of those necessary meals, they all have their place in nature. If one of my snakes should get a bite i would congratulate such brave bunny. lol. In the end, all creatures will die, it's not about playing it safe, it's about playing it natural. That's my vision, that's why i keep snakes and that's what still makes me feel like an amazed little kid after all these years of herping. I'm sorry i'm so little alike you all, but again...i'm entitled to that!

jjpython · 08-01-05, 04:10 PM

yeah i agree with you and as to each his own, but if your snake died because a prey item bit him you would be mad/upset about at all you would congradulate the prey......
i dont agree with that.

thanx daiyoukaii i will try that also to see if it will work and if it does believe you me i will be posting pics. lol

JimmyDavid · 08-01-05, 04:31 PM

You are correct. I wouldn't be happy at all if such thing happened. But i'm sure that bunnies can't do anything like that. On the other hand Rats, hamsters and other rat-like rodents are out of my live-feeding list. those are a real danger.