For Nova Scotia members: ASF rats

I have noticed a few members here and there who are listed as being from NS, Canada. I am wondering if you know any reliable suppliers for natal rats. I sent out a few inquiries yesterday and today to potential sources but I haven't had any concrete responses yet.

I am thinking to switch over my ball (I'm sure anyone who's come across my postings have seen me yammering on about his bad eating habits) but I am worried about availability since I can't see him readily taking rats or mice again if I choose to switch over. Right now he hasn't eaten for 11 months so I'm just about ready to try anything!

I guess, more generally, it would also be interesting to hear what people think about the possible idea that my BP just "doesn't like" rats anymore? I've never fed him anything other than rats or mice previously so might trying soft fur rats help my problem? Or might I just be creating a bigger problem for myself by accustoming an already fussy snake to a specific prey item?

Having bred/fed soft furs for years, I can tell you that every soft fur eater I have ever had would always take mice, but some mouse eaters would never switch to soft furs. Mice are FAR more addictive than soft furs are. The whole thing about soft furs being addictive really is just a myth in my experience. ;)

I wouldn't worry too much about him only eating soft furs. We used to breed them, but a hand full of my snakes wouldn't touch them. I would go ahead and offer whatever food you could get him to eat.

Ok thanks. Hopefully I'll be able to track a few down this week and give it a shot. It would be great to not worry about his eating all the time; it stresses me out! It's not easy to find reliable sources for such items around here, unforch.

I wanted to upload a pic to see what you guys thought of his weight. I wasn't sure how to attach it to this post though so I just uploaded it into my gallery (I'm assuming its public.) If you can, could you take a look at it and let me know if he looks underweight. To me he does, but he was quite fat before.


If there's an easy way to post the pic here, I can do that if you can tell me how. Lol, I haven't quite got the hang of this site yet.

The pic.

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../3/0/image.jpg

Thanks! Not a clue how you did that but I appreciate it! That pic was just taken an hour ago. I was just cleaning on the other end (hence why everything is piled up there like a mess). He stretched out atop it all so I figured I could grab a pic and get some weight feedback...