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Weaning from live to frozen

texastailfeathers

texastailfeathers

New member
I apologize if this has already been addressed in another thread, but I have been searching the archives for an hour in vain and my brain hurts...

What is the process for converting from live to frozen/thawed (snakes are ~1 year old)? Is it fairly easy?
 
I'm sure someone with experience will be able to give you more information, but here's my understanding:

Start with stunned prey. Once the snake will take a stunned mouse, go to freshly killed. After freshly killed, try frozen/thawed. You may have to get some tweezers to 'tease feed' (e.g. wiggle the mouse around to simulate the movements of live prey).

Hope that helps. Good luck!
 
I am pretty sure you can stun it or kill it with a flick to the back of the head, or by putting it in a pillowcase and whapping it on a hard surface... I am not sure which though (stun or kill....)
 
Hypancistrus said:
I am pretty sure you can stun it or kill it with a flick to the back of the head, or by putting it in a pillowcase and whapping it on a hard surface... I am not sure which though (stun or kill....)
Click to expand...

:eek1: Lovely...

Will make hubby do that. :grin01:
 
texastailfeathers said:
:eek1: Lovely...

Will make hubby do that. :grin01:
Click to expand...

I made the boyfriend do it. He did it in the same way we use for lab mice. Grab them by the tail, find a hard surface, and swing.

Isn't having men around a wonderful thing?
 
My adult that I purchased from the petstore as a subadult ate live there and when I got her for the first 2 1/2 years I had her, from large mice to small rats. I found out about f/t on this wonderful forum and decided I would try and see if she would take a f/t adult mouse. I put her in her feeding tub, put in the f/t mouse and she took it with no problems. I guess if I were you I would just try feeding f/t and see how your snake takes it. Good luck in whichever way you decide to go.
 
I've got two snakes, well actually three if you count LTC Maizey, who were eating live before I got them, who were given FT for their first meal with me, who never blinked an eye. Zee and Inez both came from large breeders for whom feeding live is easier. Both are excellent FT feeders. I'd just start with the simplest thing first. Just make sure the thawed prey is nice and hot, and it wouldn't hurt to slit the back- 2-4 shallow cuts with a small scissors.

Nanci
 
Nanci said:
Just make sure the thawed prey is nice and hot, and it wouldn't hurt to slit the back- 2-4 shallow cuts with a small scissors.
Click to expand...

Ugh...barf... :puke01:

I have raised a lot of animals and I never thought of myself as a squeamish person, but some of this snake stuff is GROSS! :eek1: Guess I'll have to toughen up. LOL

I think I'll try just presenting thawed mice next week. If they refuse, I'll go from there. I *really* do not want to start bashing and cutting mice...
 
Well, the cutting or slitting is more of a digestion aid- and there is a study that shows how much faster the snakes grow when fed slit mice compared to unslit mice. The part about being more attractive to the snake is just an added benefit. (If you make shallow cuts just through the skin, not into the body cavity- it's not gross- they don't bleed or anything.)

Nanci
 
slitting, huh? Never heard of that, braining, but not slitting. All you do is make several small slits through the skin of the mouse, and the snake will grow faster?... interesting!
 
Wow.. That's really interesting. I'll start doing that with my older corn. The younger one however, won't eat f/t. Thank you for that info.
 
But then again, maybe this will work to get the younger one to eat, though braining didn't. I think *think* that it's the sounds the pinkie made that brought her attention to it. She's very jumpy around noises (thus why she is not on display in the living room with Ash, Wraith has to be in our bedroom), and the pinkie she finally ate was VERY squeaky... any thoughts on that?

Could Wraith rely more on the sound of the pinkie? Or am I just making excuses for her pickiness?
 
No Problem!!!

Fed my new snakes frozen/thawed tonight and they ate 'em just as easily as live. No problems. Maybe I'm just lucky. :shrugs:

But at least now I have some great tips in case I get picky snakes in the future! Thanks everybody! :cheers:
 
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