VICTORY at last!!!

[nick654377]

so as you all know its been 2 weeks since my snake has ate. i may have been impatient about it but worried i would have to do a live since that was her last meal. i took one of my mechanic pics and poked a hole in the skull last time and nothing. i tried it again this time and nothing. so i took it back out and my dish washer was on the heat cycle. so i held the mouse by the handle where the heat comes out heated her up nice and warm and slit the thorat of the f.t. stuck it in the cage and with in one minute she had the head down.

pics to follow

[Jay]

Always nice. My little ij just took a rat pup today since late September.

[shaunyboy]

do you NOT normally heat the prey item ?

i heat mine with a hairdryer,always giving the head a liitle extra heat,i find the extra heat to the head,aids them ending up in a perfect position,once they have struck the prey

i also offer the prey head first,using a pair of long feeding tongs

my apologies,if i've took your thread the wrong way mate (i'm getting old:))

cheers shaun

[nick654377]

no you didnt take it wrong shaun. not at all. im new to the f/t. my ball always ate live and i got rid of her as she was going on to rat pups so i had her on pre killed.

i usally stick the mouse in warm water for a few minutes then hot hot water for a few minutes. dry it off and offer it. she wasnt taking it. this time my heat lamps are 6 inches above my tank so i stuck the mouse under that for a half hour to warm it up. i have been offering the mouse at 93 degrees. i wanted to try it dry as opposed to wet and see if she liked it. i had to cut the throat and her nose went right to it. she didnt even strike and constrict it. she just put her mouth on it and started to eat it. but her nose went right to where i cut the throat. so that trick does work!!!!. now i just need to figure out how to find her poop in this repti bark.

here are some pics enjoy!!

i have 3 more mice at this size. they were med. after these three im going to step her up to adult mice.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo14.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo13.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo12.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo11.jpg

[nick654377]

what are your guys thoughts on a large/adult mouse after the next three feedings?

[TeaNinja]

i can barely see a feeding lump. i'd start her on the smallest rats she could handle, but that's just me.

[nick654377]

I couldnt see a lump today when i searched/moisened the substrate. Im going to give her two adult mice after these three mediums then ill switch to small rats. Fingers crossed

[SnakeyJay]

What's the rush with upping the size of prey.. Let her grow slow and steady for a healthier snake :)

[nick654377]

What's the rush with upping the size of prey.. Let her grow slow and steady for a healthier snake :)

its not that im in a rush to give her bigger food. i want to give her the appropriate size meal. This was the first time she took food for me so i didnt know what size to get exactly. when i bought her he gave me small mice. she didnt eat those and i bought mediums this time. she took one and i didnt see a food lump so i will up it when the other 3 are gone.

[TeaNinja]

because some snakes are not easy to switch to rats and i feel that it's good to get it over with asap. also rats are higher in nutrients and have less fat than mice.

[jarich]

because some snakes are not easy to switch to rats and i feel that it's good to get it over with asap. also rats are higher in nutrients and have less fat than mice.

Sorry, Im not sure where you got this incorrect information, though it gets passed around often. Rats are not higher in nutrients than mice. Fat content only varies based on age of the rodents, so while an old mouse often has a higher fat content than a young rat, an old rat usually has a higher fat content than a young mouse too. The only major difference of any concern is size of prey.

[Jay]

because some snakes are not easy to switch to rats and i feel that it's good to get it over with asap. also rats are higher in nutrients and have less fat than mice.

State your sources regarding nutrients.

[millertime89]

agreed with the above two, there's no real evidence that rats are healthier than mice. Sure a retired breeder mouse will be higher in fat content than a rat of the same weight, but that's about the only time. A boa, due to its size and eventual feeding requirements, I would want to get on rats ASAP, but not because its healthier.

[Lankyrob]

My assumption with the old rat/mouse comparison has always been that if you need a 150g prey item then a 150g rat will have less fat % than a 150g mouse

[nick654377]

My assumption with the old rat/mouse comparison has always been that if you need a 150g prey item then a 150g rat will have less fat % than a 150g mouse

how do you figure out what size prey you need?

[TeaNinja]

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/WholePreyFinal02May29.pdf
this says adult rats have more fat And protein than adult mice. i've never really done much research on it but i've heard it multiple times and seen things that lead me to believe this.

the chart section shows the difference between adult mice and rats, but the adult mice aren't as big as adult rats, so iunno.

[Lankyrob]

how do you figure out what size prey you need?

I was lucky, at the start of my snake keeping "career" i wass able to walk into a reptile shop open a freezer and hand pick my prey items.

My corns are fed prey twice their girth, royal gets prey 1.5 timess girth, GTP was on prey three to four times girth but have backed that down to twice girth. My SD retic and JCP get prey three to four times their girth.

Never owned boas so no idea what ratio people use for prey for them :)

[nick654377]

gotcha. well you were talking with grams so i didnt know if there was a trick with weighing them or not. i picked up a rat pup today, we will see how this looks after the next feeding.

[TeaNinja]

how big does the rat pup look compared to the snake? does it look like it'll be hard to eat or is it as big as the other prey?

[SnakeyJay]

I go with about the same size prey as the thickest part of your boa. Other people use bigger or smaller, but mine do well with this.

[Philmul]

My assumption with the old rat/mouse comparison has always been that if you need a 150g prey item then a 150g rat will have less fat % than a 150g mouse

I go with about the same size prey as the thickest part of your boa. Other people use bigger or smaller, but mine do well with this.

I use the same method and my snakes seem healthy enough

[Philmul]

I was lucky, at the start of my snake keeping "career" i wass able to walk into a reptile shop open a freezer and hand pick my prey items.

My corns are fed prey twice their girth, royal gets prey 1.5 timess girth, GTP was on prey three to four times girth but have backed that down to twice girth. My SD retic and JCP get prey three to four times their girth.

Never owned boas so no idea what ratio people use for prey for them :)

How big is your retic? Is it friendly

[Lankyrob]

How big is your retic? Is it friendly


He is a Super Dwarf, about 6.5 ft long and puppy dog tame, only bitten once but DUH i put my hand in the viv on feeding day!:shocked::shocked:

[Philmul]

How big will he get. Sounds just as tame as my royal. She is dead tame I can do anything with her and she not bit me yet but when there is food in the viv she lashes out at the glass if I walk past. Lol

[Lankyrob]

In theory he shouldnt get much longer, will be extremely surprised if he makes 8ft but he has all the attitude and feeding response of a retic, you dont want to be near him for a couple of days after eating as he will munch your face!