transitioning from live to FT

I recently adopted a normal male BP. He was clearly a bit under weight and his husbandry wasn't the best with the previous owner but I've since rectified the husbandry and he's gained 100g since I've gotten him (is about 3.5 feet or so, got him at 580g). She's had issues with him not feeding etc but I haven't seen that so far. The mice I have available to me are on the smallish size and at 3.99 a pop, it gets old.


The snake has only ever been fed live mice, and I've tried three times unsuccessfully to get him to take a FT mouse or small rat.

ive moved to feeding him in a tub so he gets conditioned to eating outside his cage / knows this tub means food. He will absolutely smoke a live mouse, gulp it down and look around for another... He wil take two of I give them to him. I've tried the hair dryer trick, I've even rubbed a FT mouse on a live one to get extra scent and he does one tongue flick and turns his head. The live mouse is never refused.

i haven't tried the chicken broth trick.... Should i put a couple drops on a live one next feeding to build an association of that scent too? I may just have to accept that he may never eat FT and I will just have to live with that. the big box pet stores put all the mom and pop places out of business years ago sp
im at their mercy. Smallish mice and no rats. I'm considering buying a few of them at a time and fattening them up at least before I feed them off even.

any help is appreciated

I've been in the same boat. My 3 refuse frozen thawed. Live tends to be more expensive not buying in bulk or breeding my own rats but I figure it comes with the territory having snakes that prefer live.

If the mice are small fatten them up as much as you can that they can effectively eat.

My male is a typical go off food for 8 month type so I'll save his small rats get them to medium size and give them to my female.

Good luck!


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I will start off by saying this, very few of my animals were ever fed frozen thawed before I got them. They are now all on frozen thawed. I am sure there is an animal out there that can't be converted but it has to be very rare in my experience. I have had more problems getting them off mice than I have had getting them to eat f/t. A single mouse is probably too small for your guy and you should probably try to get him on rats. It tends to be more economical. You can go about this a couple ways if he is stubborn. You can either switch him to rats or switch him to F/T. I would not try to do it at the same time. I think in your case I would try a live rat first. If he eats that then you can try F/T rats. If you want to try F/T mouse first I would say you may need to improve your mouse dancing or it could be that your presence is the problem. If you are trying to dance the mouse, try real hard for him not to see you. By see I mean your heat signature too. If your hand or your head is glowing hotter than the mouse he is going to get confused and or scared until he realizes that food can be delivered on a pair of tongs. I have had some that had been fed live that my being there was the real problem. I didn't realize that I was the problem the first time it happened until I gave up and just left the dead rat in the cage. I was very surprised when I came back and it was gone.

1) make sure the ft item is heated to live animal temps
2) you're not making it any easier by moving him to a feeding tub; all you're accomplishing is adding stress.
3) as Jodan stated, it might be best to make the switch to a live rat before going ft
4) do try leaving the ft overnight
5) I've kept more than 100 snakes over the years and have yet to see one that refused ft
6) don't bother with the chicken broth trick, it doesn't work

Excellent advise thank you !

An update and a thank you to all those who helped.

i tried him on a live small rat and he wanted nothing to do with it. I
made sure he wasn't just not hungry by tossing a live mouse in after removing the rat. The mouse was dead before he hit the floor. So he doesn't like the smell of rats. I'm gonna maybe try to get some ASFs after my frozen supply runs out.

I was able to get him to take FT mouse a few times now by making sure the rodent was warm enough with the hair dryer trick. I left him in his cage and just moved his hide box, he went right into strike mode as soon as he smelled the mouse. He gets super interested but won't strike unless it's warm enough. So i just keep warming it up and putting it back in until he takes it. I am doing it in his cage and not In a feeding tub like you suggested. I also make sure to hide myself as much as possible to not distract or stress him ...

I found a place local that has live rats and affordable live mice ($2 each for mice live and $6 for small rats) so I bought a bunch of mice and was fattening them up. I'm feeding them off mixed in with FT feeds and gonna put the feeder cage back in the garage.

I know rats are more nutritious but I'm going to count my blessings that I at least have him eating large FT mice. I bought a 50 bag at the reptile show this weekend.

- - - Updated - - -

An update and a thank you to all those who helped.

i tried him on a live small rat and he wanted nothing to do with it. I
made sure he wasn't just not hungry by tossing a live mouse in after removing the rat. The mouse was dead before he hit the floor. So he doesn't like the smell of rats. I'm gonna maybe try to get some ASFs after my frozen supply runs out.

I was able to get him to take FT mouse a few times now by making sure the rodent was warm enough with the hair dryer trick. I left him in his cage and just moved his hide box, he went right into strike mode as soon as he smelled the mouse. He gets super interested but won't strike unless it's warm enough. So i just keep warming it up and putting it back in until he takes it. I am doing it in his cage and not In a feeding tub like you suggested. I also make sure to hide myself as much as possible to not distract or stress him ...

I found a place local that has live rats and affordable live mice ($2 each for mice live and $6 for small rats) so I bought a bunch of mice and was fattening them up. I'm feeding them off mixed in with FT feeds and gonna put the feeder cage back in the garage.

I know rats are more nutritious but I'm going to count my blessings that I at least have him eating large FT mice. I bought a 50 bag at the reptile show this weekend.