Fast Food!

[M.bredl.mad]

My one of my bredli juvenilles has been eating mice from day 1. Now im trying to get the little bugger onto rats but he keeps refusing. What can i do to succesfully get him to eat rats?
Thanks

 

[mitchdiamond]

Have you tried scenting the rat with the mouse?

 

[slip_phreak]

try offering a small mouse first followed by a rat or defrosting the rat in the same water as a mouse. Also you can try brain'ing the mouse and rubbing it over the rat. Hope it helps

 

[Rennie]

Rub a mouse (or even a tail tip) on a rat then offer it when it smells like mouse.

I feed a few snakes at once, defrosting mice and rats in the same hot water and none of my snakes seem to know the difference.

 

[nvenm8]

Sew a mouse onto the Rats head using fine cotton.

 

[M.bredl.mad]

ill give it a go now thanks

 

[M.bredl.mad]

No luck.

 

[MrBredli]

Just wait til he gets a bit older, there's no rush to get them onto rats.

 

[bitey]

fed my bredlie on rat for the first time last night, i breed the rats and prekill them before feeding i have found that they dont smell anything like the frozen mice, all i did was prekill the rat then stick it in a ziplock bag and stuck it near our fireplace for a while then shook for a while then put it on the feedstick and the little guy went it just like it was a normal feedtime, hope this helps

 

[M.bredl.mad]

He was a troubled feeder to begin with though. All my others converted over quite easily. This little buggers a pain. Do you reckon freshly killed would make a difference rather than thawed.

 

[bitey]

dont real;y know, im going from frozen weanling mice to fresh killed rat fuzzies

 

[PhilK]

Tried annoying him with it? Try swinging it into his face a few times. Like bumping him on the nose with it.

 

[M.bredl.mad]

Yea i did that but he didnt seemed phased by it at all. Jus curled his head under his body.

 

[PhilK]

...Crafty!

 

[scorps]

how big is he maybe hes just not ready

 

[M.bredl.mad]

He is only 5 months old. Guessing id say he'd be about 50 to 60 centimetres long. Hes definitly the smallest of my 4 juvenilles. I didnt have a prob with any of the others, but this guys a fussy little bugger.

 

[Wrasse]

What happened when you tried the sewing tip mentioned earlier in the thread, did he ignore that too ?

 

[nvenm8]

If you struggle to sew use a small dab of Super Glue the little sucker will never budge!!

 

[M.bredl.mad]

Never tried it sounds like bit too much work for me.

 

[Chris89]

He should be able to eat the Pinkie Rat, my Stimson managed to eat Pinkie Rats when she was around 4 months old.

Maybe he's just not interested? I've found with my little MD if he's not interested in eating he wont take it, no matter how much you annoy him with it, he'll skitz up and go into striking position, smell the mouse/rat then go and hide.

Maybe don't feed him for a week or 2 and then offer him the pinkie rat?