Keeping a couple of feeder mice

[SavannahPolson]

My BRB decided a few weeks ago she did not like f/t & that she would starve before eating them. So I started her on live mice. The only live supplier I trust is an hour from my house. I have a cage and I figured I'd pick up a few extras so I don't have to go up there every week. Right now, she is eating large hoppers. If I bought small hoppers do you all think that they would end up the right size when she eats them? I'm also not 110% sure what I need to feed them until they reach the end of their life. I have hedgehogs & they eat cat food. Do I need a special food for them? I've never had to feed live to a snake. My corn eats f/t like no tomorrow & so do the 20+ snakes at work. Thanks in advance! Is there a way to safely prevent parasite growth?

[Minkness]

Small hoppers usually aren't weaned yet so would probably die before you fed them to her.

[SavannahPolson]

Ok, she barely has a bump when I feed her a large, are larges usually weaned? I just don't know much about mice.

[Minkness]

A weaned mouse will be about 5 weeks old. Most fedder breeders will pull babies as soon as they are weaned, so just ask for some weanlings.

[SavannahPolson]

Ok, thank you! How soon will they be fully grown mice? As of rn, Bambi is as big around as a nickel, actually a tad bit bigger.

[Minkness]

They can start breeding at 4-6 weeks of age, but they shouldn't be bred until they are about 4 months old. Kind of like saying that a 12 year old girl COULD have a baby...but it's not exactly healthy....

[SavannahPolson]

I'm more worried about her being too small to eat one. I don't want to breed them,

[Minkness]

Have you tried super heating the frozen thawed and kind of teasing her with it? I have a BP that likes his f/t nearly cooked before he eats it....and he's a better eater still if I jiggle it around and tease him (put it close then pull it away...kind of like a cat actually)

[SavannahPolson]

Yes, I've tried super heating, scenting, teasing, everything but braining. That just makes me sick to my stomach. I tried different times of day, different scents, different colors of mice, and warming the feeding tub as well as cooling it, even tried turning out all the lights at night and tease feeding. She just plain refused to eat it. The second I threw a live in though, she grabbed it and constricted it. She never struck at, or constricted, the f/t n matter what I did.

[Minkness]

Ah, well...good luck...

[bigsnakegirl785]

Also, even if hoppers were weaned, by the time she was ready to eat again it would have grown too big for her. When I bred rats, they'd grow up a size in a matter of a week or two when they were young, and I'm sure mice grow even faster. Once a rat hit small rat size, it took maybe 2-3 weeks to become medium rat sized, after that it took a lot longer to get any bigger.

Savannah, the best thing right now is to give it time to switch. Keep offering f/t once a week, and don't give up until your boa takes it. Eventually it will get hungry enough. lol Took me 1.5 years to switch my ball python to f/t after eating live for 5-6 years, and it may not have taken me that long if I didn't keep giving in and getting him live.

[SavannahPolson]

I just bought 1 so I'd have one. The seller said the same thing about getting too big. He did explain that hopper and weaning sizes vary from place to place. He has small weanling the size of what I, and the breeder I bought my snake from, considered to be large hoppers. Gotta love the uniformity lol. Thank you all!

[Tsubaki]

Originally Posted by SavannahPolson

and warming the feeding tub

You feed outside the enclosure? If so, have you tried feeding inside?

[SavannahPolson]

Yes, she just went and hid in her hide box to get away from it.

[Tsubaki]

Try dead mice, in her terrarium.. leave it overnight?