Live - F/T

[DarrinLowe]

Hey,

I did some searching and I had alot of trouble finding it. I do know that there are some threads on here that talk about it, but I am just curious on methods people follow to switch their BP from eating Live, to F/T. If you can post how you do it, or point me towards a post that you know of that says it, that would be great. Thanks in advance.

Darrin

PS. It is a Jeuvinile, that I will be picking up later today.

[Fataltix]

Hey,

I did some searching and I had alot of trouble finding it. I do know that there are some threads on here that talk about it, but I am just curious on methods people follow to switch their BP from eating Live, to F/T. If you can post how you do it, or point me towards a post that you know of that says it, that would be great. Thanks in advance.

Darrin

PS. It is a Jeuvinile, that I will be picking up later today.

Hey man,
I just recently went though the exact same experience, took about two weeks of no feed before my lil guy Shrike switched over to F/T. One of the tricks that helped me was "pre-scenting". I fed him in a different enclosure so what I would do is heat up the rat then rub it around the other enclosure for a bit, get the scent going. Place him in there, make sure he was flicking that little tongue out then show him the rat. He feeds INSTANTLY when I do this.

Good luck, feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

Cheers,
Fatal

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Patience and persistence

Some animal (hatchlings/juvy) can be switched a little easier than others but it really depends on the animal.

The trick is to offer F/T and nothing else, of course this require the animal to have a good body weight because it might take weeks or months before the switch.

For now though this should not be an immediate concern your first concern is to have the animal eating for you and do so consistently for at least 3 to 5 feedings before attempting to switch.

[blushingball419]

I agree, you should definitely make sure the snake is eating well first, so just feed it the way it's used to for the first few times. Switching can be tricky and frustrating, but most bps will eventually.

I've found that the most important thing, at least for me, was the temperature of the F/T prey. I always hit it with a hair dryer for a minute or two (mainly around the head, shoulders and abdomen) before I offer it to my bp. Smell is also a big thing, and I've seen a lot of people suggest finding some *used* mouse/rat bedding (if you have a local pet store you could ask them) and rubbing it on the F/T rodent. Pre-scenting/thawing the rodent near the bp's enclosure seems to help too.

Good luck! Since it's a juvi you should be able to get it to switch pretty easy, but just make sure he/she is comfortable and eating first!!

[DarrinLowe]

Okay, well I will follow what you said, feed him 3-5 times before doing this, make sure hes healthy and happy.

Would it make a difference if I went from live, to pre-killed for a few weeks, then f/t?

Also, I know you said that you drag the mouse around in his feeding tank, does that mean that he should be feeding in a seperate tank?

[blushingball419]

No, it shouldn't really matter if you go to pre-killed first. It actually might help get him more used to "limp" already dead prey.

And no, you don't have to feed in a separate enclosure. Everyone has their own methods and you just have to find what works best for you. I feed my bp in her tank and I've never had any problems.

[TomC]

You can pre scent his enclosure by letting some of the air blow towards the enclosere when you are heating your FT with the blow dryer. That should be enough to get him interested.

[Powerspythons]

Patience and persistence

Some animal (hatchlings/juvy) can be switched a little easier than others but it really depends on the animal.

x1000

I've had some take F/T no problem, some that only will occasionally, some that did for a while and now wont and others that have never and probably will never take F/T!

What works best for me when I have one that wont do F/T is what I call the bait and switch method...you get them all jacked up with a live prey item dangle it for them or let it run around them(if they arent too quick to snatch it from you) then remove the live prey(try not to get bit!!!) and then offer(try the 'dead rat dance') the frozen variety of the SAME prey item(ie. dont use a live mouse and a frozen rat). Thats what I usually do for difficult F/T feeders. But even that plus pre-scenting the room plus heating up the F/T with a blow dryer plus every other trick in the book...sometimes doesnt work..

[doctor patches]

i just got my baby BP about two weeks ago now, and the pet store said she'd been starting to get finnicky about her eating, and that she's missed two meals. i tried offering her the F/T with all of the tricks in the book, and she wanted nothing to do with it. offered her a live, same issue. turns out she is a shy eater, so i left the live fuzzy in the brown paper bag that it came in from the pet store and laid it down so she could climb in and eat in the bag. once she made her move and got the fuzzy, i pulled the bag away and allowed her to do her thing in the open. the 2nd feeding (today) went with the same process, and once i laid the bag down, she made a B line for it. i'm hoping to next time put the bag in the opposite corner, and when she moves over to it dump the bag out and leave the fuzzy on the floor of her feeding bin (aka THUNDERDOME), therefore hopefully weaning her of her shy feeding issues.

btw, my friends BP refuses to eat food that isn't to her standard. she's a total spoiled princess. if the food isn't big enough for her, she'll refuse it. i have a feeling mine will be the same.