switching from live to f/t

[Elaphe_Mo]

I have been struggling with this for a while and was so excited when something finally worked I had to share it! I have a beautiful little amel stripe who will not touch f/t food for anything, but will greedily eat anything live. I tried switching after she'd constricted, and placing a f/t food item in with her after she'd eaten one live, but this didn't work. Well last time I fed her, I kept the bag the live mice were in, and the little bit of bedding the pet store had put in it. I let her frozen food thaw out in that bag, and wham! she ate like a champion! I tried another f/t (thawed normally for one of my other snakes) and she ignored it, but after 30 seconds in the "magic bag" she went right for it. Keeping a bag of used mouse bedding around is much better than a 1-2 hour round trip every week to buy her food!

[Nagah11979]

This is a dumb question, but what does f/t stand for? :rolleyes:

I know it has something to do with feeding frozen mice.

[Richard]

it means frozen and then thawed

[Iris]

how were you "defrosting" your mice? I know if you put them in a cup of water, the smell gets kind of washed away. And frozen mice don't smell as strongly as live "fresh" ones so it could have been the weaker scent. maybe. :) Used mouse bedding sure stinks!
Glad you found something that works for your amel stripe!

[redarm]

I put the frozen pinky in a plastic sandwich bag then push out as much air as possible then put it in warm water for 15 min.Clip the bag with hemo stats and it sinks easier. works for me

redarm

[Elaphe_Mo]

I normally just thaw in a cup of water, never had any problems with it till now...for this picky eater though I've tried thawing at room temp without water, and she still wouldn't go near the food. At least she's eating now!

[WMD]

ya i go with redarm thats a good why to defrosd mice

[south1africa]

do u have to put in plastic bag to thaw them in water
I dont
But I have only my corn 1 time cause i just got him

[Elaphe_Mo]

you don't have to put the mice in a plastic bag to thaw them in water. If your snake will eat the slightly damp mice, the don't worry about it. My amel stripe seems to just be picky about the smell of her food.