Posted by:
notpitr
at Fri Aug 22 19:07:59 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by notpitr ]
I feed fresh-killed for an entirely different reason: the thought of keeping dead rodents in my freezer grosses me out.
I've been raising my own rats instead of mice - mice *stink* to High Heaven, rats don't - and I've got one happy vacuum cleaner and one finicky monster. Bubba the vacuum doesn't care what kind of prey he gets, even slimy rejects from the other one. Frank is more picky and prefers mice. He'll only eat a rat when he's so hungry he's visualizing his cagemate roasted on a plate with one of those little paper thingies on his tail like a Thanksgiving turkey.
I have discovered a *trick* to get Frank to eat the rats: I feed him rat pups the same size as mice. I also scent them - I keep a mouse in the nursery with the suckling mothers and their pups. The mouse is accepted as just another baby by the mothers, and I've even caught it suckling every now and again. The mothers keep it clean, and I haven't noticed any Mouse Stink. It sleeps curled up with the babies and lives quite a happy life. It doesn't realize that it's getting Mouse Scent on the babies so Frank will eat them.
I get a feeling that Frank is on to the deception - he will sniff the scented rat pup and then look at me with what can only be described as a "You've *GOT* to be kidding, right?" expression. Eventually, he gets down to business and eats. The real trick is, once Rat#1 is partway down the hatch, his swallowing reflex has taken over and he is MINE. I put Rat#2's nose on the butt of Rat#1, and Frank will keep swallowing. I can usually get 3 or 4 down him this way before he finally pulls away. The icky leftover goes to Bubba, so there's no waste.
[ Hide Replies ]
- Feeding Question - Syco, Fri Aug 22 00:55:32 2003
- Just a few pointers... - Sariel, Fri Aug 22 01:58:28 2003
- RE: Feeding Question - mustang67ford, Fri Aug 22 06:34:45 2003
- RE: Feeding Question - rhauser, Fri Aug 22 07:18:16 2003
- Correction: Cut & Paste Error on my Message Above - rhauser, Fri Aug 22 07:21:12 2003
- Fresh is probably better, regardless of prey species - jfmoore, Fri Aug 22 15:58:34 2003
 RE: Fresh is probably better, regardless of prey species - notpitr, Fri Aug 22 19:07:59 2003
- RE: Feeding Question - bhmorrill, Fri Aug 22 19:00:42 2003
- RE: Feeding Question - bhmorrill, Fri Aug 22 19:01:05 2003
|
