Should I keep trying?

I have a male adult pastel ball python that I got two months ago. First day of feeding I gave him a live rat in order to see if he eats. Good to know that he ate. Till that day I have been trying to switch him to f/t. He hasnt taken any f/t food and I tried all the methods people have mentioned: leave it in his hide, hairdry it, put it under a heating lamp, do the zombie dance, scent it with rat bedding or chicken broth, and have a smaller live food item and then the f/t. NONE OF THAT HAS WORKED! So I'm trying to decide do I keep it and take the risk of feeding it live. Or sell the pastel and buy another morph. I don't like feeding live because I have to drive 10 minutes to get one live rat and i dont want to risk the snake's health. The two other ball pythons that I have eat frozen thawed, both are girls, which is a plus lol.

you may want to keep him on live til he eats steady for you. then once hes been in the same exact setup and environment for a while you can try to switch. it may take him a few weeks without eating but he will eventually. just make sure he's not losing weight or you may have to go back to live to put his weight back on.

some snakes just won't switch. I recommend feeding live anyways.. I feed all my BP's live.

I have a spider who refuses to eat anything but live. And I have a normal who refuses to eat anything but f/t, go figure, lol. It's not the end of the world if he will only take live; you'll just need to supervise his meals to make sure he dispatches the prey in a timely manner.

I breed my own rats so that I can have live on hand for my picky snakes. If the 10 minute drive or the stress of possible injury to your snake is too much, maybe you should sell him, but there is no guarantee your next snake will eat F/T.

Have you tried feeding fresh killed prey?

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Originally Posted by Maddumpling

I don't like feeding live because I have to drive 10 minutes to get one live rat and i dont want to risk the snake's health.

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Only 10 minutes, that must really put you out, I used to drive an hour each way once a week for my live feeders, before I started breeding my own.

You could set up a tank with a water bottle, and purchase several feeders at a time. This way you only have to make that 10 minute trip once or twice a month.

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Originally Posted by llovelace

Only 10 minutes, that must really put you out, I used to drive an hour each way once a week for my live feeders, before I started breeding my own.

You could set up a tank with a water bottle, and purchase several feeders at a time. This way you only have to make that 10 minute trip once or twice a month.

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This is what I do. I have a "rat tub" thats 3 feet by 2 feet and ill pick up 2 or 3 weeks worth of live feeders at a time.