Converting a BP to frozen

I caved and fed my BP live because he didn't eat the frozen I gave him. How should I convert him to eating frozen because I don't want to have to deal with live mice every week? BTW he is captive bred.

thaw it out. Soak it in water until its thawed out leaving it sit close to the snakes enclosure. Take a hair dryer and blow it on the head of the mouse for little and make sure its blowing at the enclosure.

This will sent a breeze of smelly dead mouse into the snakes enclosure. Then just dangle it by the tail with tongs and doing a little zombie dance and hope he takes

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Originally Posted by tyrone1988

I caved and fed my BP live because he didn't eat the frozen I gave him. How should I convert him to eating frozen because I don't want to have to deal with live mice every week? BTW he is captive bred.

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just know that you need to warm them up a bit both the snake and the mouse . the snake by precenting the room. and the mouse with a hairdryer. i know sounds funny but hair dryer works got this bit of info from kaorte.

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Originally Posted by exiled reptile

just know that you need to warm them up a bit both the snake and the mouse . the snake by precenting the room. and the mouse with a hairdryer. i know sounds funny but hair dryer works got this bit of info from kaorte.

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I need to get a hair drier for F/T purposes. But on a side note I can just imagine the look in the face of the cashier when I walk up to her register with a hair drier and my almost bold style hair cut lol... :rofl:

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Originally Posted by Danounet

I need to get a hair drier for F/T purposes. But on a side note I can just imagine the look in the face of the cashier when I walk up to her register with a hair drier and my almost bold style hair cut lol... :rofl:

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Then you tell her you keep snakes and need it to warm up mice. she will think your by far the weirdest guy shes ever seen :rofl:

:welcome:to BP.net...

I put my F/T's in ziploc bags. Then I place them in a pan of room temperature or lukewarm water for about 30 minutes. Then about every 15-20 minutes I will change out the water getting it hotter each time. After about an hour or so the rat will be thawed. Then I take the rat out of the bag, grab it by the scruff of the neck with the tongs and warm it up with a blow dryer and blow the smell at the enclosure for about 30-60 seconds. this will give the rat a definite heat signature for the snake to pick up on. Then I use the tongs to "walk" or jiggle the rat about 3-4 inches in front of the snake. If the snake is in its hide then I just walk it around about 3 inches in front of the hide. You don't want to shake it too much because if it appears too aggressive it might scare your snake. I keep the pan in the room near the enclosures with the top of the open bags sticking out from under the pan lid so the snakes can start smelling the prey thawing...

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Originally Posted by f4n70m

This will sent a breeze of smelly dead mouse into the snakes enclosure. Then just dangle it by the tail with tongs and doing a little zombie dance and hope he takes

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LOL! Never heard of dangling a dead rat/mouse referred to as "a little zombie dance"! I'll have to remember that one.

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Originally Posted by Danounet

I need to get a hair drier for F/T purposes. But on a side note I can just imagine the look in the face of the cashier when I walk up to her register with a hair drier and my almost bold style hair cut lol... :rofl:

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Dude I got one better than that. One of my snakes had mites the first day I brought it home. Uggghhh. I went to the drug store and bought Nix lice shampoo and a lice bedding spray. I couldn't find the stuff so I had to ask someone...how embarrassing. Then I proceeded to tell the guy "Oh its for my snake. He has mites and this stuff gets rid of them." I am not sure if the dude believed me but it was funny. Sorry had to share that..now back to the topic.


To the OP...the hair dryer works. I thaw my rats for a few hours, depending on the size, then apply the hair dryer for a few minutes. Stay closer to the head. You can heat the body, just not too much. From what I have heard, too much heat on the belly can cause it to explode when they squeeze and become a real mess.
Take the mouse (WITH TONGS) and move it all along the bottom of the tank or tub. The snake will see the movement and eventually go after it. The first time might take a little bit but after that they will get the idea. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by mrmertz

LOL! Never heard of dangling a dead rat/mouse referred to as "a little zombie dance"! I'll have to remember that one.

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YES that's it. The zombie dance. I have heard that a few times. haha!!

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Originally Posted by mrmertz

LOL! Never heard of dangling a dead rat/mouse referred to as "a little zombie dance"! I'll have to remember that one.

