what's your trick to switch from live to F/T ?

I've been trying to get my BP's to eat F/T but they just don't want to switch.

eating live is not a problem , I usually give in and toss in a live one if they don't eat. I'll feed the f/t to my boa if my bp's don't take it.

I've read about other people pre-scenting the room or feeding a smaller prey item to get them into a feeding mode. The guy at the reptile store I got my first one from said to just starve 'em for a month.

so, what's your method that's never failed you?

cut the F/T back of its head open with an exacto.....works every time...kinda gross tho. I would try that and maybe dangle it and give it a wiggle so it looks alive....make sure the F/T is warm to the touch....I do this buy running it under hot water in a ziplock baggie...its worked for all 3 of my snakes who were tricky eaters

I prescent their individual tubs about an hour before feeding time, it's REALLY worked around here. We get stinky rat/mouse bedding (depending on the snake's preference) and put it in a small plastic container and poke holes through the lids, then leave them on the hot spot. TOTALLY has worked wonders for some of our pickiest eaters! We only have two that still refuse f/t, and are on live.

I converted them all by accident. MY live feeders all took F/T one day. I think it ws because i changed my heating method from water to a heat pad. I just stick them things on in their bags on top of a human heating pad and set it to 1 or 2 and let them thaw out for a couple hours, and then feed them off when theyre nice and warm to the touch. They dont cool down as fast as the water thawed ones do in my experience, and it helps if you have to dance them any longer than usual.

all of mine have just grabbed them when offered. try to keep you self hidden when offering it. you are a huge heat signal when around the snake. i heat the rodent as hot as i can get it without bursting it dry it off, and then crack the tub open slightly then stick the rodent in and bounce it around like its alive and they have hit it every time. after the first couple of times like this, they take it no matter what.

good luck

Pre scent for half hr. Feed at night in the enclosure. Darken the room and i actually put a black foam board in front so all sides are dark. You basically want it to be dark and stress free. I have one that once you even bump the enclosure all bets are off and you have to wait an hr or so.

You might not be able to make the switch at all and some will just remain on live. But you can keep trying.

Umm, reading the animal, most importantly--

I have a really tricky girl and I don't notice a difference when I pre-scent for her (sometimes the opposite--she gets confused or something and hides) so I stopped, but prescenting usually brings out my boy who'll come up to the side of the tub to look at me and snatch it up as fast as I can get it near him.

Braining, heating it up to a higher temperature, doing it at night, making sure to keep myself hidden, waiting until they're active. But braining (yuckyuckyuckyuck) is only if she won't take the f/t with just heating.

Feed a smaller then average live rodent along with a second dead one. Often when they're done eating the live one, they're still in feeding mode and will find the dead one. It's a good training tool to make them realize that dead animals can be food too.

This may sound odd.

After I have thawed my rodents completely I warm them with a hair dryer. (Picked a small one up at a garage sale) cause the wife would shoot me if I used her good one.

I do this near the cage. I have found the best striking response was when the mouse/rats body temp was near 85 degrees checking with my Temp gun.
Lower then 82 degrees and the ball python seemed to miss on strikes and not be as interested. Hotter then 89 degrees and would not strike until it cooled down.

I just checked the temp of my live pet rats and there external body temp is 85 degrees on the head and 84-87 on rest of body.

If it's females, wait until right after they lay a clutch of eggs--they'll take almost anything. ;)

I learned this from VPI and I got three stubborn females to switch to f/t...all on the same day! I call it "peek a boo". Warm the rat up really well. Then grasp it behind the head with forceps and put it behind the water bowl or hide if you have one. Have it "peek" out and as soon as the snake tongue flicks, have it go back behind it's hiding place. Do this several times as the snake builds more interest. When the snake appears to be in full feed mode, have the rat "hop" over in front of the snake. This has worked wonders and after a while, I didn't need to do it anymore.

Another trick I have with a snake that really is more of a mouse feeder is I take a live mouse in one hand dangled by the tail with a f/t rat on forceps in the other hand. I let the snake see the mouse but keep just outside of strike range. Once she is really interested, I let the mouse crawl all over the rat to scent it and then put the rat in front of her. This is absolutely the only way I can get her to take a f/t rat so whatever works.

All those seem so complicated. I just thawed like I normally do, making sure to pre-scent the room, but instead of heating the now thawed animal, I heat it up with a blowdryer.. I guess it seems more natural then a wet luke-warm prey item. Worked for 4 snakes who weren't eatting. Got all 4 swtiched on the same day.

I feed live. I just find it easier to have my own 9 breeding colonies of ASFs and supplement it with buying live rats and asf locally (I have two great asf/mouse/rat breeders close to me). I just find it so much easier to just grab a rat or asf out of the tub, toss it in and be done with it. And if they don't take it I just put it back in the tub. Don't have to worry about thawing and refreezing multiple times. And I just find thawing such a tedious task, with just 27 snakes. I could never do it with a larger collection.

Patience it may take a few times.;) and then a few more.

I use 3 steps--I offer prekilled on tongs first. After they've gotten used to this, I offer FT scented with soiled bedding on tongs. Most of the time, they take this on the first try. 90% of the time, the next feeding they will take unscented FT, but if they don't, I offer it up scented again--repeat until you get the result you want.

I have one holdout who gets excited when I introduce the FT on tongs, then gives it one tongue-flick, and I swear she gives me the dirtiest look, and turns around and goes to the back of the bin. lol

mine is a bit different too... i have some now that will take anything. at first i do the live when raising my babbies, then to switch them over i dont go directly to frozen, but i pre kill them and offer right away. next feeding i pre kill some rats but let them sit for about 10 minutes or so so they cool off for a bit. then i do this a few more feedings and the very last i offer frozen thawed. sometimes i also will thaw a frozen and thaw feed the live feeder first, and if that snake dont take it off the bat i feed it to the ones i know will take frozen. just keep trying

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucas339

all of mine have just grabbed them when offered. try to keep you self hidden when offering it. you are a huge heat signal when around the snake. i heat the rodent as hot as i can get it without bursting it dry it off, and then crack the tub open slightly then stick the rodent in and bounce it around like its alive and they have hit it every time. after the first couple of times like this, they take it no matter what.

good luck

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I do all this and still have one that if already in feeding mode will strike and grab but quickly "spit" it out once she realizes it's not alive. It's crazy how they can just tell

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Drewhop

This may sound odd.

After I have thawed my rodents completely I warm them with a hair dryer. (Picked a small one up at a garage sale) cause the wife would shoot me if I used her good one.

I do this near the cage. I have found the best striking response was when the mouse/rats body temp was near 85 degrees checking with my Temp gun.
Lower then 82 degrees and the ball python seemed to miss on strikes and not be as interested. Hotter then 89 degrees and would not strike until it cooled down.

I just checked the temp of my live pet rats and there external body temp is 85 degrees on the head and 84-87 on rest of body.

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Wow, that's pretty interesting. Might have to try that this week.

I have a ball that has never eaten frozen for me. He comes out interested, checks it out for awhile, and then when he realizes it's dead he goes back into his hide for the rest of the night. I think maybe it's because the mouse is cooling down while I am doing this (he is normally slow to strike, even with live mice).