Will NOT eat rats!

[sassysnake]

I have a female Bp, about 1 1/2 old, who just recently came off a 4-5 month hunger strike.I tried everything that was suggested for bp's that won't eat, mostly from ppl on this site, and after NOTHING worked I finally happened one night to defrost a mouse for my cornsnake, and she wouldn't eat, so just on a whim I put it in my female bp's enclosure. She immediatly grabbed it, and I was thrilled, ut now she won't eat anything but, and I can rarely get her to eat more then one mouse per feeding. The result is she's eating weekly, but not nearly as big a meal as she should be getting, and I'm worried. Any suggestions for getting her off mice and onto rats? My male bp eats the correct sized rats weekly, but she just won't take to them, and I can't feed her tiny little mice for the rest of her life!
(I have already tried defrosting the rat, in a bag of used mouse bedding, with another mouse in the bag, and even that doesn't work)

[pitviper10]

have you tried exposing the brain of the rat? By craking open the rats skull and exposing the brain, it might entise your ball into eating.

[DOMI]

Try feeding a Gerbil, I found my bp Preferred them to mice and rats

[wiseman001]

I heard CHICKEN BROTH...works well

[pitviper10]

Try feeding a Gerbil, I found my bp Preferred them to mice and rats
I wouldnt feed gerbils. Ball pythons get stuck on them and wont eat anything else. And from what ive heard there pretty expensive to feed gerbils.

[sapphire_moon]

honestly, as long as she's eating, let her pack on some weight, and then try the "I can wait longer than you can" deal.

You can also try taking a f/t rat and once completely thawed (room temp) take the HEAD of the rat and dip it in REALLY hot water, you can try it both wet and dry, just kind of wiggle it infront of (not really close) the heat pits.

goodluck

[beanersmysav]

I have the same issue trying to switch my young female ball python from mice to rats. She will pound down here adult mice all day but when I offer an equally sized rat of the same color she will not touch it. If I tempt her with the rat she just flicks her tongue and slithers away. Immediatly after I'll bring the mouse near her and before it enters her cage she hits it and coils. Then I will offer the rat again before offering a second mouse. I guess the only thing you can really do with these finicky eaters is feed them what they will take for now (if no other method works) might as well be putting on some weight and eating something rather than just not feeding them because they want to be stubborn. Just try and find the best mice you can for now and keep working on the rat. Good luck.

[Slithery]

Are the mouse and rat the same size? If so, try this. I did it to Esmerelda to try and get her back to F/T, and it worked. Take the mouse, and smeer the innards over the rat. Blood, organs, brain... Bit gross, and extreme, but it's worth a shot.

[Paul_Begg]

honestly, as long as she's eating, let her pack on some weight, and then try the "I can wait longer than you can" deal.

well they can wait for two years so id try other things in the meantime!. i do agree with the fact that if shes eating etc, but for a while give her what she likes and gradually try to move to rats. I know it's not easy but if someone you know that has some experience with balls they could help feed her for you. Once shes nearly finished the mouse place a sml rat in her mouth, as soon as she gets hooked on it she will eat it. But like i said that shouldnt be done by the faint of heart lol
Hope this helps
Cheers
Paul

[Wrath]

My BP is very picky too. Have you tried thawing out the rat directly in warm water without a bag? A few times when mine refused I threw the rat back in the bucket with fresh warm water and she went berzerk. Seems to like wet rat more for some reason.

Good luck!

[bdriver2]

have you tried a provoked strike?? remove any hides out of her cage and take the rat and annoy her with it drag it close, drag it into her, over her stuff like that. It may sound a little stressful but they just nail the rat and then just leave the two alone it might not be an instant devouring but she'll take it down. This is only used by me in worst case senarios

[microwavedapple]

I've read in a book that you can force it down the snakes throught and make sure the snake won't regurgitate it. But i don't know if that books reliable and that should only be done if you think your snake really needs that done to it.
hope i helped!

[phoonerorlater]

Sorry to get off topic a little but I was just wondering if you had to put the frozen mice in a plastic bag then soak them in warm water? I never really thought too much about it till I read this thread. I have always soaked them directly in the water and the snake hits it immediatly. Just wondering. Sorry to thread jack