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Techniques used to convert from live mice to Frozen/ thawed

CowBoyWay

CowBoyWay

Cocked & Unlocked member
Techniques used to convert from live feeder mice to Frozen/ thawed

Does anybody have any effective techniques for converting those live feeder junkie Corns to fresh frozen? :)

"A prey animal, such as a rodent, can become lethally aggressive when placed into a reptile's cage.

Killing food animals before feeding them to reptiles will prevent potential injuries to the feeding animals...

Few reptiles will refuse to eat dead prey.

The pre-Killing of feeder animals is also advantageous because they can be stockpiled in a freezer...

One should begin to condition snakes early in life to eat dead food.

First off, one doesn't feed out the prey item while it is still frozen!
One needs to thaw it thoroughly and completely before feeding to ones Corn Snake.

When converting an animal to prekilled prey, try "tease feeding" it by dangling the food item in front of it with a pair of hemostats or kitchen tongs...never hold the prey in your fingers!
You may need to move it back and forth a bit to catch the herp's attention.
Be prepared for the strike and quickly release the prey.

If this technique does not work you may first try offering stunned live prey, followed by freshly killed prey and then eventually by offering thawed food items.

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_01.asp

Another method is to pith (stick a pin or small nail) into the brain case of a killed rodent; this intensifies the scent and may attract a reluctant feeder into feeding.
 
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I've had enormously good results with a very simple method: my magic bag. I kept a few live pinkies in a small brown bag with some bedding for a few hours. Now those pinkies are long gone, but placing a f/t pinkie in the bag for just 30seconds - 1 minute scents them enough that some "live only" feeders went straight for them. Simple, cheap, and not nearly as disgusting as braining! I've had the "magic bag" for almost a year now and it is still working great.
 
They have some bags of 100 fuzzies at Petco that I am thinking of buying for my little 9 month old but my dad was worried they would freezer burn. I don't have a vacuum sealer and don't really want to get one unless I have to. are thre packages individually. I don't know the brand name so if there is any place online with vaccumed/individually packages mice please let me know. Thanks!
 
To reseal you'd still need the machine, but you can get the small packs of 5 pinkies or 5 fuzzies, which you would use up before they got freezer burnt and your snake wouldn't eat them. The larger sized mice are in 3 packs, again you use them up before they get freezer burnt. Versus having a bag of 50 or 100 and 1 snake, no way you'll get through them without them getting freezer burnt unless you vacuum seal them yourself. It is more expensive to buy the smaller packs, but still much cheaper (even after shipping) than what I'm paying locally. I don't have reptile shows to go to locally, I'm just glad that one pet store locally offers f/t, the other is all live and I won't feed live.
 
Da "magic Bag...

Do you have the same original bedding in that bag?
:confused:


Freezer Burn
Freezer burn makes food dry in spots and is caused by air reaching the surface of the food.

...freezer-burned rodents should be discarded for substandard quality reasons. imho.

On say a Beef steak it would appear as grayish-brown leathery spot(s).

I have never personally experienced the heartbreak of freezer burnt rodents.;) Of course if I got ambitious and clean out the far reaches of the deep freeze, that could change. ;)
 
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The same original bedding is still in the "magic bag" and I just used it last week for a new kenyan sand boa. Worked like a charm. I'll probably refresh it/get a new one in time for this years corn hatchlings just in case though.
 
wha wha

I don't get your bag method? do you put a live pinky then they eat it then you put a dead one in then they eat it cause of the scent? but wouldn't they only eat dead ones if you use the trick?
 
Start out with a live pink in the bag to scent the bag. I feed that to the snake first since I use this method on snakes that will only eat live anyway.

Then next feeding, put a frozen/thawed pink in the bag to scent it.

If they eat that one (they usually do for me), use the bag for the next couple feedings.

After that, I try an unscented f/t. If they eat it, hooray! If not, I scent it with the bag and try unscented again the next time. Usually within 3 or 4 tries they eat the unscented f/t and then you're done.

Anyway even if they will only eat the scented ones forever it is still better than having to feed live, but every one I've gotten to eat the scented ones has eventually switched over to unscented f/t for me.
 
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