Will live feeding switch my BP over from F/T?

[queenelvis82]

Hello all!
My bp has not been taking her f/t rats so a few people suggested feeding her live to spark her feeding response. Now some people are telling me to not feed her live because it will be really difficult to get her switched back over to frozen thawed. My husbandry is up to par with lots of hiding places and the temps are 90 on hot spot, 76 on cool spot, and 78 for the ambient temp. Would you guys recommend trying to get her cool and ambient temp boosted and continue offering f/t, or boost up her temps and feed her live for her next feeding. Please, let me know!

[Sunnieskys]

Has she eaten for you before?

[CALM Pythons]

Hello all!
My bp has not been taking her f/t rats so a few people suggested feeding her live to spark her feeding response. Now some people are telling me to not feed her live because it will be really difficult to get her switched back over to frozen thawed. My husbandry is up to par with lots of hiding places and the temps are 90 on hot spot, 76 on cool spot, and 78 for the ambient temp. Would you guys recommend trying to get her cool and ambient temp boosted and continue offering f/t, or boost up her temps and feed her live for her next feeding. Please, let me know!

Need more info.. Weight, aprox age, male or female? How long have you had her? What was your feeding schedule before this and was it consistent or was the snake always picky?
Several Males over 350 grams go off feed for a couple months in the winter and it wouldn't matter what sent into the enclosure if that whats going on. Females can go off too during winter so give us some more background


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[piedlover79]

Also how long has the snake not been eating? My 1000 gram male does not eat in the winter time no matter what I do, no matter what I offer...and yet he always makes it through the winter just fine. Oddly enough my female pounds the rats in winter!

[Regius_049]

Hello all!
My bp has not been taking her f/t rats so a few people suggested feeding her live to spark her feeding response. Now some people are telling me to not feed her live because it will be really difficult to get her switched back over to frozen thawed. My husbandry is up to par with lots of hiding places and the temps are 90 on hot spot, 76 on cool spot, and 78 for the ambient temp. Would you guys recommend trying to get her cool and ambient temp boosted and continue offering f/t, or boost up her temps and feed her live for her next feeding. Please, let me know!

I see no problem with your temperatures based on the (albeit little) information provided. I think it is unlikely that a temperature modification of a few degrees will change her feeding response. I have had this happen when a snake will spontaneously stop taking F/T, but will then take anything offered live no problem. You can try the following:

(1) The first thing I would try and is warming F/T and placing inside her hide box. This will often times get picky snakes to take it.

(2) If this does not work, you can try "re-training" the snake. What I mean by this is offer her a live meal this week, and presumably she will take it. The next week buy another live feeder and let it sit out near the enclosure, this will sometimes get a snake "excited" about the prospect of a meal. You should then scent the F/T feeder with the live animal and see if the snake will take it. If she won't, offer the live food, then offer the scented F/T item after it.

(3) Alternatively, you can let the snake fast for a week or two and keep offering a F/T once a week on feeding day.

This is not a quip at you personally, but is there a sticky for "tricks and tips" on switching feeders? I feel like we see this question all the time and if you search the forum and YouTube, there are many videos and tips you will find there.

[queenelvis82]

Sorry for the lack of info! My girl is 4 years old and weighs around 1500 grams. She took a small plus rat and a weaned rat four weeks ago. The next week, she took a weaned rat. All were f/t, but it took some coaxing for about ten minutes till she took the prey. She has always been a picky eater until August of 2016 to August of 2017. Throughout that year she was taking the f/t prey within a few seconds. Every time I de-thaw a rat, she is out and amped up. She follows it tenaciously and is in the striking position while the prey is presented to her. She just won't strike it. I have also left a f/t rat in her enclosure with her for two hours with the front of her enclosure blocked so she had complete privacy.....still a no go. I am on a facebook page and the members say that I need my husbandry spot on for her to get that feeding response again. Again, I don't think my temps are too out of whack and the humidity is always around 55%. I don't want her to get stuck on live prey, but I feel like I am in a bind now.

[queenelvis82]

Also, thank you all for your help.

[Sunnieskys]

Some female BP will go off food as well in winter. Most don't. Usually males do it. But it does happen. How warm is the rat? I would use a hair dryer after warm water warm up. And sometimes I have to reheat because they didn't like it the first time around. That usually works for my picky ones.

[John1982]

some people are telling me to not feed her live because it will be really difficult to get her switched back over to frozen thawed

Preference depend on the individual snake. Some have no problems switching between f/t, prekilled, live, or even different prey types. Other snakes might get hung up on something specific once they get a taste. There's really no way to know for sure but those with super strong feeding responses tend to be the least likely to imprint.

[PitOnTheProwl]

She took a small plus rat and a weaned rat four weeks ago. The next week, she took a weaned rat. All were f/t, but it took some coaxing for about ten minutes till she took the prey.

So she hasn't eaten in only TWO weeks?