attention royal owers.......fussy/non feeding royals!! another solution to help!!!

[hippiedan]

if you own a royal you will no doubt be aware that they can and will be really fussy eaters (mine for example wont touch any food items with even the slightest hint of dark brown or black on them!)

getting them from mice to rats is also another major problem for some and like me, alot of people will want to get them from mice to rats as soon as they can to avoid having to feed several mice to each snake every feeding time!!!

think I have come up with a solution that has been working for me for several weeks now so thought I would pass this little nugget on to anyone else that is interested?!

Mouse maker..........a small brown bottle that has opened up several large discussions/arguments!!!

granted it has no instructions of use as such on the bottle so like me, alot of people just put a couple of drops on the rats head/body and is then disappointed when it doesnt seem to work!!

obviously I'm not sure if anyone has tried this and whether it has worked for them or not but, what I have found to work is the following,.........

I defrost my rats/mice in hot water, I have found that adding a few drops of mouse maker to the defosting tub before adding the water and rats has worked a treat now for four weeks on the bounce, none of my bigger snakes would even contemplate even looking at let alone eating a rat before I started doing this but now they all near rip my arm off when a rat defrosted with a mixture of water and mouse maker and all are happily on big sized small rats!

Just thought I'd share my little nugget of succesful experimentation with everyone on here in case there are some people at a loss of what to do next with a non feeding or non rat eating royal!! (I'm sure this would possibly work with other food items also) If it ony helps one person on here then I shall be pleased I shared this with you!!

many thanks

Dan

[Knarf3]

I plan getting my royal onto rats in 3 weeks time if it fails where can i get some mouse maker from?

[hippiedan]

as far as I'm aware most reptile specific pet shops sell it, any that I have ever been to have had it! normall between £1 and £2.50 a bottle from my experience

[a-jones1324]

how many milileters ov mouse maker to water??

[hippiedan]

Originally Posted by a-jones1324

how many milileters ov mouse maker to water??

to be honest, wouldnt have a clue, what I do is the following,

5 or 6 drops of mouse maker in a tub of the following sizes 9"x6"x3" tall normally fill that up with enogh water to cover the rats I'm defrosting so it could possibly use more or less of either mouse maker or water I havent really come up with a ratio or anything yet but its more a case of experimentation!

the above is what works for me personally, my royals go absolutely bonkers now when they smell food nearby whereas before, would give a rat the time of day!

[blood and guts]

Did not think mouse make was avalibal any more?
I used it to dab on eggs of house snakes many years back and then put a small drop on pinkies and got 100% feeding rates on first go while in the past it would be less then half.

[twinklu]

Sounds like i might have to get some of this, my Oscar won't touch rats he's on gerbils now which he'll eat no messing week in and week out don't even try him with mice anymore, and my bob will only eat mice, belle will eat rat weaners all day long so no probs with her lol

[delta]

i think my male royals are not royals they will eat what ever goes in there feeding tub and will eat everyday if i let them

[smart1]

do they do a multi maker??? as some of my royals will only eat them,they dont want nothing to do with rats ...
may sound a bit silly ,but one thing you have got me on ,is do you defrost your food stright in water ,nothing covering them like a freezer bag??

[hippiedan]

Originally Posted by smart1

do they do a multi maker??? as some of my royals will only eat them,they dont want nothing to do with rats ...
may sound a bit silly ,but one thing you have got me on ,is do you defrost your food stright in water ,nothing covering them like a freezer bag??

when I was using mice with my bigger royals and even weiner rats with my smaller ones (their not the fussy ones.............yet) I found that defrosting them straight in water, wrapping them in a bit of kitchen roll to dry them off and then fluffing them up slightly was the best way tp get them to eat, since using the mouse maker in the defrosting water though I still defrost straight in the water and wrap them in kitchen roll to help dry them off a bit, the royals go for them every time without having to fluff the rats up or even dry them off completely, there's no stopping them bolting out of their tubs and vivs after what they can smell!