Best way to switch??

[Batdad]

OK so I am sure this question has been asked before but I am not sure how to search it out with out getting pages and pages of hits. I recently got 3 BPs, 2.1 unproven axanthic hets, I am truely in love:D. The females have both taken adult mice that did not leave much of a feeding lump, the male has shed but is yet to eat. I have started to raise my own rats & mice and want to switch these guys to rats ASAP. What I am wondering is that while I want to definitely get them on to F/T in the end would be easier to start with live or F/K and then move to F/T from there or should I just start with F/T?

Thanks for any input you guys can give me.
Bruce

[MontyPython]

Try starting with the F/T, then work your way to F/T, and then live if they haven't taken the first 2 ways...

[jaybox_reptiles]

what is F/T ? i now F/K is freshley killed

[MontyPython]

F/T= Frozen/ Thawed

[sapphire_moon]

Try with F/T first, and keep trying for like 3 weeks, then try F/K for like 3 weeks, and if they still have not ate, try live, then work your way back up.

[lilyskip]

i would be REALLY reluctant to feed live rats. adult rats are pretty vicious, and if there's any way that you can avoid it, don't feed your snake a live adult rat. If need be, try stunning it, but only after you've tried f/t and f/k several times.

[mykee]

I would have to disagree with you Lilyskip. I think that adult mice are MUCH more agressive then adult rats. Again, that depends on where you get your rats from. I work woth Sprague-Dawley lab rats from Harlan Labs. They are bred for temperment. On top of that, I handle all of my feeder rats; they become more comfortable with human contact, and generally show absolutely NO aggression whatsoever.

[lilyskip]

mykee--i think your rats may be the exception then, because in my experience rats are much more ferocious than mice as a live feeder. and then especially when you take into consideration their larger size, the capacity for damage is much higher. i don't know about socialized rats, but any animal that's placed in a tank with a snake that is about to eat it will fight for its life. it just so happens that a rat is more capable of doing that violently than a mouse.

PS--I don't mean that adult rats are vicious in general when played with by humans. they make good pets, I hear. I do mean that they will fight back when threatened by a snake, and it's impossible to ensure that the snake will strike at it right away.

[mykee]

I never leave my rats unnattended in any enclosure with a snake, but ahve seena few friends of mine do just that with my rats, and every single time, the rat will find a corner, back into it, adn wait patiently to be attacked. Dangerous, I know, the potential is there for damage, but I'm sure you know how difficult it can be to sway opinions. I realize that their size makes them a much more formidable opponent, but at least my rats, I'm not sure of any others, are very docile and not nervous or apt to attack at all.

[lilyskip]

Originally posted by mykee
at least my rats, I'm not sure of any others, are very docile and not nervous or apt to attack at all.

is that even possible? i'm sure that your rats are really friendly and not apt to attack while relating with humans, but are you saying that they would be perfectly peaceful when put in a closed tank with a big snake that wants to eat it?

[Mike177]

when i switched my bp to rats i offerd F/T for 2 weeks with no responce, then i let him go 2 weeks with out even smelling food and BAM he took it no problem and takes them no problem to this day. i think it helps when they dont smell food for a wile that and a combanation of being hungry, but dont let it drag on for too long, because BP are (as u probly know) infamus for fasting for long peroids of time.