Transitioning Feeding from live to F/T

The info I have on my little one's diet is pretty limited as the people I got her from didnt care for her much or very long. I was told she ate a pinky about a week ago and so feeding time is fast approaching.

Is it best to feed the live food until she is settled completely in at my house or does it matter when I transition to F/T. Where I live it is very very hard to find a pet store that will sell you a full grown python meal live more than once.. so F/T is what I would like to feed. any suggestions on the transition or what size live I should really be feeding would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

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Originally Posted by MommaK

The info I have on my little one's diet is pretty limited as the people I got her from didnt care for her much or very long. I was told she ate a pinky about a week ago and so feeding time is fast approaching.

Is it best to feed the live food until she is settled completely in at my house or does it matter when I transition to F/T. Where I live it is very very hard to find a pet store that will sell you a full grown python meal live more than once.. so F/T is what I would like to feed. any suggestions on the transition or what size live I should really be feeding would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

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What size is she and do you know what age?

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Originally Posted by ae88weaver

What size is she and do you know what age?

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S/he is about 18 inches and her thickest part is at least an inch around.. s/he just kinda landed in our laps and so I am assuming s/he is a rather young one

i got two last week and i went for feeding today and the female took a f/t with no problem and the male would not take it he ended up taking a live tho. i was told they have been raised eating live so i got one to switch. it would be best to try the f/t at first and if it wont eat it try live. and for food i would think either a hopper mouse or small adult or rat fuzzy or rat pup would be good.

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Originally Posted by MommaK

S/he is about 18 inches and her thickest part is at least an inch around.. s/he just kinda landed in our laps and so I am assuming s/he is a rather young one

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If she's 18 inches long and only about an inch around she sounds underweight to me, correct me if I'm wrong. If I were in your shoes I would maybe continue on live with her for a little while, and maybe put her on hopper mice or the rat equivalent of that size (fuzzy? I'm not sure) until she gets a bit bigger and then attempt the switch.

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Originally Posted by lexxielightning

If she's 18 inches long and only about an inch around she sounds underweight to me, correct me if I'm wrong. If I were in your shoes I would maybe continue on live with her for a little while, and maybe put her on hopper mice or the rat equivalent of that size (fuzzy? I'm not sure) until she gets a bit bigger and then attempt the switch.

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My male normal is 18 inches (just measured a minute ago) and is about 3.5-4 inches around and I think he is just a TAD underweight... I agree with lexxxielightning, stick with live, they tend to be more attracted to the movement and I think the heat is easier for them to pick up on then if we try and simulate it with a blowdryer, and use a small hopper mouse (I don't know rats)... Best of luck! :)

Start him out with live pinkies to be sure you get a few meals into him. Then transition to f/t pinkies. After a few of those, switch to f/t weanling mice or rat pups, which are more appropriately sized for him. It's good to take things slowly with bp's. Some have excellent feeding responses and have no trouble switching from live to f/t and switching prey sizes, but there are also plenty that are very difficult to switch.

Because you've had so many issues with husbandry and because it's a new snake, I would wait until she's had 3 or 4 consecutive meals in a row before trying to make the switch.

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Originally Posted by Sammy412

Because you've had so many issues with husbandry and because it's a new snake, I would wait until she's had 3 or 4 consecutive meals in a row before trying to make the switch.

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yes! get weight on a snake before changing things up, so then they have a little extra fat to keep them tided over if they aren't interested.

Some of my snakes were much better about taking FT after they'd already eaten a live mouse in the same feeding. Of course, you will want to get yours to the point of eating more than one live at a time. But it seems like if they were in eating mode after a live one, they would attack the warmed up FT's more than if offered one first.