Ok, my first attempt at feeding him in this tub didn't go so well. He hates the ****** thing. I put him in there and he spent over an hour trying to get out, I could hear him thumping against the sides... He went up to the feeder mouse and smelled it, even stuck his nose in the mouses butt, but then ignored it.

So I put him back in his tank, and put the feeder mouse in there. He didn't eat the mouse until after I'd gone to sleep, so now I have a bigger problem.

How do I feed him without doing it in the tank? I use aspen bedding, and don't want him ingesting it. Do I have to get him used to the feeder tub and if so how long?

Should I put the tub in a closet and close the door when I feed him?

I really appreciate your help.

__________________

Blessings,
Sentress

1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake ~Xantasa~


"May you live every day of your life."
Anonymous

How long have you had him? Maybe it's too early to feed,and he just needs more time getting used to his new home.
I usually wiggle the mouse in front of the snakes,with a special tweezers you can buy for snakes (don't know the English word) and this always works with mine;within seconds they attack the mouse and eat it.
Maybe you need to wake his interest and wiggle the mouse in front of him,make the mouse "alive".

My daughter's snake Spectre is the same way. He HATES the Rubbermaid feeding tub, spends the whole time trying to get out and won't eat the mouse. I just bought one of our tiny corns a new 20 gallon tank, so this left our 10 gallon All Glass Critter Cage uninhabited. I decided to use IT as a feeding place since it has the nice sliding screen top that I can lock. I put Spectre in THERE to eat this past Friday, and lo and behold, he did NOT spend the whole time trying to get out, and he ATE HIS ADULT MOUSE within about 30 minutes! I was so happy I couldn't stop dancing around the house!

So I wonder if perhaps Spectre hates Rubbermaid tubs and was more comfortable in a tank more silmilar to the one in which he lives. Maybe your snake would eat better in a little glass tank? They don't cost very much, so maybe you'd like to try. Or maybe Spectre just got tired of me pushing big mice into his mouth while he was swallowing a fuzzy (which he never refused), OR maybe he likes gray mice better (the one he just ate was gray...he never had a gray one before...hmmm..do gray ones taste different? )

If yours will only eat in his tank however, you may want to switch to paper towels and/or newspaper as substrate. That's what we use, and we're happier with it than we were when we used the aspen bedding we used to use.

__________________
~Juliane~

Oh, and I wanted to tell you that Spectre, at least, is afraid of mice if I wiggle them. He "runs" the other way if they move. Go figure

I haven't had to try it with the other three though, so I don't know if it would frighten them too or not.

__________________
~Juliane~

Perhaps the easiest solution is to just change the substrate to newspaper...

__________________

Blessings,
Sentress

1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake ~Xantasa~


"May you live every day of your life."
Anonymous

It's very easy to clean up. I love it. Once in a while I put a layer of paper towels on top, and other times I don't. And sometimes the snakes will check out some of the images on the newspaper, especially those with lots of contrast. Ahhh...nothing like sitting back and relaxing with the Sunday paper!

__________________
~Juliane~

Oh forgot to mention. I feed him fuzzies, they're alive. I wiggled the mouse but Xantasa was having none of that. He wanted out.... I'll have to look into a smaller tank for transport purposes.

I got him April 24th, so he's still new. He DID eat the mouse, but he waited until I was asleep.

__________________

Blessings,
Sentress

1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake ~Xantasa~


"May you live every day of your life."
Anonymous

ROFLOL!!!!! Oh wouldn't that be a sight to see!!

__________________

Blessings,
Sentress

1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake ~Xantasa~


"May you live every day of your life."
Anonymous

Seems like I'm forever asking questions about feeding Xantasa, but here goes. I fed him this morning, I changed his substrate to newspaper and then this morning opened the top, opened the paper bag and gently slid the fuzzy (rat)mouse of of the bag into the tank, it made a thump sound. I no sooner turned my back to walk out of the room and give him his privacy than he attacked the fuzzy, (boy do I NOT like that scream) and within minutes the fuzzy was gone lol.

I sat at a distance and watched, he didn't seem to care that I was there watching. When he finished swallowing the fuzzy he followed me around the tank. He became very active, watching me like a hawk, and whenI moved from one end of the room to the other, he'd follow me. He didn't seem upset, rather he seemed curious.

Does this mean he's still hungry? Should I wait a few days and try to feed him another one? Or does this just mean he's awake?

__________________

Blessings,
Sentress

1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake ~Xantasa~


"May you live every day of your life."
Anonymous

Hi Sentress
I had problems feeding my Ball Python for a while. With the feeding tub, I usually take his favorite hide box and put it and the snake in the feeding tub on a heating pad and leave him alone for a while to settle in. I find that if the feeding tub is warm, they're less eager to get out. And the hide box helps him feel more secure and he sometimes likes to "attack" his food from inside the box.
Sometimes I'll have the pinkie rat defrosting in the same room next to the feeding bucket so he can smell it and "get in the mood".
After about 30 minutes or so, I come in and just turn on enough light so I can see what I'm doing... I heat up the defrosted rat with a blow dryer and then offer it to him with feeding tongs. As long as I heat it up to 107F or around 40C, he now snaps it right up.
I usually wait until he's settled down after his meal (he usually crawls under the hide) and then I put him back in his own tank.
Switching your substrate to newspaper is the safest alternative if the feeding tub isn't working. I prefer feeding tubs because they are easy to clean up/sterilize and I don't have the "dead rat" smell in the terrarium.
As far as the after eating activity... he could still be hungry or the act of eating just got him worked up. Just wait a full week before feeding again, even if he could take more now, it's better to wait an maybe offer him two next time. It is not natural for a snake to eat too often. Their digestion is very slow and feeding again right away could result in regurgitation. (It also limits the amount of time you have available for handling!)
I usually offer Monty 2 fuzzy rats every 7-10 days. Sometimes he snaps up the second one and sometimes he refuses it. Since I weigh the frozen rats, I can keep track of how many "rat grams" he's eating. I always try to feed him the heavier fuzzy first, just in case he decides not to eat a second one. (Usually he gets a 20g and a 14g fuzzy per feeding.)

PS -- you really should try to convert your snake to frozen-thawed rats. I managed to convert Monty from live mice to F/T mice and then to F/T pinkie rats. If you get a temp gun and heat the food up enough, it won't be that difficult.

Also, you mentioned not being able to stand "the scream" (I can't either) but if you continue to feed live prey, you can't just walk away: you have to be ready to take it back out if the snake doesn't kill it immediately. Even small mice and rats can kill (or seriously injure) your snake with a lucky defensive bite. If the snake bites the rat at the back end and coils around it, the rat/mouse still has a few valuable seconds or minutes to inflict some nasty bites. (Actually, even people who stand ready and watch it all are not likely to be able to intervene in time to save a snake from at least one nasty bite.) Another disadvantage to live food is that you can't just leave it (especially not overnight) if the snake doesn't seem immediately interested.

I'm sure everyone here has lots of tips on how to convert from live to F/T. It's not always easy, but if my stubborn Monty can convert, ANY snake can!!!

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Andrea