just dont know what to do....

One of my females just refuses to switch to f/t, she will eat live but she is very shy about it. she takes a few minutes to strike a live rat fuzzy. where i live getting live feeder rats is almost impossible and we do not have the ability to keep them on our own. how can i get her to switch?

Have you tried leaving the F/T in the enclosure if she doesn't eat? my BEL is very shy when it comes to eating F/T but he'll eat it if i leave it there for an hour or 2.

she just avoids it and stays away from it

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Originally Posted by jesst

she just avoids it and stays away from it

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My Mojave did this for the first couple of weeks that we had him. It turned out that he was going into shed as well as trying to transition to a new home. I finally got him to eat after watching a thawing method on (gosh I can't remember the site!!) - the guy thawed in hot water with the rodent in a freezer bag... I'll look for the site unless someone else knows what I'm talking about and posts the link first :) I left the rat pup in there with him and just left the house and web about my business, didn't worry about it. Sure enough, several hours later, the rat was gone. I think they pick up on our stress and get freaked out too. He acted scared of the f/t before that... Good luck!!

Have you tried African soft fur rats? I have a very picky girl that only ate live. I tried an asf f/t and she took it when I left it in for a few hours, but they are really hard to find. You might be able to order them online.


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I would hold off on switching to ASFs as you might not be able to switch back. Do some reading on here and there are several topics that cover good ways to try and switch to f/t.

For the record, I have one girl who only eats live mice...

I've converted several from mice and live to f/t rats. However, I think I'm pretty lucky. I don't have a great strategy for you or anything. I can tell you what I was doing, and maybe you can pick up on something.

After feeding a smaller live prey item, i offered a f/t right after. After a few attempts, the snake would eat the f/t after eating the live one.

Another one was eating live twice a week, and i skipped 2 weeks, then offered a f/t, and the snake seemed like she just wanted to eat anything.

My clown seemed to be the most difficult. She started off not eating, but she was 600 grams, so I know she can eat.. I threw in some paper towel rolls and offered a f/t small rat but she refused.. a little later that day she finally ate a live mouse :banana:. I kept her on the live mice for only 2 feedings to ensure she would eat, then I offered a live small rat, and she took that... I then did live mouse, then attempted a f/t small rat, and she took the small rat. I think you should keep giving them what they'll eat, then sneak some curve balls in there :gj:.

My suggestion is heating in hot water until the rat is thuroughly thawed. Then, use a stream of hot water or a hair dryer to heat the head of the rodent to over 100*F (use a temp gun for best results). Once the rodent is warm enough, grab it by the neck with tongs and put it in the tank and make it "move" by slowly making it wiggle. We call this a zombie dance. Usually you can get them to strike like that. Another temp is to thaw the rodent near your ball python so she will smell the rodent and work up a feeding response while it's thawing out.

I had a problem feeder who wouldn't switch/stay on F/T. I just have to feed her live. However, my others switched with a little encouragement.

thank you for all of the suggestions. We have had her since 12/15/12 and have done every that was suggested. she ate them once 2 days after bringing her home. we have 2 others that switched fine and are eating great. i tried last night and nothing...so i will try again next week but the last time she was off food for 3 weeks and had lost a lot of weight. she is only a few months old....

I had to " prime " one of my baby BPs by offering a pre-killed mouse right away during a switch in feeding methods. I use hemostats when feeding all my BPs, and avoids being bitten. Good luck and keep at it. They are BPs and do what they want, when they want.:P

1.0 spider baby
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0.2 Normals sub adults
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