Switching from Live to Frozen !!

[BumbleBeePhythons]

Recently i just bought a ball python who is about a year old and had been feeding on only live. I am trying to switch him to frozen. I tried last week with a frosen small rat but he didn't eat it. What can i do to help him switch?

Also his previous owners would feed him in a 20 gallon feeder tank that they also gave me. Last time i tried to feed him i tried to feed him in his enclosure. Should i try to feed him in his feeder tank?

[tttaylorrr]

welcome to the forum!!!


i don't have much experience with tips and tricks for switching (i've been lucky), so hopefully some others will chime in. i'll try and find an older thread about this topic for you to read through! one thing i can suggest is leaving the feeder in the enclosure overnight and seeing if he'll go for it. my Yellow likes to eat this way; he rarely strikes.

keep feeding him in the enclosure. there's no need or benefit to feeding in a separate enclosure.

EDIT: here's a very informative thread on switching! give it a read.

[Slytherin's Mommy]

Recently i just bought a ball python who is about a year old and had been feeding on only live. I am trying to switch him to frozen. I tried last week with a frosen small rat but he didn't eat it. What can i do to help him switch?

Also his previous owners would feed him in a 20 gallon feeder tank that they also gave me. Last time i tried to feed him i tried to feed him in his enclosure. Should i try to feed him in his feeder tank?

When I got my bp she only ate live too. I just waited two weeks passed her normal feeding day and she hit that rat so fast that I jumped. You will have to jiggle it some to make your bp think it's a live.

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[SDA]

Just remember that ball pythons are not opportunistic predators like some carrion feeding reptiles. They use heat to detect prey. Heat is one key element in getting a ball to eat a dead thawed rat.

The body temp of a common rat is pretty close to our own so getting a rat to around 98-100 degrees is a good way to give incentive to feed it to a snake. No, you don't have to stick a thermometer in their dead keisters to get the temp but you do want them warm enough to illicit a feed response.

Some successful tips to warm a rat (mouse as well) are:

1) Thaw them overnight in a ziplloc bag in the fridge. This will make it far easier to warm them up. Then place them in the bag inside a container filled with hot tap water. Let that sit for around 15 minutes. Refill the container again with hot tap water and let sit 10-15 minutes more. This should get you a nice rat warmed all the way through.

2) Warm the rat in front of the enclosure The scent will stimulate the snake. They have an outstanding sense of smell and often this just gets them going By this I mean if you have like a CHE, warm it under the CHE.

3) Take a thawed and warmed rat and run a hair dryer on the hot setting but blowing on low and blow the head of the rat in front of the cage so the scent goes into the cage. This heats the head of the rat and also scents the enclosure to get the snake going.

4) Using tongs grasp the hindquarters. legs. or tail of the rat and dance it vertically inside the enclosure to entice the snake with a feed response. This can work but can also cause a defensive strike by a shy snake. Take your time and be patient with your snake. Never tap the hide or the snake with the rat. It has been theorized that doing so may illicit a defensive posture on the snake simulating a rat attacking. Slow and steady movements in front of where the snake is can do wonders.

5) If the snake strikes but does not latch on and constrict, you may need to heat the rat up again. I have to do this sometimes with mistrikes with my adult who has been on f/t for years.

6) If all else fails, don't get discouraged. You aren't going to kill your snake if they fail to eat. Try again next week and the week after. If after 3 weeks they still refuse f/t then offer live and try again. I understand this can seem like a waste of food but never refreeze a thawed rat!


Now some people leave the rat in the cage for 24 hours after a failed feed and you are more than welcomed to do that but I won't suggest that as I do not and never have so I have not success stories of doing that with adults or sub adults.

[Dutti]

Recently i just bought a ball python who is about a year old and had been feeding on only live. I am trying to switch him to frozen. I tried last week with a frosen small rat but he didn't eat it. What can i do to help him switch?

Who told you that its a must to switch him from live to frozen? He is happy eating live. The best thing you can do is keep him on live prey