New Snake Feeding

[Pauls_Pythons]

I'm sure any self respecting snake in the wild would never eat anything that might have bacteria on it!
This is a debate that goes on and on, I thaw at room temp unless I need to get food ready quickly in which case I thaw in TEPID water.

This is all personal choice, I don't like the idea of feeding my animals part cooked food.
I guess the re freezing idea can be a factor in how you choose to thaw them but with 50+ animals in the house I never re freeze anything.

And thw verdict is.... 60.7° that's not cooking a frozen mouse in 3-4 mins.

Tell that to someone who eat their steak 'blue'

How did this thread get so far off line?

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

Mmm I've never put a frozen solid steak straight on the bbq. The bacteria comment, not sure who that was aimed at but I believe it was only mentioned in regards to possible re freezing a thawed rodent where a quick thaw in hot water would promote less problems rather than a slow room temp thaw over a couple of hours. Long story short, the op has tried several things which haven't worked, I see no harm in trying something not yet tried.. I know I had a lot more success thawing straight in hot tap water and tearing the nose.

Not everyone has 50+ snakes, I for example have 2 and my rodents aren't $2 A pop, more like $6 and 3 or 4 rejections, or 7-8 like I had in the beginning (when thawing slowly in bags) soon adds up... haven't had a rejection now in months.

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

If thawing small mice like pinkies or fuzzies even hot water is overkill, they can be thawed at body temp in a closed hand in a couple of minutes.
Larger food items such as 200-300g rats will need longer to 'thaw' than the suggested time and undoubtedly there would be some type 'blanching' effect to the surface of the food before the middle has even thawed let alone reached a suitable temperature inside.

I for example have 2 and my rodents aren't $2 A pop, more like $6 and 3 or 4 rejections, or 7-8 like I had in the beginning (when thawing slowly in bags) soon adds up

Loosen up Kev, you need more snakes, it's really that simple. (Maybe if I use an emoji you will see when things are said in jest)

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

Sorry, these instructions were not for people in general... just for the op to try..
Haha no more snakes for me, my power bill is already high enough... perhaps after I get my solar panels installed early next year.. but there's nothing else really in the snake depatment That I wish to own...

 

[GBWhite]

Don't offer food for a couple wèeks to a month and see how you go.

Spot on Wally.

I love reading all theses comments and different suggestions and can't help but sit here with a smile on my face and shaking my head. Everyone that buys their first snake seems to want to get a feed into it asap. Persistence and patients are the key words. Don't worry if you have to discard the food item if it goes uneaten, it's such a small price to pay, especially considering it costs more to buy a cup of coffee or soft drink. (If you've been paying $6 a throw Kev you're getting ripped off but it's still cheaper than feeding the family dog or cat...lol).

Just for the record, provided a snake (even a juvenile or hatchling) is housed correctly at the correct temperature and not constantly handled or stressed, it will gradually come around to accepting food. The snake's survival instinct will kick it at some stage, it is not going to starve itself to death.

I've never had to blood a food item to get a hatchling snake to accept it and have never used the hot/warm water method to defrost a food item. In fact I'm not keen on either nor do I like the way it's done in the video Kev shared. I take the rodents out of the freezer and leave them in their plastic bag on a table inside a window with the sun shining through. This not only defrosts the rodent but increases the smell as the sun does its job. As far as bacteria is concerned I have on occasion forgot that I was defrosting them and left them in the bag in the sun for up to 20 minutes and fed them off with no ill effects whatsoever.

In regard to size and recognition of food items. Here's the pic I put up in another post just this morning and another taken about this time 2 years ago of a couple of wild juveniles that wouldn't be any more than 9 or maybe 10 months old that got into my mice breeding area and helped themselves to a nice feed of fully grown adult mice. (The mouse who photobombed the first shot gives a good indication of what's in both their bellies...lol)

Last night.



2 years ago.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

If you've been paying $6 a throw Kev you're getting ripped off but it's still cheaper than feeding the family dog or cat...lol).

Perhaps but unless I buy in bulk (not going to bother for 2 juvenile pythons that are still progressing through the feeder sizes quite rapidly) it's the best price I can get locally. Have cotacted several other breeders a few hours away with competitive prices but neither freight here.

 

[Nero Egernia]

Tell that to someone who eat their steak 'blue'

Blue steak. The only steak anyone should eat.

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

Blue steak. The only steak anyone should eat.

YUK, I'm a burnt to a crisp man myself Oshkii. I need to know its dead

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

Medium rare for me, if it's not pink in the middle it's over cooked.

 

[TeaganEliza]

Thank you everyone for your great advice! I wasn't at all concerned about getting food into him ASAP, i was just confused as to why he looked so interested in it but wouldn't take it. On the contrary, I tried feeding him brained pinkies today with success. Although I was told he was previously being fed fuzzies, this obviously wasn't the case, considering I'd tried offering fuzzies multiple times, including a brained fuzzy. I gave him 5 pinkies, roughly the equivalent of a fuzzy. Just to clear up, he could easily take a fuzzy, they aren't too big at all. Hopefully he will start taking fuzzies soon.

