Feeding prekilled. Snake staring at mouse

My ball python is a picky eater. He's only been eating live mice but I'm trying to switch him to frozen thawed. Today I bought a prekilled mouse in order to slowly adjust him. However, he's been sitting in his hide with his head out staring at the dead mouse. When I first put it in he came out and looked at it but after about 5 mins went back in.

Any thoughts or advice?

Could always try sticking a cocktail stick into the f/t mice skull, expose blood.. Try dangling the mice and kind of wiggle it around make sure the head is nice and warm also.


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Did you try dangling it in front of him and making it do the 'zombie dance'? If it's been long enough for the rat to cool down, you could also try hitting it with a hairdryer for a minute to warm it back up.

I left my feeding tongs at college since I was planning on feeding only live. I will try heating up the mouse if he hasn't been eaten when I get back.

Welp I tried waving it around and even heated it up with a blow dryer for a couple minutes. No dice. He just ignored it and slithered right past. Guess he won't be eating for a while...

i heat mine up in water and use the hair dryer after. It is amazing how different the heat of the animal's skin can be to it's insides when using the hair dryer. Letting it soak in warm water heats the animal all the way through. Then we use the hair dryer to dry the animal (as some won't eat wet prey) and give it a final temp rise.

The weird thing is that he still looks interested in it when I'm not dangling t. He constantly sticks his head out and flicks his tongue at it but makes no move to eat it.

If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. I believe most snakes can be converted to f/t sometimes it just takes a bit of patience and more than a few attempts to get them to make the switch. As long as he's not losing significant weight just wait him out. Make sure your prey items are plenty warm for starters. I usually serve mine at about 100 degrees. You could also try feeding a small live prey item and follow up with a similarly sized f/t item. Braining the f/t item might help too. Stick with it and eventually he should make the transition. Hunger always wins in the end. If not, you may be stuck with one of the really stubborn ones that only eat live. Best wishes and keep us posted.

Thanks for the helpful posts guys! Unfortunately he doesn't seem to be interested in eating the mouse today...Any ideas on what to do with the dead mouse? I'm leaving it in the cage overnight just in case he decides to eat it but if he doesn't should I freeze it for later or toss it?

I re-freeze refused prey once but always discard them after 2 refusals. Keep offering him food every 7-10 days and he'll catch on.