Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know we have gone over this but how do you guys thaw out your rats. My burm will hit and wrap around the frozen ones and then not eat them she goes away from them after that, but when I pre kill one she nails it and eats it. So maybe I am doing somthing wrong there. I just let them sit out and sometimes I heat them up on the heating pad in the tank. She consistenly will hit it and wrap it the thawed ones so thats a good thing. She was going into shed so I did not feed her for like 10 days then tried the thawed one, and then a couple days later, then I went to the prekilled. Should I thaw one out and then pre kill one and give that to her and then drop the thawed one in when she hits the pre killed one. What do you all suggest.
Thanks

First of all, make sure you have freshly frozen prey. If it has freezer burn some snakes will flat out refuse it regardless how you warm it or dangle it.... To warm it, I'd put it in a zip lock and go through a few hot water changes. When it is thawed (you can squeeze the body and feel only warmth, no cold spots) dip the head in hot water. Touch it to the inside of your wrist to make sure it is warm but tolerable and feed it by holding on hemostats andletting it have some movement. You are doing what is standard it sounds like- going through pre-killed first and then switching to thawed- should work. Try dangling both pre-killed and thawed from the same hemostats so that she "kill" both- she may eat both. Or try scenting the thawed with the live. You've got a stubborn girl and sometimes it takes longer to switch them than what we are comfortable with. I've heard some people do a prey swicth- after she constricts the pre-killed and lets go drop in the thawed. Frankly I've never gone through this much to switch mine. The hardest time was from a female super tiger retic and I just waited her out. I realize that you probably don't want to do that given your Burm's present size. I hope Brian or other's have some advice that is based on personal experience with such a stubbron Burmese. Best wishes,
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Marcia Pimentel
Tango River Reptiles
GiantFeeders

Hi Jeff, I think the problem here is the thermal detection aspects. When I do thaw food items (I usually feed freshly killed 99% of the time) I thaw them in hot water. As the item thaws the water becomes cooler. I often will replace this with very warm water just prior to feeding. The burmese, like most pythons, have heat-sensing equipment around their lips on the front and sides of their lips. To them, this is not unlike "seeing" the prey animal in the thermal sense. If the rat is cold it might "look" like a rock or a plant to the snake. But a warm rat will register as a "living" thing to them in that sense. This, coupled with the smell of the prey should stimulate the snake to accept it every time. I have had burmese shoot past a cold, thawed item and latch onto my warm hand because of this thermal sensing equipment. These were not clumsey inaccurate strikes. They were actually spot on accurate and were zeroing in on what they saw as the prey that they smelled. They rely on it MUCH more than they do their eyes/regular visual senses in my opinion.

I hope this helps answer your question.

>>I know we have gone over this but how do you guys thaw out your rats. My burm will hit and wrap around the frozen ones and then not eat them she goes away from them after that, but when I pre kill one she nails it and eats it. So maybe I am doing somthing wrong there. I just let them sit out and sometimes I heat them up on the heating pad in the tank. She consistenly will hit it and wrap it the thawed ones so thats a good thing. She was going into shed so I did not feed her for like 10 days then tried the thawed one, and then a couple days later, then I went to the prekilled. Should I thaw one out and then pre kill one and give that to her and then drop the thawed one in when she hits the pre killed one. What do you all suggest.
>>Thanks
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If 50% of one's enemies are still breathing,... it just means you're doing a half-assed job.