Copperhead feeding help required

[BlueOvalFan]

G'day all
I have had a copperhead for around 3-4 weeks it is around 600mm long and in good health. I have been trying to get it onto mice by scenting fuzzies with skinks and have even tried placing a skink tail in the mouth of the fuzzy but cant get him to take one. So my questions are with the cooler weather just around the corner here in Tassie how long can I continue to try before re releasing him in order that he can feed before winter. Secondly is force feeding my best option if so could someone talk me through it. Thirdly I have been told if you scent skink tails with mutton bird oil and it takes a couple then I should be able to scent a fuzzy with mutton bird oil and it may take it. Has anyone had any luck with that methord.
thanks guys hope one of you could help as the copperhead has settled down beautifully and I would hate to have release it

 

[Dendrobates]

I've never had any experience with copperheads pulled straight from the wild, but I've had experience in getting captive bred neonate copperheads feeding on rodents and I have an adult copperhead that was originally wildcaught from Tasmania as a juvenile. You need to really heavily scent the rodent, literally mush up a skink and smear it all over the mouse (frogs also work really well and so do fish sometimes). I'm not sure if you are just trying to feed it from tongs? But leaving the food in with it overnight can also work.
Does the snake have any skin worms? If it does it's a good sign that it's mostly been a frog feeder and that's the scent that it might prefer. Force feeding should only be a last resort after you've tried everything else, usually they will take the scented food items though with persistence.
It takes a bit of time and effort, but once you get them onto rodents they become machine feeders on them!