I've had more luck conditioning by removing everything (except water) from the cage, and putting down a piece of plastic over the bedding when I'm going to feed. takes care of keeping them from ingesting substrate -- and also only gets them feisty when they see their hide and such removed. I do this with both my kings and my rats with pretty decent luck, though, if I miss a feeding it doesn't matter if the hide is in the cage or not -- they're hungry!

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