BP taking only live rats??

[Morris Reese]

I wanted to see how many of you have experienced this and what the outcome was......
I have a female BP that is almost 18 months old. She is weighing around 1700 grams and is quite healthy. She is not over weight nor under. I am not concerned if she skips a meal or two. My concern is that she has been eating f/t all her life until she went into ovulation back in February. She didn't eat for a month. After her she'd I offered again and got another refusal. The next week I offered a small live and she struck it right away. Since then she has only taken one f/t but will gladly take a live when offered. I don't want her to get stuck on live. I really like the f/t for her safety as well as my convenience. I don't want to keep live rats and have to tend to those daily and don't care to buy one every 10 days. Not to mention that I stress myself until I know she has safely constricted the rat and not bitten by it.
I know others have experienced this and my question is.........
How many of you have had success with them going back to strictly f/t or not???
Oh, same enclosure, temps, humidity, hides, etc.. The only change is she went through her first ovulation......and boy did she swell up for a few days!! She seems to be normal. Hiding during the day, coming out at night and early morning.

[hungba]

I would just feed live if she is still eating till she lays.

I managed to switch a long term live mice only female to f/t rats this year after years of trying, but letting her lay eggs, then when she is really hungry offer ONLY f/t rats. She took it on the second try and since then.

[midgard]

I have heard of owners trying to switch their BPs to frozen thawed and it took them more than 5 years... But that's if the BP has been on live for a long time. So I think if you just keep trying frozen thawed you can get her to eat. Or you can only offer frozen thawed every feeding day until she eventually will just take it. Good luck.

[Bloodlines]

After ovulation, don't even offer any food. Not necessary, wait until the clutch is laid. Once she lays, clean the cage, soak your girl to re-hydrate. Let sit for a couple days then offer frozen thawed, she will be back to normal in no time. While they are gravid they will act very, very strange. Again, don't feed her until your clutch is laid.


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[DVirginiana]

Mine takes only live and isn't big enough to handle large rats so we have to just feed her a lot of mice. You could get someone to show you how to do a cervical dislocation and try pre-killed a time or two. That's usually a good stepping-stone between live and f/t.

If she's still taking the occasional f/t prey you could always play the waiting game, but I'd wait till after she lays to try that. Who knows, she may go back to her normal eating habits after laying anyway. They can be funny animals sometimes.