# Feeding enrichment



## hawkeyepearce (Sep 18, 2020)

Wonder if anyone could shed some light on snakes ability to smell, I recently tried to entice my Bredl into her natural feeling habits by placing a mouse in front of one of the cooling fans to blow the scent into her viv but she didn’t react to it at all, has anyone else tried this with good results?


----------



## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

hawkeyepearce said:


> Wonder if anyone could shed some light on snakes ability to smell, I recently tried to entice my Bredl into her natural feeling habits by placing a mouse in front of one of the cooling fans to blow the scent into her viv but she didn’t react to it at all, has anyone else tried this with good results?


I let the mice / rats thaw naturally in my snake room / man cave and by evening there’s always a few out and about tongue flicking .. 

Things really get interesting when I give each rodent a good blast with the hairdryer before offering them .. they are ready to pounce !!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

I’ve just sent you the hairdryer method by PM




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

hawkeyepearce said:


> Wonder if anyone could shed some light on snakes ability to smell, I recently tried to entice my Bredl into her natural feeling habits by placing a mouse in front of one of the cooling fans to blow the scent into her viv but she didn’t react to it at all, has anyone else tried this with good results?


I'm not surprised!!
Bredls, as with virtually every python species, have thermal receptors in the labial scales.
So if you are putting a mouse in front of a cooling fan, then you are just blowing cool air at it with a slight hint of mouse scent.
She won't recognise it as food.


----------



## hawkeyepearce (Sep 18, 2020)

I have a heat source by the fan when I’m doing this primarily to keep the mouse warm which will also warm the air


----------



## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

hawkeyepearce said:


> I have a heat source by the fan when I’m doing this primarily to keep the mouse warm which will also warm the air


You stated you put a mouse in front of a cooling fan.
You can't have a cooling fan if you have a heat source by it.
What you are saying is rather contradictory.


----------



## hawkeyepearce (Sep 18, 2020)

Talk about hard work! it is a cooling fan that I put a heat blower on the external side of when I put the food in front of the fan so it blows warm over the mouse then into the fan then into the viv


----------



## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

hawkeyepearce said:


> Talk about hard work! it is a cooling fan that I put a heat blower on the external side of when I put the food in front of the fan so it blows warm over the mouse then into the fan then into the viv


Why??!!
The most ridiculous idea I've heard in all my 35 years of keeping and breeding snakes.


----------



## hawkeyepearce (Sep 18, 2020)

So trying to replicate her natural instincts and behaviours is ridiculous I suppose you think bioactive vivs are ridiculous too, don’t bother replying in your 35 years you’ve obviously not tried anything new or thought outside the box


----------



## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

hawkeyepearce said:


> So trying to replicate her natural instincts and behaviours is ridiculous I suppose you think bioactive vivs are ridiculous too, don’t bother replying in your 35 years you’ve obviously not tried anything new or thought outside the box


Wow.
So someone disagrees with your failed feeding"enrichment" and you resort to abuse.
You are not replicating natural instincts by sticking a defrosted mouse in front of a fan. The very fact that your snake refused to eat it is proof enough!!!
If you want to replicate natural instincts then you would be offering a live specimen of a prey species she would naturally find in West Africa.


----------



## loxocemus (Sep 2, 2006)

oh oh oh me! (hands up!) i think bioactive (ha!) vivs are ridiculous.

spending a fortune on crawling dirt when the snakes only concern for it is to shit in it.

instead of buying all that crap buy a bigger viv, but then ud' have to keep less, and you'd have to give up ur pet springtails as well.

rgds
ed

QUOTE="hawkeyepearce, post: 13419321, member: 216971"]
So trying to replicate her natural instincts and behaviours is ridiculous I suppose you think bioactive vivs are ridiculous too, don’t bother replying in your 35 years you’ve obviously not tried anything new or thought outside the box
[/QUOTE]


----------



## Elly66 (Feb 27, 2021)

The problem is, your not actually replicating natural feeding habits. In the natural environment the food would be alive.

Pythons need to sense warm food, warm air blowing around may actually be confusing their ability to pinpoint the food 🤔

Defrost the mice, warm it with a hairdryer and hold in tongs. Walk it around near snake, stopping still often. It's a method I used with my Royal and months on I can barely get the tongs holding the food in the viv door before they snatch it now.


----------



## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

Elly66 said:


> The problem is, your not actually replicating natural feeding habits. In the natural environment the food would be alive.
> 
> Pythons need to sense warm food, warm air blowing around may actually be confusing their ability to pinpoint the food
> 
> Defrost the mice, warm it with a hairdryer and hold in tongs. Walk it around near snake, stopping still often. It's a method I used with my Royal and months on I can barely get the tongs holding the food in the viv door before they snatch it now.


That’s more or less my method though most of my Royals prefer to strike from under their hide so I blast with a hairdryer then dangle it in front of the hide entrance 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## hawkeyepearce (Sep 18, 2020)

I see your point with the live food and the airflow confusing the ability to pinpoint the meal, sounds like the hairdryer method is the way to go. Thank you


----------



## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

hawkeyepearce said:


> I see your point with the live food and the airflow confusing the ability to pinpoint the meal, sounds like the hairdryer method is the way to go. Thank you


 Have you ever seen the difference in a snake's feeding reaction when a live prey item is used, especially for something like a stubborn hatchling royal ? The react totally different. The smell, movement, and thermal image presented is so different the snake instantly knows its food, it will track it and when in range, either when the snake has snuck up on it, or the mouse moves towards the snake the strike and kill is quick. Some snakes don't need live food to get them started and will take defrosted mice if the mice are presented right. 

It's well known that simply defrosting the food in the same room as the snake often starts the process of switching them into feeding mode. I have snakes in an upstairs room and they know when the food is being defrosted downstairs... the scent travels naturally through the air, you don't need to create a strong wind to blow scent at the snake... When I walk into that room and blast the food item with the hairdryer they all react. Now it could be the noise, the heat, or the sudden burst of scent into the air that triggers them, and they become focused on anything that moves...

Warm prey is the key with most pythons...offer one that hasn't been warmed and whilst the snake will show interest, often it won't take. Offered a warm item and the snake will follow it as you bring it near the viv and place it through the opening, often taking it before you need to mimic any movement.


----------



## hawkeyepearce (Sep 18, 2020)

Sounds like good advice, thanks malc


----------