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Originally Posted by CeeJay

YES that's it. The zombie dance. I have heard that a few times. haha!!

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Yea i picked that terminology up from here :rolleyes:

DONT FEED LIVE, try your hardest to reframe from feeding live. I just saw the most graphic pictures of a ball python that was destroyed by a live mouse, yes a mouse. Little inocent mice can cause major injury to your snake if your not monitoring it. Those pictures totally changed the way i feel on feeding live. If you want to see the results
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...d.php?t=119328 Warning GRAPHIC...

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

:welcome:to BP.net...

I put my F/T's in ziploc bags. Then I place them in a pan of room temperature or lukewarm water for about 30 minutes. Then about every 15-20 minutes I will change out the water getting it hotter each time. After about an hour or so the rat will be thawed. Then I take the rat out of the bag, grab it by the scruff of the neck with the tongs and warm it up with a blow dryer and blow the smell at the enclosure for about 30-60 seconds. this will give the rat a definite heat signature for the snake to pick up on. Then I use the tongs to "walk" or jiggle the rat about 3-4 inches in front of the snake. If the snake is in its hide then I just walk it around about 3 inches in front of the hide. You don't want to shake it too much because if it appears too aggressive it might scare your snake. I keep the pan in the room near the enclosures with the top of the open bags sticking out from under the pan lid so the snakes can start smelling the prey thawing...

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Ok I never thought of thawing the rats in the snakes room, thats an awesome idea.

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Originally Posted by Paysons Bps

DONT FEED LIVE, try your hardest to reframe from feeding live. I just saw the most graphic pictures of a ball python that was destroyed by a live mouse, yes a mouse. Little inocent mice can cause major injury to your snake if your not monitoring it. Those pictures totally changed the way i feel on feeding live. If you want to see the results
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...d.php?t=119328 Warning GRAPHIC...

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I feel there is nothing wrong with feeding live. Unless ur a complete moron who has no brain and is a waste of breath and should not have a snake. Which is why things like that happen.

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Originally Posted by Paysons Bps

DONT FEED LIVE, try your hardest to reframe from feeding live. I just saw the most graphic pictures of a ball python that was destroyed by a live mouse, yes a mouse. Little inocent mice can cause major injury to your snake if your not monitoring it. Those pictures totally changed the way i feel on feeding live. If you want to see the results
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...d.php?t=119328 Warning GRAPHIC...

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That is horrible. BUT it was due to NEGLECT by the owner. All live feeding should be monitored. The mouse or rat should never be left in there if the snake shows no interest. I feed one of my BPs live because she's stubborn. I use tongs and dangle the mouse. I don't let it run around.

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Originally Posted by Paysons Bps

DONT FEED LIVE, try your hardest to reframe from feeding live. I just saw the most graphic pictures of a ball python that was destroyed by a live mouse, yes a mouse. Little inocent mice can cause major injury to your snake if your not monitoring it. Those pictures totally changed the way i feel on feeding live. If you want to see the results
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...d.php?t=119328 Warning GRAPHIC...

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that is straight up owner neglect and ignorance. there is no problem with feeding live. the owner must have left that mouse in there for more then a day.your jumping the gun a little to say not to feed live because of something you saw.
i personally wouldnt leave any live mouse/rat in the enclosure for more then 45 minutes, but even then i do put a few pieces of lab block in there for the mouse or rat.


EDIT: to the OP if you want to switch to f/t and your snake is refusing for the first couple times, just try the tough love method. just keep offering until it takes it. because believe me they will eventually take it.

The hair dryer thing may not be necessary. If you change out the water in the tub/bowl you use to thaw to hot water and feed right away the rats should be warm enough for the snake to lock on to. If you have a laser thermometer then the thawed rats should be at 85-90 degrees, about what a live rat's outside temps read. Just don't want to make things seem more complicated than they are.

One way to help convert to f/t, I've found, is feed a SMALL live pray item and usually the snake is still hungry, then offer a f/t right after they swallow the live pray. They get used to the scent/feel that way and after a few times taking live first then f/t, offer the f/t pray first. I've gotten snakes converted many times. This also works to get them on to different pray types. Such as trying to get them off mice and onto rats.