| If you are new to owning or raising a pet snake, | | | | a pot of warm water on the stove. Allow them to |
| there is a lot to learn about proper care and feeding. | | | | warm for several minutes on low temperature until |
| In an effort to help you get up to speed quickly, I'm | | | | completely thawed. It's not a good idea to boil them, |
| providing you a short list of some of the most | | | | you are trying to thaw them out...not cook them! |
| common feeding mistakes and how to avoid them. | | | | And do not use the Microwave! Not only is it a bad |
| Some of them seem like common sense, while | | | | way to thaw them, but it can go horribly wrong, and |
| others are only learned from trial and error or | | | | you will have one unpleasant mess to clean up. The |
| through advice from snake experts. | | | | word 'yuck' is an understatement in this case. |
| If you are using frozen feeders to feed your snake, | | | | Once you have mastered getting your feeders |
| most of the common errors come during the | | | | thawed out, the next place new snake owners often |
| preparation phase of your pet's meal. You need to | | | | make a mistake in the method that they use to |
| be able to properly separate and warm the rodents | | | | actually feed the snake. Presentation is everything in |
| that you will be using. A good reptile food supplier will | | | | human food, so too for our reptile friends. You can |
| flash freeze the feeders so that they are easily | | | | use your tongs to wave the rodent near the snake |
| separated and removed from the container. If you | | | | so that it can get the scent. If it doesn't take it |
| are getting your food in a large frozen block of mice | | | | straight from your tongs don't give up and take it |
| where you have to chip away to get you mice | | | | away. You can place it in the opposite end of the |
| out...find a new supplier. It makes for unnecessary | | | | feeding enclosure. It may take your snake a bit |
| work and cause damage to the feeder, and makes a | | | | before it is ready to feed, or it may prefer to 'hunt' |
| mess. | | | | its food as opposed to taking it straight from the |
| Once you have your snake's meal separated out, | | | | tongs. |
| you need to properly warm them before they are | | | | Those are some of the more common mistakes that |
| ready to eat. Never try and feed your snake a | | | | most new snake owners make when trying to feed |
| rodent that isn't thawed all the way through, it is not | | | | their snakes. With a little experience these things will |
| good for them. The best way is to warm them up in | | | | get much easier. |