mice to rats...

hi, is it possible to convert a 1200g ball to rats from mice? i have one that really doesn't want to accept rats, any advise? thanks in advance

Take a mouse and rub it all over a proper size rat then feed it to the snake. That puts the mouse scent on the rat so it thinks it is eating a mouse. then on the next feeding just feed the rat. Some times this works and sometimes it doesn't. best of luck though

Or just put the rat in a container of soiled mouse bedding for a couple hours and then attempt to feed it to the snake. That has worked well for me.

Tough love. Just stop offering mice. A snake that size can go quite a while without a meal.

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Originally Posted by wendhend

Or just put the rat in a container of soiled mouse bedding for a couple hours and then attempt to feed it to the snake. That has worked well for me.

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exactly what i've done, and worked in the first attemp.

You want to do like others have said in there posting.
The method is called scenting.

I have an albino that is a mouse destroyer and it gets expensive considering her size and how many big mice it takes to feed her in the aspect that one medium rat can equal 7-8 mice in equal weight depending on your feeder supply of course...

What I do is save all the nasty mouse bedding in a five gallon bucket. I then drop the rats that I feed her in there a day ahead of time with scratch feed and the next night I have rats that smell like mice and she eats every time. Has never failed for me. Hope this helps you out.

J

Have you tried offering this girl mice? None of mine have an issue switching between rats and mice. But like others have said, scent the rat if she won't take it.

thanks a lot guys :) i'll try that:)

I was just speaking with a big breeder at a show recently on this topic. She suggested that one of the most important things one can do is heat up the prey item to very very high temperatures. Obviously if you are offering live, then this does not matter......
Best of luck. I'll be trying to switch some time very soon myself.

hi mr.s, im feeding live, my bp is not interested in rat(dead or alive), but will eat a mice, im trying to convert her to rats because of her size, she can easily eat 5 mice every meal.

I have the same problem. I just picked up a 1006g normal female that was just fed mice. I offered her a 56g rat and she just smelled it and left it alone. So I will be trying the scenting trick, just have to get some used bedding.

You might also want to start out with smaller rats that are just a little bit bigger than adult mice, or the snake may be intimidated by the large size. If your snake doesn't take the scented rat the first time, you might also try offering a mouse first and then the small scented rat right after that, while it is still in feeding mode. I have had that trick work going mouse to small rat, as well as live mouse to frozen / thawed mouse.... by slipping them the desired different prey while they are still in that feeding mode after having eaten their usual prey. Good luck!

Hi everyone, I am new here so if this isn't the place to ask this, forgive me!

Why is it better for bp's to eat rats as opposed to mice? Is it just because it's a bigger prey item? My bp was adopted from a rescue group who've been very knowledgable and helpful and they said they never fed rats, only mice. My female is about a year and half old and she takes 2 large adult mice every 7-10 days. She appears to be in perfect health, so I am assuming this is ok?

She does get ravenous for her next meal though so that's why I'm wondering if she should eat something larger or if I should just feed her a little more frequently. I am leaning toward offering her meals every 5-7 days instead of giving her larger prey as I think smaller more frequent meals might be better for her digestion. What do you think?

Thanks so much for your advice! :)

2 large mice is only about 60, maybe 70g of food. For full grown ball pythons, they should be eating a small rat weekly which is around 100g.

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

Hi everyone, I am new here so if this isn't the place to ask this, forgive me!

Why is it better for bp's to eat rats as opposed to mice? Is it just because it's a bigger prey item? My bp was adopted from a rescue group who've been very knowledgable and helpful and they said they never fed rats, only mice. My female is about a year and half old and she takes 2 large adult mice every 7-10 days. She appears to be in perfect health, so I am assuming this is ok?

She does get ravenous for her next meal though so that's why I'm wondering if she should eat something larger or if I should just feed her a little more frequently. I am leaning toward offering her meals every 5-7 days instead of giving her larger prey as I think smaller more frequent meals might be better for her digestion. What do you think?

Thanks so much for your advice! :)

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I prefer feeding one apropriate sized items rather than 2 small, there are several reasons price ( i get frozen rats @ about a buck apiece, all my mice are purchased @ local store and are over 2 bucks a piece) It takes less energy to eat one item as opposed to 2, and your bp will never get large enough to outgrow rats. Kinda like feeding my fat butt 2 happy meals instead of the double qurter pounder that I wanted anyway :D