help!!! switching to FT

i have two snabies im tryin to switch from live to FT ./ a fire and a lemonblast , BOTH of them seem to be afraid of the thawed mice balling up when they see it . . but the second they see a live one well its game over for mickey mouse.. im not a fan of live because thats more mouths to feed and slowly get attached to just to watch them die by a deathly squeeze. i tried just offering them a thawed mouse every 5 days but i cant just let them go hungry because i feel bad and end up getting more live to get them to eat . they are from separate breeders . the fire was strictly live . i was told the lemonblast ate both live and thawed , ive tried lettign them see live then dangling a thawed mouse in front of them . lettign it sit in there overnight with the tanks covered . even making the thawed mouse hotter than normal body temps . NOTHING seems to be working. i let them go for probably 4 weeks of no food getting denied every 5 days with a thawed mouse and couldnt handle them not eating so caved and got live . any help would be great . tips or tricks that have worked for you . they are still fairly small snakes . my husbandry is on point . plenty of cover . temps are good humidity is good so please dont start asking about husbandry lol

I would check out some youtube videos on feeding frozen/thawed. I use hemostats... hold the mouse on the back, and just "wiggle" the mouse a few inches from my little girl and she hits it within seconds. Mine was on live only and I switched her over. I think like anything else, some are just easier than others. Hang in there, and don't give up.

I've had success switching adults that had been on live their whole life. One was 13 yrs.

I skipped a feeding cycle to be sure that it would be good and hungry.

I heat up the rat with hot water AFTER it has thawed. I get the head and rear haunches to 90-100 degrees. I don't heat the belly. The skin is too soft and thin lending itself to a gut bomb.

I used a heat gun or a hair dryer works to scent the cage/room as well as dry some water off after I had wrapped the wet rat in a paper towel to get the bulk of the water off first.

Now the snakes are itching for a meal. Just offer it or do the zombie dance with the rat if necessary.


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I have noticed scenting the room beforehand has worked for me. I use a hairdryer, and snakes that are usually shy and picky will be waiting for the rat once they've been smelling it for a while. Also I've gotten some on f/t by first feeding a small live meal, then following up with a f/t, or by using fresh dirty bedding from a live rodent to scent the snake's enclosure.

I can't speak for scenting the room, as I feed mostly live and raise the food in the same room as the snakes. My babies, all I have to do is open a few bins in the rack and all the babies become active and strike at the first sign of a pinkie dead or alive.

I typically do fresh kill but i have done frozen thawed also. I have found some of the picky ones wont want to strike it at all(when converting). What i end up doing, especially for some of my animals i know are hogs, is after offering and they wont take it i just drop it on top of them and close the bin. i usually go on to feeding my other animals. Around 15 minutes later i look back in and the food item is either gone or on its way down. This is about 90% success for me. Btw make sure you check on them after 15 to 20 min, dont want to leave a dead rat in there lol.

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Originally Posted by ItsAllNew2Me!

I typically do fresh kill but i have done frozen thawed also. I have found some of the picky ones wont want to strike it at all(when converting). What i end up doing, especially for some of my animals i know are hogs, is after offering and they wont take it i just drop it on top of them and close the bin. i usually go on to feeding my other animals. Around 15 minutes later i look back in and the food item is either gone or on its way down. This is about 90% success for me. Btw make sure you check on them after 15 to 20 min, dont want to leave a dead rat in there lol.

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This is interesting. My first ball I fed a live hopper to for his first meal and he took it just fine, then I went to f/t rats and the first time he seemed interested but wasn't going to do anything. I went to lightly tap his body with it while doing the zombie dance and I accidentally dropped it (like less than an inch off) and when it rolled off he went for it. I have one snake that was supposedly slamming f/t rats that isn't right now and I'll have to try that with her to get her started with me. She downs live just fine though.

Get yoruself a pair of tongs, feed live using the tongs (I know it sucks but you gotta do whatcha gotta do) I would do 2 live feeding cycles this way and then try switching . They will learn tongs=food

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Originally Posted by bks2100

This is interesting. My first ball I fed a live hopper to for his first meal and he took it just fine, then I went to f/t rats and the first time he seemed interested but wasn't going to do anything. I went to lightly tap his body with it while doing the zombie dance and I accidentally dropped it (like less than an inch off) and when it rolled off he went for it. I have one snake that was supposedly slamming f/t rats that isn't right now and I'll have to try that with her to get her started with me. She downs live just fine though.

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This what happen with one of my snake about 4 days ago. She had went at least 3 week with out eating. This is the second time I try to feed her f/t rat and she would have touch the rat. I was swinging it in front of her and I accidentally drop on her noise. She wrap around the rat and feed. When I feed her a f/t rat today, she took the rat in less then 10 seconds.