 Recent Herp Discussion | | | | | | | | Online Users: 82 | | 30 members and 52 guests | | aaron.allen, ad, adders, ashley81, bitey, Bouncer, BT, Darren86, denno, elapid@, fine_jungles, firezone1au, Glidergirl, Harro, hobbo, jamgo, Justdriftnby, kakariki, lizzy_reptile, mcloughlin2, monty00, Nagraj, Nappy, omg_a_gecko, pseudechis4740, pythonguy26, Splitmore, The Devil, Tsubakai, vinspa | |  | 
03-May-06, 02:32 PM
|  | Ford loving Snake Subscriber | Join Date: Mar-06 Location: Penrith, NSW | | |
Im seriously considering feeding my coastal hatchie pinkie rats but when i offer it to her she licks and dosnt go for it but as soon as i offer her a mouse bang she is on it lol im just curious what some method's are people use to make the transition from mice to rat's? |
03-May-06, 02:35 PM
|  | Subscriber | Join Date: Nov-05 Location: QLD | | | | rub mouse or mouse blood on rat or dunk rat in used mouse substraight for 10 min. |
03-May-06, 02:41 PM
| | Ford loving Snake Subscriber | Join Date: Mar-06 Location: Penrith, NSW | | | | will that method work on frozen mice and rats |
03-May-06, 02:41 PM
|  | Regular Member | Join Date: Mar-06 Location: Sydney, NSW | | | | I just went through this with four hatchies.. now they are downing 2 pink rats per feed!
Some will be more difficult than others, but always start with the least 'tricks' to see if it works, then add more 'tricks' until it works.
You could try any combination of the following, personally I would do them in this order first, or if all that fails I would combine some of the options:
1/ Give her a week to 10 days without food to make sure she is hungry. Offer her a thawed pinky.
2/ Tease feed her by gently pushing the rat against the side of her neck just behind the head. (tweesers help alot here)
3/ Brain/pop the pinky. Use a stanley/craft knife to cut a tiny slit in the pinky's head. Give it a tiny squeeze to get some goo happening.
4/ Scent the pinky with mouse. i.e. defrost a rat and a mouse, rub the mouse all over the rat, especially the business end of the mouse.
I always find that defrosting in very hot tap water works best. Mine seem to prefer the pinky's when they are a fair bit hotter than room temp. For me, tease feeding worked for the 2 of the 4 hatchies. 1 required popping, and the other just took it straight up. Once you've given them about 3 feeds on rats, you will probably be able to stop the tricks and they will just take them straight away.
Good luck! |
03-May-06, 10:19 PM
| | Ford loving Snake Subscriber | Join Date: Mar-06 Location: Penrith, NSW | | | | sounds like a plan mate ill give it a whirl and see what happens |
03-May-06, 11:12 PM
|  | Regular Member | Join Date: Jan-06 Location: Sydney Age: 25 | | | | I also failed in my attempt to feed my bredli a pinkie rat, although i didn't try more tricks other than squeezing the head a little. She sniffed it for a while, knew it was food of some sort, but nothing. I then gave her a hopper mouse, and she ate it, although she took a while. She's not a snapper when it comes to food, but when it comes to me BANG!
Granted she just shed, so maybe she didn't want to eat pre shed.
Also, what's the advantages of rats over mice? |
03-May-06, 11:58 PM
| | | | Why don't you feed them chickens. I'd say dinosaurs but they're extinct. |
04-May-06, 01:52 AM
|  | Regular Member | Join Date: Dec-05 Location: Sydney Gender:  | | | Quote: |
Also, what's the advantages of rats over mice?
| They're bigger and have a higher protein content and lower fat content.
__________________
\"The less a man makes declared his statements, the less apt he is to look foolish in retrospect\"
Quentin Tarentino, Four Rooms
| |
|
