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learning to eat live...

Serpwidgets said:
Many of mine constrict f/t anyway, because I've taught them to do it. :)
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Thanks to all the veterans for their points-of-view on live vs. frozen. New food for thought for me (no pun intended ... well, maybe a little :p ).

But the statement above intrigues me. How did you teach your snakes to constrict if they weren't doing so naturally?
 
Kitty said:
Thanks to all the veterans for their points-of-view on live vs. frozen. New food for thought for me (no pun intended ... well, maybe a little :p ).

But the statement above intrigues me. How did you teach your snakes to constrict if they weren't doing so naturally?
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Wiggle the mouse a bit with feeding tongs, and instinct will take over. I find the more vigorously I wiggle, the stronger my snakes constrict. My snow is very violent with her f/t mice.
 
BeckyG said:
Wiggle the mouse a bit with feeding tongs, and instinct will take over. I find the more vigorously I wiggle, the stronger my snakes constrict. My snow is very violent with her f/t mice.
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Yep, that does the trick. You have to make "arrgh arg arg!!!!" noises when doing it, too. LOL
 
My first snake was a shy thing about her food. Tried hiding from the f/t pink the first couple of feedings. Wouldn't even think about constricting them, either.

As she got bigger and was fed larger and furred food, she's turned into a rather quick and efficient killer. I use tongs and hold the mouse as I lower it into the container, but I don't even need to bother teasing her. She's on it and constricting it in no time. I do wiggle the mouse for a little bit to give her exercise though. These days I have to be careful about getting too close when there's food in the picture, since she did miss once and bit my finger.

I can't see that my snakes care either way about the mouse being live or dead. They certainly get their exercise and stimulation all the same, plus the added benefit of cut mice... and no worry that they'll end up bitten.

But I guess the point is... even a snake who is scared of little pinky mice can turn into a vicious killer of dead things. They learn eventually. :)
 
Serpwidgets said:
Yep, that does the trick. You have to make "arrgh arg arg!!!!" noises when doing it, too. LOL
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THAT'S what I've been leaving out! The sound effects! Thanks Serp, for pointing that out to me. :grin01:
 
Have fed live, fresh-killed, and f/t. I prefer fresh-killed since it's safe, quick, and healthier (you'ld think?). The only reason I use f/t is the size availability and price. Taking time to thaw them sucks and I often wonder about the quality of f/t compared to home grown.
:cheers:
 
I think if you raise your own mice it's probably healthier to feed pre-killed (I'd personally never chance a bite, I've seen it happen) but the petstore mice can often be covered in urine and fecal matter due to the fact that they are raised together in huge numbers. I don't think that's the healthy way to feed my animal. It's certainly easier for me to run to the petstore and get a dozen frozen mice than run there every week and get live. About half of mine constrict the f/t just like a live mouse and as a matter of fact, my amel has to be fed with tongs so that he doesn't take your hand off getting to the mouse. He's never been fed live except for a few pinkies when he was a baby and he didn't constrict those. As far as the time taken to thaw, I usually change water and clean cages while the mice thaw in the hot water. I use plastic bags now because our county decided it was necessary to throw chloramines in our water. Otherwise, I used to just run hot water over them in a cup until they were good and hot and throw them in the feeder boxes. No drying necessary. The whole bunch eats them wet or dry...they don't care.
 
Im new just to start off, and I have only just started feeding my snake... one feeding and her first wit me, 4 fuzzy f/t's, but thats not what Im here to say.... My sister also just got a great corn thats like 4 years old, and she refuses to eat anything, so my sister was like... maybe she's used to live, so she bought two live mice and stuck them in the cage... the snake ignored them... they ignored the snake and so my sister fell in love with them... there names are now pinky and the brain... one female and one male... yay free fresh mice for me....
 
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