Live to Frozen, how to switch.

[Spider-Tart]

I have a BP that's a little over 3 feet long and about as thick as a coke can (i haven't been able to weigh him yet) And has been eating live rats and mice for about 2 years. I took him in from a home where they didn't take very good care of him and when i got him in mid April the previous owners said the last time he ate was January. So I gave him time to adjust to his new home and he took the first mouse I gave him right away with no problems.
I would really like to switch him from live mice/rats to dead/frozen ones and have already tried once and it was unsuccesful. I warmed the large-ish mouse and soaked it in chicken broth, when it was at its warmest and the chicken broth smell was the strongest, he acted like he was getting ready to strike, but didn't. If I have to expose the brain I will, but I was wondering if there was anything else I could do to try and make it easier on him to switch.

Thanks so very much,
Tracy

[ffollett]

You may have to do this in steps. Start with a fresh prekilled do this a couple times, then try a frozen. You may have to let the rat thaw at room temp. and offer it dry, use a heat lamp to warm it.

Each snake can be different when it comes to switching and some never do.

[The Snake Guru]

Ball pythons can be especially picky about their food and the way it is offered to them.

While I'm not saying it is impossible, like Mr.Follet said some never do switch...I had a BP for 9 years that would only eat Live Gerbils, nothng else, and I tried my best to get him to switch over to something else...hell I would've loved it even if he would've take live mice or rats, but nooooooo he wanted nothing to do with anything like that.

Sometimes you can trick them into thinking it's live as well, by warming the prey item and using a tongs to jiggle or drag it across thier strike path...sometimes it works, you'll have to play around with differnt options and see which works best.

~B~

[ffollett]

like Mr.Follet said

Couldn't resist could you?

[The Snake Guru]

Couldn't resist could you?

LOL, well I didn't want to be left out. :crazy2:

~B~

[Spider-Tart]

Ball pythons can be especially picky about their food and the way it is offered to them.

While I'm not saying it is impossible, like Mr.Follet said some never do switch...I had a BP for 9 years that would only eat Live Gerbils, nothng else, and I tried my best to get him to switch over to something else...hell I would've loved it even if he would've take live mice or rats, but nooooooo he wanted nothing to do with anything like that.

Sometimes you can trick them into thinking it's live as well, by warming the prey item and using a tongs to jiggle or drag it across thier strike path...sometimes it works, you'll have to play around with differnt options and see which works best.

~B~

Yeah, i was wiggling it around and tryin to make it look like it was living, that's when he seemed the most interested in it.

so there's really nothing more i can do but just keep trying then?

[The Snake Guru]

Unfortunately no, like I said some take to F/T some will absolutely refuse....Ball Pythons can be the pickiest eaters available....and they are extremely stubborn, if they don't get what they want they will starve themselves to death. It is usually more of a problem with wild caught individuals, but it does happen with the captive bred ones as well.

~B~

[Spider-Tart]

Unfortunately no, like I said some take to F/T some will absolutely refuse....Ball Pythons can be the pickiest eaters available....and they are extremely stubborn, if they don't get what they want they will starve themselves to death. It is usually more of a problem with wild caught individuals, but it does happen with the captive bred ones as well.

~B~


ah ok. gotcha.

thanks so much! =]

[The Snake Guru]

No problem man, hope everything works out for ya.

~B~

[DOMI]

One trick that worked for me was to put the snake in a sack with a dead mouse/rat and leave it the cage on the warm side an hour or 2, the snake feels more secure and usally eats the food.
Oh and tie the sack so the snake stays put in there .
Hope this helps

[snakelady13]

I have found that when switching to f/t that trying to feed them in a dark container with no light usually works. This way they go more off of smell than movement. But as stated before, balls are the pickiest eaters ever. My very first snake was a ball and she did well for a couple of years. Then she decided she didn't want to eat at all. She didn't eat for 3 years. She was active, and drank her water, but she refused ANYTHING I tried to giver her. I even force fed her twice. Then all of a sudden she decided she was going to eat again. She is now going on 15 years old and doing great.
But try the dark container and see if that works. Good Luck.

[treeboa34]

i had to use a hair dryer on defrosted rats n mice and dayold chick yolk smeared on them that worked! its illegal here to feeed live food and would only consider it if it was a total complete emergency which luckily i havent had problems but i know royals can be little buggers to get going but im sure with everyones help on here youll suceed good luck!

