Feeding Jungles

[Dan_Kaye]

Hey guys, im new here
my name is Dan and I am 15
i work at a reptile shop and have a morelia spilota cheynei named Nemesis, she is about a year old, 4 feet long but not very girthy.
Shes very tame but active and she feeds on about 2-3 large mice a week
I would quite like to get her onto Rat pups but every time i try, she refuses them...CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!?!?!?
She turns a blind eye to the rats, and i would hate feeding her mice all her life
thanks alot
-Dan

[ravensgait]

There are a couple of things you can try, One is since your feeding multiple mice give her a mouse and as soon as she gets it down toss in a rat pup now that she's in feeding mode she might not notice or care. Another thing is to wash the rat real well and then rub a mouse on it to add scent or put some fur from a mouse on the rat. If she takes the rat do this a few times and try and unscented rat or for the first method give her a rat first. Randy

[SnakeyeZ]

Thats a tricky task for some...Simply letting them go without mice all together..may help the snake get more hungry for it. Others may require scenting..there's many tips and ideas for this...hopefully you get some more info from other people.

Oh and at 4 foot long...its probably alot older than 1 year old...

-Rich

[Dan_Kaye]

Yes, i said a year, she is proberbly more like a year and a half or so
By the way, thanks so much for the quick coments!
I just got two rats and two mice, i am throwing in a mouse, and when she eats the mouse, i will test her with the rat, or just gentle stick it in her mouth just so she gets the idea
thanks again
-Dan

[ballpythonchick]

ya the only way i could get my jcp to switch(keep in mind he is about 7 ft)from mice to rats was to back the mouse with a rat.

[Dan_Kaye]

hey everyone
Well i just fed nem
I gave her a mouse, and then imediatly while she was swallowing, followed it up with the rats head, she didn't seem to mind
so next week i will carry on the same thing and the week after, im going to try it with no mice
hmm...Should be interesting
later
-Dan

[ravensgait]

Good to hear that Dan. I've used the method with, Emeralds,Balls ETC I've had Emeralds that would only take gerbils. I'd toss in a gerbil and as soon as they got it down in would go a mouse or rat. Usually only takes the one time with them but Balls can take a few. I have a WC Female ETB that I did this with a few weeks ago she would eat gerbils and ignore everything else including birds, Gave her a small gerbil and then a small rat. I offered her a rat the other night and she nailed it right off.
Randy