Transition from Live to F/T

[KevinRanes]

I may be buying a proven breeder but I have one issue. He has never been fed f/t, live only. Is it a difficult task to convert over. My BPs don't eat live and there is no place close to get live and at this time I am not ready to breed rats.

[Mike41793]

100% depends on the snake. Can you ask the breeder to try a f/t rat with the snake? Or at the very least, a p/k rat?

[Webley]

A few of mine were eating live only when I bought them, but I have never had to feed live. Most snakes who only eat live can make the transition ok, but they will need time. Waiting a week or two is a good idea to make sure they are hungry. I feed in the dark with very little light to make them comfortable. I heat up my f/t mice under a heat lamp so they're nice and warm after thawing them out for 20-40 minutes in water. I have only had snakes refuse mice if they are too full for a second one at one feeding. If you need help send me a private message and I will detail how I do it with pics.

[loonunit]

Yeah, it depends on the snake. But generally the older the snake, the harder it is to switch prey items. I can switch most babies over to anything in a couple weeks; I've had 2 year-old adults that took several months to start eating, and then most of a year to switch over permanently to f/t. And then sometimes they relapse and insist on going back to live (or back to mice) for a few months the next winter. I've got a 2007 male that I switched over to f/t rats back in 2010, he's relapsed back to live mice every winter since. Right now he's taking f/t, but won't look at anything larger than an adult mouse.

It's always easier to switch them in summer, especially late summer when they're storing up fat for the winter breeding season. I start the switch by feeding multiple smaller prey items, starting with whatever it is they're currently eating. The second helping is the new prey item. And I'll keep feeding them ever week, but I won't let them have seconds unless they take what I'm offering.

...if you can get the current owner to try to switch prey items before shipping, that's probably helpful. A lot of adults, especially males, will go off food completely after shipping. Probably good to introduce the switch before shipping.