[PDXErik]

I have found that when switching to f/t that trying to feed them in a dark container with no light usually works. This way they go more off of smell than movement. But as stated before, balls are the pickiest eaters ever. My very first snake was a ball and she did well for a couple of years. Then she decided she didn't want to eat at all. She didn't eat for 3 years. She was active, and drank her water, but she refused ANYTHING I tried to giver her. I even force fed her twice. Then all of a sudden she decided she was going to eat again. She is now going on 15 years old and doing great.
But try the dark container and see if that works. Good Luck.

Wow, that's crazy. All of my snakes, outside of Grumpy McWhiteLip, would eat a ball of cardboard if I dangled it appropriately. It absolutely amazes me. Someone said the words "Garbage Gut" and I bet that's the case.

[PDXErik]

Dang, I hate to double post.

The funny thing is that everybody talks about how hard it is to switch the snakes to f/t from live, it's equally hard for the human.

My little atb is a picky eater. All of my other snakes will eat anything if I dangle it around a little. The atb apparently needs a little dodging around and stuff (thanks to whomever posted the video of feeding neo gtp's (or etb's whichever)) My atb finally took a rat pinky.

It's different to feel for the thing. I try to feed it the f/t mice I got for it. It hasn't eaten. I feel hungry for it. It finally ate and I feel completely... I don't know the words.

I'm just pretty freakin happy that it ate and now I don't have to feel so hungry for it.

Thank God.

[WingedWolf]

What's worked for me:
First, keep in mind that pythons are stimulated to feed by 3 things. Scent, heat, and motion. Some individuals will take anything remotely edible that you offer them, but others are exceptionally picky. Here's what has worked for me to get them eating what you want them to:

First, put them on a regular, consistant feeding schedule, in a consistant environment. It's important that they be eating regularly before you try to switch them to something new.

Next, offer it's preferred prey in f/t form on tongs. If it's refused, give them live again.
The next time, wait 2 days beyond their usual feeding time, and offer f/t on tongs again. If refused, give them live.

Next feeding, offer them a stunned prey animal--one that is alive, but unconscious. I have never had this refused by an animal that regularly eats, but if it is, leave it there for an hour, then remove it it and offer live again. Repeat this each feeding until the animal accepts the stunned prey item. Feed stunned prey successfully at least twice in a row, if it was not accepted on the first try.

Next, offer a pre-killed prey item. If it is refused, offer stunned again. If that is refused (backsliding is possible), give live, and try pre-killed again the next time. As with the previous 'step', if the item was refused at first, wait until it is accepted twice in a row before moving on.

After your snake is eating pre-killed, offer f/t again. Make sure it is warm. If it's refused, give it pre-killed and wait til next feeding. This time, offer f/t that has been rubbed with soiled bedding from that animal. As with the previous steps, keep trying, offering the food from a previous step if there is a refusal, until the animal eats.

Now, assuming you have the world's most stubborn gerbil eating python, you now have a python eating frozen gerbils. Make sure it is eating them for at least 3 consecutive feeding sessions, then offer the f/t animal you WANT it to eat (say, a rat).
If it is refused, offer it rubbed with bedding of its preferred prey.
With a bit of persistance, this is your final step, and eventually the snake will switch to eating the f/t rat.


Scenting is a very important step in all of this, and with scenting alone I have converted w/c garter snakes from live earthworms over to f/t mice on the first try.

You can convert a snake from gerbils to mice or rats using scenting by rubbing the mouse/rat with soiled gerbil bedding, if you are persisant, and some people may wish to do that before converting them over to f/t, if they're eating something expensive like gerbils.
I have found that mouse smell tends to stimulate ball pythons better than rat smell, and have gotten some stubborn pythons eating by scenting a rat with mouse bedding.

[RIBBIT]

try downsizeiing the prey a lil smaller fresh killed and tease feed after try a rat around a day killed then try leaving a f/t out overnight or till its thawed

[WingedWolf]

I wouldn't leave a rodent to thaw overnight, personally--bacterial growth would be excessive, and the spoilage could possibly be harmful.

[nick3205]

somebody told me that they took a rubber boot and put it on its side and put the thawed mouse in the end to make it seem like a rodents burrow.
it has worked for several people apparently.....

[sierrabravo]

...its illegal here to feeed live food...

Is that true, that its illegal to feed live to snakes? How is that? It's just natural...