Reptile & Amphibian Forums

do any of your JPC's eat frozen?

i tried last night with my new JCP, but he wasn't interested.
i'm not suprised at all though, i thought i would try. my king scarfed it up!

so i'm going to try a live hopper today, i just want to make sure this pretty boy never gets scared from mouse bites and i've never been one for breaking necks

Yes, my 6 foot JCP eats F/T large rats. What I do is thaw the rat out in the fridge for a day at least. Then set it out on counter while I get some hot water. Sometimes I'll bring some water just to a boil (you don't want to cook it). Place the rat in a container and pour the water in. Once I do that I'll set that container on top of my JCP's cage and she knows...the steam brings the rat smell into the air and she is ready to eat! She will come out from hiding when she smells the rat. If for some reason she don't go for it right away I'll 'play' with her and move the rat about (holding it with tongs of course) to get her attention and she goes for it.

F/T are good but what I do is buy live and kill them then feed, all my carpets and including my retic have only once eaten live and that was as a baby.

I just toss the mice and rats into the bath tub (dry), straight from the freezer (no hot water or mircrowaving, just room temp defrosting). Or I put them on the concrete outside. Once all the ice melts I place with the snakes. None refuse this way...3 IJS and one florida king. They don't even have to be warm at all. I don't even have to make them move, all my snakes go for the smell rather than the heat. Only the king actually wraps up, all three carpets just sniff out the head and swallow, not constricting at all.

Matt

Yea with my other snakes, (2 corns, a milk and sonoran gopher), they will all eat it if I just set it in their tanks. My JCP will still constrict even though it's alreay dead. I have just set the rat in her tank once and she still grabs it and constricts it.

Its Instinct to constrict some snakes are smart enough to realize its already dead and they don't need to waste any energy with killing it. Also they may just be use to being fed frozen and after years of it they are use to it and just sniff out their heads.

Pat