Anothed failed f/t conv. attempt...

[td30]

Some advice please. I seriously don't know what do do next. I want to make the switch from live to f/t. In case the question is asked, here are my reasons in order of importance to me.

1. Convenience...I live about 20 miles from the nearest live mouse source.
2. Cost...These mice I drive 20 miles for cost $2.29 each.
3. Safety...I feel like she would be safer feeding on f/t.

As far as I know she has fed on live since birth. She has gobbled up 4 of them (1/week) since I have had her. I have tried the slow thaw pre-senting, blow dry, feeding at night, zombie dance, and leave in overnight methods to no avail. It has been exactly one week since her last live feed. Should I wait another week and try again? Try a f/t rat pup (I ordered some)? Give up and give her live again? One method I have not tried is feeding a small live hopper immediately followed with a small f/t hopper. Anyone have any luck with this method?

[Corrupter]

Have you tried braining yet? It worked for my spider when he didnt want to switch over. I only had to brain them about 3 times before he started taking plain f/t from tongs.

[Morph Addict]

You could wait a week and try again. Out of curiosity, if you had a live mouse to feed first, and could double up this go I would try that. I have found once they are in "feed mode" they will eat nearly anything dead or not. I hope that helps, and if not, I would say let the snake skip a feeding, it wouldnt hurt to miss 1, kinda like my little girls, if they dont want to eat lunch they have to wait till dinner to eat. (I am sure the snake doesn't put it together that way - but hunger can be a pretty driving force!)

[td30]

Have you tried braining yet? It worked for my spider when he didnt want to switch over. I only had to brain them about 3 times before he started taking plain f/t from tongs.

I think that brianing will be my last option. It sounds disgusting and I'm not sure how to do it. Not saying I won't try though if all else fails.

You could wait a week and try again. Out of curiosity, if you had a live mouse to feed first, and could double up this go I would try that. I have found once they are in "feed mode" they will eat nearly anything dead or not. I hope that helps, and if not, I would say let the snake skip a feeding, it wouldnt hurt to miss 1, kinda like my little girls, if they dont want to eat lunch they have to wait till dinner to eat. (I am sure the snake doesn't put it together that way - but hunger can be a pretty driving force!)

I think I will try again next week (skipping the feeding this week). If that don't work, I will need to wait till I can get a very small live one and try the live/ft back to back method. Only problem there is I have seldom seen a live hopper at the pet store I need to go to.

[td30]

New night, same result. This kid just don't want to eat anything dead. Any last minute advice before I throw in the towel and go buy a live mouse? A little good news though, my RTB switched from f/t mice to f/t rat fuzzies on the first attempt!

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Here's my number one trick with live feeders.

With my most reluctant switchers (as well as getting a friend of mine's to switch) I found the key was MOVEMENT. No matter how good you are with the zombie rat dance it just doesn't mimic the movement of a real rodent well enough. SO, here's what you do.

Get a live rodent ready and get your F/T ready as well. Warm up the F/T so that it is slightly warmer to the touch than the rodent (so it will better attract the strike). FIRST, try and put the live rodent in a cage next to the BP. Let it see it, let it get excited by it. Then, try and offer the FT. Sometimes this will elicit a strike.

If this doesn't work, put the live rodent in the snakes enclosure but try to keep it far away from the snake. Get your FT on the tongs and keep it between the live rodent and the snake, almost like you're a goaly blocking the snake from achieving its goal of hitting the live rodent. The snake will get tricked into striking at the FT instead of the live rodent (especially if its slightly warmer). This technique has yet to fail me.

Also, don't try and switch food types at the same time. If it's on mice stick with FT mice. If it's on rats, stick with FT rats.

Hope that helps.

JonV

[FireproofGorilla]

New night, same result. This kid just don't want to eat anything dead. Any last minute advice before I throw in the towel and go buy a live mouse? A little good news though, my RTB switched from f/t mice to f/t rat fuzzies on the first attempt!

I found that my BP won't eat f/t IF they're not warm enough. Try the hot-water-in-a-bag approach and make sure you leave it in long enough to get the core temperature up to standard. Then try the zombie dance on the tongs or just leave it in there for about 30 mins. My BP wasn't eating her f/t so it just dawned on me, they use the heat to target their prey. So, I warmed them up even more (not too hot to burn her) and she didn't even let me get it to the bottom of the tank! She struck with the speed and efficiency that keeps us in awe and took it right off the tongs. It was after her shed so she was pretty hungry. She left me the tail on the tongs of the second one!

[Mike Cavanaugh]

I am confused... you said you have only had her one week. She just ate 4 mice a week ago... you have tried many different things to get it to feed f/t.... but you have only had it for a week!!!????

I recomend you continue to feed live for at least a month. Once per week. always on the same day, always at the same time, always the same routine. The snake will learn the routine, and will know what time it is when it is feeding time.

Once the schedule is clearly established, try feeding f / t. Simply let them thaw out to room temp... then put them in a ziplock back and run warm water over them to bring the temps up to about 95 - 100 degrees. then using forceps, hot it behind the shoulders and do the zombie dance.

Here is the most important thing... If she doesn't eat it within a minute or two of trying, leave her alone! refreeze the rodent, and try again in a week! WAIT THE WHOLE WEEK! NO CHEATING! feed the same size rat every week, preparing it the same way.

I would continue to do this for at least 5 or 6 weeks before giving up. Thats right, no food for possibly 5 or 6 weeks! that will make them rething the whole f / t thing! as long as it is an established snake, that does not loose lots of weight, it will be fine.

No braining, or anything else like that until what I have described above fails. Bottom line, some snakes will not eat f/t.

Last note... on the third week of trying to feed f/t... if they refuse to eat for a third time, simply leave the f/t rodent in there with them over night. they have an amazing ability of disapearing when this is done!

[td30]

I am confused... you said you have only had her one week. She just ate 4 mice a week ago... you have tried many different things to get it to feed f/t.... but you have only had it for a week!!!????

I recomend you continue to feed live for at least a month. Once per week. always on the same day, always at the same time, always the same routine. The snake will learn the routine, and will know what time it is when it is feeding time.

Once the schedule is clearly established, try feeding f / t. Simply let them thaw out to room temp... then put them in a ziplock back and run warm water over them to bring the temps up to about 95 - 100 degrees. then using forceps, hot it behind the shoulders and do the zombie dance.

Here is the most important thing... If she doesn't eat it within a minute or two of trying, leave her alone! refreeze the rodent, and try again in a week! WAIT THE WHOLE WEEK! NO CHEATING! feed the same size rat every week, preparing it the same way.

I would continue to do this for at least 5 or 6 weeks before giving up. Thats right, no food for possibly 5 or 6 weeks! that will make them rething the whole f / t thing! as long as it is an established snake, that does not loose lots of weight, it will be fine.

No braining, or anything else like that until what I have described above fails. Bottom line, some snakes will not eat f/t.

Last note... on the third week of trying to feed f/t... if they refuse to eat for a third time, simply leave the f/t rodent in there with them over night. they have an amazing ability of disapearing when this is done!

No, you misunderstood. I have had her over a month. She has ate 4 live mice...1 per week. It is really hard to keep keep going with the hunger method, but I may try that. Just don't want jeopardize her health by doing so. I am currently debating on wether to try next week or just go back to live. Last night I did cheat a little, it has only been 5 days since the last attemt. I also left the the mouse in there just to find it this morning.

[soy.lor.n]

what, exactly, is braining?