Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Gang,
Often I hear that when people feed F/T or Pre-KIlled Mice to their Snakes They talk about leaving the dead mouse with the Snake "Overnight" or "All Day".My question-

After a couple of hours the mouse or rat pup becomes "spoiled"
Shouldnt there be a certain amount of concern that there snakes are getting spoiled food?? Also, I often wonder about how often wild snakes actually predate on "dead prey".
My 3 Hondurans,After a year,Just will not eat dead or prekilled and i have tried all the picking and all that.I am not power feeding them and there feeding schedules are varied, once or twice every week.Also i am switching over to rat pups because it is easier for the snakes to catch them and also the fact that the growth of the snakes is much more noticable.Yea, I know feeding live might be distasteful to some of you but which of you who actually keep snakes cares much for rats or mice? I kinda find that form of thinking ironic.Also rat pinkies, fuzzies and hoppers really dont have well developed teeth of any real concern to a 2 1/2 to 3 foot honduran and the snakes seem to get a muck better "workout" on rats "throttleing" them and that to me, is maybe a bit more natural and much more healthy for a animal that is forced, by many of us to live in a "shoe Box".Mine live individualy in a 40 gallon "breeder Tank" each with 2 inches of "care fresh" and cork bark and tubes in a few piles in differnt parts of the tank with an average tempatue of between 74 and 82 during the day and night.It varies, lets get real.They have the under tank heating pad and a 75 watt heat emmiter on the hot side and all that working so i am confident that maybe more space per animal and a live diet of healthy rat pups is the better way .My Tangerine Albinos Are Growing fast enough and the breeder seems to think that i have things under control as far as husbandry and all that goes. Any comments that you guys have would be great and welcome all advice cause I have only Been Keeping Hondos for a year and a half...Thanks..

Sounds like you are doing everything right, maybe yours are just spoiled..LOL. Most hondurans are pure garbage disposals and it simply sounds like yours are a little picky. Feeding small live rat pups to hondurans and many of the larger triangulum is fine and works very well for some individuals. But switching them to frozen/ thawed can sometimes be tricky and down right frustrating. You might want to try a few things next time you feed. Try feeding them smaller meals, (pre-killed) that they are not normally used to. Many snakes can be intimidated by larger prey items. You might also want to try offering a small live rat pup followed by another smaller pre-killed pup. A few successful attempts at this might entice them even more to eat when dead items are put in front of them. Leaving the item in over night should be fine as well. If not eaten by the next morning, discard it and try again a few days later.
Again these methods have worked for me but may not work for others. Regardless of what you decide, be persistent.
Good luck.
Nathan