Rob pretty much nailed this one. I have had great success with most of the methods that he mentioned, though I must admit I have never had to try chicken broth, lol.
Out of all of those methods the one that has worked the best for me is the one involving moving the rat as if it is alive. Rob compared it to moving a fishing lure when fishing and that sounds very identical in nature. Because it basically is the same principle,.. trying to get an animal to have a feeding response and to accept dead bait. The way I do it is a little differet and even kind of comical, but I hold the rat by its hind quarters and make it move about in a natural way (this is in fact easier once the rat is stiff from the onset of rigor-mortis) and I even make it seem to hide behind things like the water bowl. The young snakes (usually) seem to become especially excited when the rat disappears from view and then pokes it's head and shoulders out, only to disappear and reappear again. This is the part that almost mirrors Rob's suggestion of having a rat seem to appear in front of the snake's hide. I think it is all the same "hunt and stalk" behavior in them. When I do the "rat hiding behind the bowl" thing the young python usually will see this and start across the cage pausing now and again as the rat is in full view, only to rush forward again when the rat begins to withdraw. Classic stalking behavior. And by the time they reach the bowl, when I poke the rat head out once more, WHAM, they hit it and wrap. No questions asked, no tongue action, just kill and eat. Unlike boas you don't even need to shake the thing. They usually hit it so hard and fast that it is being constricted before you can even think to shake it. You can undoubtedly achieve this using tongs. I hold them by hand because I don't really mind being bitten, but if you don't want to get bit then use tongs. These snakes are also very guided by their heat-sensing pits in their noses and along their upper lips, so a warm hand right next to a cold rat that they are after often gets the hit. It's kind of funny because it took me a long time to figure this out, lol. I kept wondering, 'crimmeny, how can they miss and get me SO much?' lmao. Then one day it hit me like a ton of burmese,... the heat of my hand! The lack of heat in the rat or rabbit! Duh! So you may want to take the extra precaution of making sure the rat is very warm. Place it in warm water just before you do this for about 2 minutes. It won't matter to the snake if it's wet.
Okay,. enough said. My posts always have a way of getting too long. Good luck.
>>My burm is not the smartest on the planet, I fear that if he were in the wild, he would have been eaten long ago . I still love him, even though he is learning impaired. J/K.
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>>I say this because he will not eat pre-killed prey. I have tried for months and he is just too stubborn and will only eat live prey. I have tried to wait weeks in between feedings and I still get no feeding response with pre-killed prey. In fact, they sit so long the become "stiff". I just don't think that is appetizing for him, shoot, I wouldn't want to eat a cold, stiff rat either.
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>>I would appreciate any information or help you could give me regarding my issue. Thank you for your time
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>>Marco - Utah
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"If I had 365 enemies it would only take a year out of my life to settle all scores." Mia Miselfani
. I still love him, even though he is learning impaired. J/K.