Thanks again everyone, it genuinely means a whole lot

 

[Fall guys]

Thank you everyone for your great advice! I wasn't at all concerned about getting food into him ASAP, i was just confused as to why he looked so interested in it but wouldn't take it. On the contrary, I tried feeding him brained pinkies today with success. Although I was told he was previously being fed fuzzies, this obviously wasn't the case, considering I'd tried offering fuzzies multiple times, including a brained fuzzy. I gave him 5 pinkies, roughly the equivalent of a fuzzy. Just to clear up, he could easily take a fuzzy, they aren't too big at all. Hopefully he will start taking fuzzies soon.

Thanks again everyone, it genuinely means a whole lot

If you think he can easily take a fuzzy, move on to a hopper and skip that part

 

[dragonlover1]

I guess the only issue with a slow thaw like that method is that if the food item is rejected, you cannot re-freeze it and have wasted a rodent... With a quick hot water thaw, in a couple of minutes, if the item is rejected, it can be safely re-frozen.

I don't understand your reasoning,defrosted is defrosted.Once defrosting has started bacteria starts to set in;you can't put your steak back in the freezer because you aren't hungry and snakes are the same.They are not scavengers like monitors or blue tongues,they need fresh food (sure we feed them with frozen/reheated food,but it is still basically fresh)
So it doesn't matter if you defrost slowly or 100MPH it is still defrosted and NOT RE-FREEZABLE
[doublepost=1513400334,1513399982][/doublepost]

You get more of a smell when it’s literally sitting in its smell rather than quickly taking it out of freezer.

If you do it too hot you risk ruining it, same with cooking, you can’t just chuck it into hot water, because it cooks the outside too fast more than the rest..

I’ve never had a problem with my way, you guys never had a problem with your way.

If snake doesn’t eat.. great it’s 2$ I don’t get to use..

unfortunately it's not always a $2 feed,if my coastal knocks back a small rabbit it's $25 down the drain, this is part of the reason we bought a couple of lacies,as future garbage bins lol.

 

[Fall guys]

I don't understand your reasoning,defrosted is defrosted.Once defrosting has started bacteria starts to set in;you can't put your steak back in the freezer because you aren't hungry and snakes are the same.They are not scavengers like monitors or blue tongues,they need fresh food (sure we feed them with frozen/reheated food,but it is still basically fresh)
So it doesn't matter if you defrost slowly or 100MPH it is still defrosted and NOT RE-FREEZABLE
[doublepost=1513400334,1513399982][/doublepost]
unfortunately it's not always a $2 feed,if my coastal knocks back a small rabbit it's $25 down the drain, this is part of the reason we bought a couple of lacies,as future garbage bins lol.

25$ for a small rabbit :O I think that’s worse than the 6$ Rodent that was brought up in earlier comments! I hope by “small” they are upwards of 1.5kg
Camos sells smells for 10$ and large for 20$

The small was 500g

I want some lacies but got no room for outdoor enclosures

 

[dragonlover1]

25$ for a small rabbit :O I think that’s worse than the 6$ Rodent that was brought up in earlier comments! I hope by “small” they are upwards of 1.5kg
Camos sells smells for 10$ and large for 20$

The small was 500g

I want some lacies but got no room for outdoor enclosures

I don't like to speak ill of people but Camo has a really bad rep in Sydney,I wouldn't buy used toilet paper off him.
[doublepost=1513401955,1513401198][/doublepost]

Disagree. Never had a problem with either. Present exactly how depicted in the video.

something I have against the video example is he puts them in water then dries them off thus rubbing away their scent,but he also touches the mice with the same hand which he puts in the tub to move items ?? I wash my hand so I don't carry the smell of food on me while I feed to avoid bites/confusion

 

[Fall guys]

I don't like to speak ill of people but Camo has a really bad rep in Sydney,I wouldn't buy used toilet paper off him.

I don’t think I’ve heard of one bad complaint maybe his customer service isn’t the best .. but yea.. care to tell me in pm?

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

Tearing the skin on the nose is the scent used for a feeding response in the video... and from my own personal experience it works way better...

 

[dragonlover1]

I don’t think I’ve heard of one bad complaint maybe his customer service isn’t the best .. but yea.. care to tell me in pm?

done

 

[Nero Egernia]

I wouldn't buy used toilet paper off him.

I don't think people would want to buy used toilet paper, period.

 

[Yellowtail]

Compared to getting lots of these little buggers feeding everything else is easy, last clutch of albinos just hatched.


Julattens just hatching as well, they are easy to feed by comparison.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

I've seen this video and I can show you how easy it is to feed fuzzy mice to 2 Month olds as well, mine will eat wet mice, dry mice, any mice, presented in any way.
Like to see him feeding new hatchlings for the first time, that's a lot harder.

I would assume he's been successful in that department... given thst his pythons didn't just skip the hatchling stage to arrive at where they're at...
[doublepost=1513452755,1513451668][/doublepost]

Compared to getting lots of these little buggers feeding everything else is easy

Try getting hatchling ELN's this big feeding successfully and you'll know what difficult is all about... yes, that's a uniform Aussie 5c coin.