Tips for picky eating Retic

I have a White Albino Retic who is just a few months old and the ONLY thing I can get her to eat is live chickens\quail. They are large meals for her, but she insists. I was told she was eating live hoppers when I bought her but she refuses any live or frozen mice\rats. Does anyone have any tips to switch her over? For now I am continuing on the live chickens.... until the local feed store realizes i'm feeding them to my snake and stops selling them to me LOL. I am downloading Tapatalk, will try to edit in pictures.

Could not edit, so here.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...89915ccdc7.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f76da78466.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2a987e6bf4.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...15889418f1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cb6e0f3aea.jpg

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Could try rubbing a chicken on a live mouse or rat.

If she will only eat live chicks then feed her live chicks for a while. I wouldn't worry about them being oversized as they're not all that dense a feeder; their bones are pretty light. They do leave a big lump but it goes down quickly; baby retics have a high metabolism. If you're worried about overfeeding you can put her on a 7-10 day schedule.

Once she's at the point where a chick is a small meal for her, you can try "chaining" a warmed f/t rat pinky or fuzzy behind it so she learns to associate rats with food. Eventually she will start taking f/t rats without needing a chick as an appetizer.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

If she will only eat live chicks then feed her live chicks for a while. I wouldn't worry about them being oversized as they're not all that dense a feeder; their bones are pretty light. They do leave a big lump but it goes down quickly; baby retics have a high metabolism. If you're worried about overfeeding you can put her on a 7-10 day schedule.

Once she's at the point where a chick is a small meal for her, you can try "chaining" a warmed f/t rat pinky or fuzzy behind it so she learns to associate rats with food. Eventually she will start taking f/t rats without needing a chick as an appetizer.

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I'm not worried about overfeeding her, there is just a limited amount of live chicks near me. And they want $6 a damn chick

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Have you tried to waiting a couple of week then offering a live rat pup?

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Originally Posted by Jnksnakes

I'm not worried about overfeeding her, there is just a limited amount of live chicks near me. And they want $6 a damn chick

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Look around for a local farmer that raises chickens. Some will sell for $1 each.

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Originally Posted by Skyrivers

Have you tried to waiting a couple of week then offering a live rat pup?

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Yes. I breed my own rats and also buy frozen so I always wait and offer her frozen rat, then live rat, then the chick. She won't take frozen chicks or quail either

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Originally Posted by Skyrivers

Look around for a local farmer that raises chickens. Some will sell for $1 each.

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None nearby. Closest I can get quail for is 45 min one way at $2 a quail

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Originally Posted by Jnksnakes

None nearby. Closest I can get quail for is 45 min one way at $2 a quail

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I wouldn't mind buying 10-20 quail and just keeping them fed, but it's illegal to have farm animals where I live.

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