Feeding!

So the BP I plan on getting is eating live fuzzies and hoppers. I don't want to feed live. Will it be hard to convert her? Also shes about 2 months and I want to buy mice online in bulk. Since shes growing how many should I get in bulk? Also should I try and stick with feeding rats or mice? I've heard people say it is hard to get snakes to take rats.

I wouldnt think it would be to hard to switch to frozen. All of mine have been raised on live and I feed frozen with no problems..not to say yours wont. I think as long as they are thawed completely and warmed some it should be fine. I do jiggle the the feed using tongs. I am also currently switching the rest of my snakes from mice to rats, the ones eating rats seem to be gaining weight at a consistant rate where as the ones mice dont seem to be as consistant. As far as buying in bulk..when I started buying in bulk I bought the size of prey that they were currently eating and as they grew past the size and were needing more I would throw two (i.e eats one hopper but needs more add another hopper) till supply was gone, and then up the prey size and repeat.

Most snakes start off on live prey. Every once in awhile we'll get one to take F/T right off the bat, but not always. So, you'll want to mimic live prey as much as possible. If the snake is on live hoppers, then warm up the F/T hopper to about 100-105 F. (You can put the frozen hopper in a ziploc bag and warm it in hot tap water.) When you open the bag, make sure that the hopper is nice and dry. You'll want that scent to carry. Mimic scent and temperature as much as possible. It might also help to feed at night when the snake is most active and in hunting mode.

If it doesn't work the first time, don't give up! Wait a couple days and try again. After a couple feedings, take the next step to rat fuzzies or pups.

Thank you guys for all the advice! I will def try the tricks. And since shes had rat fuzzies I'll try to stay on those. :)

Here's what I would do:

1. Purchase a live rat fuzzy and have the breeder/owner kill it for you and you put it in the freezer. Then thaw it out and see if the snake will eat it. There's no point buying a bunch of rats if your snake won't eat them. I bought a bunch of rats/mice for all my snakes (I have 9) but I have two who only eat live. So you want to switch them to frozen/thawed before you bulk order.

2. As far as bulk ordering goes, I would buy a small bag (no more than 25 per bag) of what they are on, and then one bag of the next size up, a bag of the next size up from that, and so forth and so on as long as your budget permits. If she's eating frozen fuzzy rats, I'd get a bag of fuzzy rats, bag of rat pups, and a bag of weanling rats. Then when your snake out grows those, then buy a bag of smalls and then several bags of mediums because that's what adults will eat.

Both of my baby females switched right over first try. I'm a lucky one I guess :weirdface

According to the breeder she is not a picky eater so hopefully I won't have a problem.

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Originally Posted by futurebpowner

According to the breeder she is not a picky eater so hopefully I won't have a problem.

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The less picky the eater, the easier they are to switch! My spider female is such a picky eater. I got her to switch to frozen mice, then onto live rats (for about two months she wouldn't eat rats) then finally got her to eat a live rat and then she ate frozen/thawed rats for about 3 weeks before she went off feed. Now I just feed her live rats because I know she'll eat them. A bonus: she's gained 175g in about 3 weeks :D Some of that is a much needed poop, but, she's gained a lot since I started feeding her life.

Hopefully you'll be able to switch her no problems. Some people don't have issues switching to frozen/thawed. My other ones slam frozen/thawed and don't really care much about anything else so long as it's edible (I have one who will eat mice, rats, live, or frozen/thawed and be able to change around the next day). Good luck to you!