Need to switch from live to frozen

But how?! Sammy used to feed frozen when he was with the breeder, but I've been feeding him live and he hasn't waned to eat frozen for a while. How? He is 350g as of last week. This is my setup: 15qt tub, paper towels as substrate, water bowl hide combo, and a warm hide. Temps: normally 67-70%, ambient: 78-80 daytime 76-77 nighttime, and a 90 degree hotspot. He is currently in shed so I won't be feeding him this week, but I just want to have the ability to feed him frozen. How do I properly thaw? I can't leave the rat in the room thawing because last time that happened there was a horde of ants. What do I do?

You can either leave the rat in the fridge for a day to thaw, or you can thaw it in a bowl of room temperature water for a couple hours and after that use either a blow dryer or *really really* hot water to heat it up right before offering to your snake.

Tough love man. Basically give him no other option but to convert. ... as long as he doesn't start losing weight, give him NO OTHER OPTION.... this will be frustrating for you, but not as frustrating as seeing him get bit by live prey.. just my two cents


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You sure? I've never tried that but if that could work I'll give it a try...

Someone mentioned in one of my threads (that I have yet to try), to put live prey in their enclosure first and get their interest way up. Then right before you think they'll strike, switch out the live prey for a warmed up f/t and try to wriggle it in the same way the live prey was moving.

Another method someone mentioned was getting a very small live prey, like a rat pup, and have him start eating it. Then as he's opening his mouth swallowing the mini prey, stick the head of an f/t into their mouth right behind it.

I've found that some snakes hate wet food... Hot water really works for some, and really turns off some others. But blowdrying the food warm seems to be pretty consistent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mangiapane85

Tough love man. Basically give him no other option but to convert. ... as long as he doesn't start losing weight, give him NO OTHER OPTION.... this will be frustrating for you, but not as frustrating as seeing him get bit by live prey.. just my two cents


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It's not a 100% method... Yes, ball pythons are silly enough to starve themselves to death. :confusd:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

Someone mentioned in one of my threads (that I have yet to try), to put live prey in their enclosure first and get their interest way up. Then right before you think they'll strike, switch out the live prey for a warmed up f/t and try to wriggle it in the same way the live prey was moving.

Another method someone mentioned was getting a very small live prey, like a rat pup, and have him start eating it. Then as he's opening his mouth swallowing the mini prey, stick the head of an f/t into their mouth right behind it.

I've found that some snakes hate wet food... Hot water really works for some, and really turns off some others. But blowdrying the food warm seems to be pretty consistent.



It's not a 100% method... Yes, ball pythons are silly enough to starve themselves to death. :confusd:

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That's why I said tough love UNTIL you start noticing weight loss. :)

Your other two ideas sound just wrong in my opinion. And it seems like it would stress the snake out even further and make them want to eat even less.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mangiapane85

That's why I said tough love UNTIL you start noticing weight loss. :)

Your other two ideas sound just wrong in my opinion. And it seems like it would stress the snake out even further and make them want to eat even less.

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Well, okay. I'll try it and let you know if it does. ;)

Here is what I have done for moving ball pythons over from live to F/T, which has (so far) a 100% success ratio given time:

Plan A: thaw out prey in refrigerator and then before feeding, put it in a plastic bag submersed in warm water to warm up the prey. I will note that if the prey gets wet during the process, try and dry it off some. In my experience, snakes seem to have an easier time swallowing prey with dry fur. I do believe their is merit to initially soaking prey in warm water as freezing dehydrates prey items that would normally have a higher water content. Offer the prey normally using tongs and see if your snake will take it.

If that fails....

Plan B: Use prey small enough to feed doubles, give one live and let the snake eat it. After it swallows it and resets it's jaws, offer the 2nd F/T prey item. They are usually prey antsy to gobble up something else and will take it.

If that fails, I space feeding out by an extra day and try it again the next week.

Eventually it usually works, as the grow older they get let anxious and more accustomed to the routine making refusals less likely in my experience.