feeding issues

[jayhimself]

So i recently picked up a three year old corn snake. the kid that owned it before had raised her on live mice. i knew this before hand, but figured i'd try and feed her a pre-killed mouse. She refuses to take the dead mouse. I've tried everything. I tried warming it, dangling it in front of her face with tongs, hell i even tried putting a little tuna juice on it. I left the mouse in the viv for most of the day but nothing. I knew the snake had just finished shedding not long before i picked her up so I didn't think it could be a pre-shed thing.

The next day I went back to the store and picked up a live mouse. I removed her from her viv and put her into her feeding tank. dropped the mouse into the other end and almost instantly she grabbed it up and promptly ate it...

I've owned snakes before (sand boa & ball python) and had always fed them live mice (i guess i always assumed this was all that was available). It's always kind of bothered me that the mouse has to suffer but figured it was just a natural part of life and dealt with it. However after finding this forum and extensively reading, i see that most of you prefer dead mice not only for humane reasons but for the safety of the snake.

She is getting quite bit and will have to move up to rats here eventually which i'm sure can pack a little more punch than a mouse...I don't want to hurt my snake, I would prefer to feed pre-killed but it doesn't seem like it's going to be a possibility. Any suggestions other than what i've tried already?

P.S. If i decide to raise my own feeders, how do you humanly kill them?

 

[diamondlil]

An adult corn can stay on mice it's whole life, no need to bump up to rats. To convert to f/t, have you tried fresh-killed? If you use cervical disocation and give the mouse while it's still twitching she should feed. When she's done that a few times, try dry-thawed f/t, don't put the mouse in water but leave it out to thaw for a few hours. Good luck.