Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi guys. i have a hog who is absolutely unwilling to eat f/t. i've tried taking out all distractions in the cage, leaving her alone with the food for a few days, jiggling the rat, switching colours and sizes... today i fed her a small live prey and then immediately gave her the dead food. after 5 minutes of poking at it and making it 'move', i finally got her to strike at it. but she let it go after 2 seconds and refused to eat it.

are there any more tricks? i'd really rather not have to feed her only live... :

All my boas eat F/T with no problems, although some have a time preferance like right before I turn out the lights or right before I turn on the lights. I do not keep hoggs but from what I know they should take F/T with out a problem. Good luck

Both my snakes (boa & burm) take thawed, however I always need to make sure the temp of the food item is warmer than the temp of the cage. I feed with tongs....long ones. I will wiggle the prey if they loose interest.

Hope that helps

Dan

The first thing I always try is rubbing a live mouse/rat on the f/t mouse/rat probally 5 or 6 out of 10 will grab that way, then ya tug it a bit so they wrap it tight. If that doesnt work I take the prey item and warm it up. put it in a zip lock bag and put that in warm water. If that dont work and the animal is still on pinkies Ill brain it. If not ill bump it in the face with it a bit till I get the animal pissed, normally theyll bit it just to get it out of their face, then eat it once they taste it. If that still dont work Ill wait till they reach a lrger size and try again. Most adult or subs will take dead/f/t prey rapidly. hopes this helps jason
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Jason & Danica
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thanks. this has been an ongoing struggle with this snake! when she was a tiny little baby, i tried braining them, putting her in a box with just the food, giving her newly killed food, poking her food for like 40 minutes. i've gotten her to attack and constrict a dead animal, but as soon as she realises it's not alive, she loses all interest. soon i realised she was starving herself. her skin didn't shed well and she was starting to look mighty sad. so i decided to give in.

now she's 4 feet, and i hoped that she stopped being so picky (because i know that some snakes grow out of it). but she's still just as uninterested. tomorrow i'm going to try heating the rat and scenting it. hopefully that will do the trick :/

all my other snakes have gone f/t no problem. what a stubborn girl she is!

In stubborn cases it may be necessary to simply wipe the rat on the f/t for scent, or even bleed a live rat onto the f/t..
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'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin
Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo