Questions about feeding...

So I am sure you all get soooo many questions about feeding, but here goes another.. I have a young ball python. Born in April and have had him for about a month. Temps and humidity are all good, inside enclosed rack with a hide. He is extremely shy still. He has eaten live twice for me and before tonight hadn't eaten in 10 days (was in shed). I tried feeding FT rat tonight and he had no interest whatsoever. I figured I would try live mouse again. Put mouse in and within 3 minutes he ate him. Now my question is what process should I take to get him on Ft rats? Should I try live young rats (if I can find them)? FT mice? Get him feeding really well on live mice for a couple of months and then try? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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Originally Posted by Jmarshall

So I am sure you all get soooo many questions about feeding, but here goes another.. I have a young ball python. Born in April and have had him for about a month. Temps and humidity are all good, inside enclosed rack with a hide. He is extremely shy still. He has eaten live twice for me and before tonight hadn't eaten in 10 days (was in shed). I tried feeding FT rat tonight and he had no interest whatsoever. I figured I would try live mouse again. Put mouse in and within 3 minutes he ate him. Now my question is what process should I take to get him on Ft rats? Should I try live young rats (if I can find them)? FT mice? Get him feeding really well on live mice for a couple of months and then try? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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Read up online on the hairdryer trick / method .. here's a quick guide ...



Make sure it's evening as they're nocturnal , mine prefer low light / dim light and all five now only strike from within their hides .
Heat well with hairdryer then offer with tongs - dangle in front of the hide entrance - offer IMMEDIATELY whilst still warm - they cool down substantially each second. If there is the slightest interest shown , reheat and offer instantly- repeat as many times as it takes .




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I'd say it depends on your priorities.. is feeding rat more important to you than mice? Or is frozen thawed more important? Some of that will depend if you have live rats or frozen mice available.

You probably won't have good luck switching both at the same time. My banana was eating live and occasional frozen mice at his breeder, so I got lucky and he took frozen mice for me 1st try. But I kept with mice until he was big enough for the frozen rat pups to avoid the fattier baby rats. I don't think it is considered to be a big deal to feed those though.

If you really need your baby on rats sooner, then definitely move to live ones first while your snake is small enough for the less risky ones before switching to frozen. How easy that transition is depends a lot on the individual.

My adult BP had been eating live his whole life at a breeder, so once he ended his fast and was eating his live rats vigorously, I skipped a week of live and offered only frozen. He wound up eating the 2nd offering, so 2 weeks missed meals, but I had planned to do 4 weeks of frozen, then 1 or 2 live if those 4 got refused. As an adult, he had the body mass to tolerate any weight loss from that method though. Not a good idea for a baby.

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My most successful method has been to skip a couple of feedings if the animal is at a safe body weight. Put a frozen rat and a frozen mouse in a bag together and thaw. The first week feed the rat flavored mouse. Second week do it again and feed the mouse flavored rat. 90% of the time the animal will be on ft rats by the third week. Prey temperature must be right.

You definitely need to follow most the advice already given. Wait a extra week or two, make sure you scent it (either as described or with used mouse litter). And definitely get the hairdryer out. Your headed in the right direction if that’s your objective. Lol, good luck.