Question for David Beard

[Brad]

Ok i see that you own short tails. so my question is, whats a good way to get them to eat FT food items, any info you can give me will help alot.

Thanks Brandon

[KLG]

Well, it certainly doesn't have to be wet - I know some short-tails who WON'T eat wet prey (picky little divas!) but it definitely needs to be warm. And warmer than what would trigger many snakes into a feeding response. First of all, it will help if your STP is already accustomed to taking prey off of hemostats - this makes things easier with just about any snake, actually. Prior to offering your short-tail a F/T prey item, ensure that the thawed rodent is very warm to the touch - leaving it on a heating pad for about 10 - 15 minutes (make sure you "flip" the rodent in the interim to ensure it's warm all the way through) usually does the trick...just don't forget it's there!

Anway, when the rodent is quite warm, offer it to your short-tail. Having a sufficiently heated feeder is typically all it takes to get these snakes switched to F/T. Once your snake is steadily eating F/T you usually won't have to go to such lengths to warm the prey items, although you should ALWAYS ensure that any frozen rodents are thoroughly thawed & warmed before offering them to any snake.

Just my $.02

K

[telefrag]

just watch out for hair balls. I've had Borneos that would get huge clumps of fur lodged just above their vents ( these were WC, so it may have been a husbandry error on my part), and eventually had to start shaving the rats prior to offering them as food.

After that, it never happened again.

	Wild caught wild caught

	Cloaca is the posterior opening that serves as the only such opening for the intestinal, urinary, and (usually) genital tracts of certain animal species.All birds, reptiles, and amphibians possess this orifice, from which they excrete both urine and feces

[Brad]

Thanks for the replys but to let you all know it worked me and brads short-tail has taken his prey and he is back on track, it was funny after like 20 mins of wiggling it he was very interested but would not strike so as i was about to give up i put the rat in front of him and kinda tapped his nose, the short-tail opened his mouth and stayed like that, so i figred he was telling me (hey iam i going to keep my mouth open or are you going to feed me the rat) so barley put it in his mouth and sure enough he started eating it.

Thanks Brandon