Bp Not Eating F/t!! Help!!

[jc0716]

well my title says it all, for two weeks now i have been tryign to feed my guy f/t but he just doesn't seem to like them, he would go up and look at it and smell it but would not strike and swallow last week he did the same thing but i fed it a live mice after and he took it. I sually buy 1 live mice and a couple of prekilled and leave them in my freezer so i don't ahve ot buy him live everyweek. He took the f/t before but now anymore. any sugguestions on how i could swtich him to f/t?

[recycling goddess]

are you making sure the f/t is really warm when you feed? i find that makes a huge difference to my snakes. also, some of them like their prey to move around so i use my tongs to do a little dance for them LOL and that gets them interested.

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

After working with 400 hatchlings and trying to get them to eat, I realize how frustrating this can be.

I would recommend trying frozen mice and frozen rats, and dangling them with tongs. If it is warm and dancing and smells like a rat/mouse, you have a much better chance.

[lillyorchid]

It may take some time to finally switch your snake over to f/t. Some BP's are more picky then others. Keep trying.

[kurgan]

I'm not sure but if you get him eating f/t again is it wise to alternate with live? (in that that is likely to cause problems when you offer f/t?)

[rottnpagan]

I second the 'make sure it's warm' notion. My BP male didn't want to eat for a while, because the rat wasn't warm enough. I use my hair dryer to get it nice and warm, especially on it's head.

[bchapman]

I second the 'make sure it's warm' notion. My BP male didn't want to eat for a while, because the rat wasn't warm enough. I use my hair dryer to get it nice and warm, especially on it's head.

i stick the rat inside the heatlamp shield for 5 minutes or so, and then put the bulb above the rodents head for another minute

usually does the trick every time.. sometimes it can take a while with a hair dryer

[recycling goddess]

i've actually started feeding wet rodents. in a thread a while ago someone was saying they just pop their frozen prey into a bowl of boiling water and let them thaw...

so now i do that... drain the water, add more really hot water (we have a special tap in our house that the water comes out ready for tea or cocoa! every home should have one!!!) and i refill - allowing the prey to become hot again (because the water cooled thawing the prey) and then i put them into a tea towel and lightly dry them and pop them into the enclosures. i've had much more success since doing this instead of warming them in a bag and then putting them under my heat lamps...

and...

some of my snakes go back and forth no problem... but not my ball. he refuses to eat f/t - he did a few times but now... he just ignores anthing not alive. so, i feed him live. but that's just my experience.

[jglass38]

i've actually started feeding wet rodents. in a thread a while ago someone was saying they just pop their frozen prey into a bowl of boiling water and let them thaw...

so now i do that... drain the water, add more really hot water (we have a special tap in our house that the water comes out ready for tea or cocoa! every home should have one!!!) and i refill - allowing the prey to become hot again (because the water cooled thawing the prey) and then i put them into a tea towel and lightly dry them and pop them into the enclosures. i've had much more success since doing this instead of warming them in a bag and then putting them under my heat lamps...

and...

some of my snakes go back and forth no problem... but not my ball. he refuses to eat f/t - he did a few times but now... he just ignores anthing not alive. so, i feed him live. but that's just my experience.

Rock on! I've been doing that all along! I would be careful with the hot water dispenser as that is fairly close to boiling and could be cooking the rats as opposed to just hot tap water. I remember having one of those in our house as a kid and I always burned myself (I wasn't so sharp and still am not).

[jc0716]

well i tried all that you guys suggested, all the dancing and heating, i usually put the mice on the heatpad too before i feed but i can never seem to trick him into eating it. i fed him another live one yesterday almost instantly before i even got to settle down and watch he had the mouse curled up.