Switching from live to frozen/thawed

So I'm planning to buy a baby bp from a local breeder in a few months once her babies start hatching and are available for purchase. I know she breeds mice and rats to feed to her snakes. I would prefer to feed my baby frozen/thawed for several reasons, the first being that the local pet store doesn't carry a very wide variety of mice and rats, but they do sell frozen rodents. I also don't want to risk injury to my snake. How can I train the snake to take frozen/thawed? Has anyone had experience doing this?

Talk to your breeder. They may be able to make the conversion for you before you bring the snake home. Many breeders are more than willing to help you make the conversion. I convert all of mine over to F/T before sell, if the buyer wants it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hoathie

So I'm planning to buy a baby bp from a local breeder in a few months once her babies start hatching and are available for purchase. I know she breeds mice and rats to feed to her snakes. I would prefer to feed my baby frozen/thawed for several reasons, the first being that the local pet store doesn't carry a very wide variety of mice and rats, but they do sell frozen rodents. I also don't want to risk injury to my snake. How can I train the snake to take frozen/thawed? Has anyone had experience doing this?

---

when i first got my ball python i did the same thing it took a while cause when i got him he was on live but eventually he will get it ,but when u switch its hard to go back such as i tried getting my back on frozen he wont go back ,he only eats live and if u watch ur snake when feeding live u can prevent the rat from biting i have helped before when my snake attack the rats lower body and held the rats head till he died ,see my buddie had a snake and hes brother owned it as the brother went to jail the snake was starved for three months now he attacks 100% so the rat nevers haves the chance lazy snakes are the ones that get attacked and attacks are usually rare

To some degree, though I don't know how much, it will depend on your snake. My less than a year old BP has eaten live, F/T, and freshly killed. She's not very picky. Though, do a search on here or any internet search engine and you'll find people have major troubles making the switch.

I would ask the breeder to make the switch for you, and then stick with that.