I have tried everything

I just cant get my female bp to eat frozen rats, I have taken everyones suggestions but no luck. I have even tried skiping a week. My question is should I just offer only ft and if she doesnt take it just skip until she does. I hate her not eating but I have a freezer full of dead rats and only one snake who will eat them not to mention it cost 8 dollars for a live one vs $ 0.99 for a dead one.

Anymore advise?

Is she at a good weight? You can certainly try skipping a couple weeks and waiting her out, did you try feeding a small live one followed by f/t?

She is 600g, 8 months old. I have not tried the live with the dead chaser I think I will try that next but would that get her eating ft?

Holding out on them is sometimes the only way to go. Give her a couple of live meals to get some protein in her, then buckle down and just don't buy any more live! With adults, I am willing to hold out on them, offering only f/t, for up to four months. She'll get hungry and take it eventually. The problem with feeding her live while she refuses f/t is that she gets fed whether or not she takes the f/t. Making f/t the ONLY option is often times the only way to convert from live to f/t.

That was what I had to do with my biggest problem feeder. It took nearly a year to get him to finally switch after trying all kinds of different methods. But making him go a few weeks or even a month without, along with figuring out that he apparently likes his rats thawed directly in hot water rather than keeping them dry, finally got him switched and eating on a regular schedule.
As long as they are currently healthy there is no harm in making them go without for a month even if they are being stubborn. They do it in the wild all the time.

She's a really good weight. Offer one week, late at night and leave it in all night. If she doesn't take it, wait a week. Repeat repeat repeat. She can easily go 3-4 weeks without eating. I personally wouldn't push it past a month because she eats live just fine.

Holy cow your rats are expensive!!!

my stubborn male went 2 months refusing frozen. showed every sign of wanting to eat but would not take a dead rat. i tried every size and tactic but i gave up and gave him a live rat and it took him 2 seconds to take it. im stuck with feeding live to him and i have the same cost problem you do.

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Originally Posted by ed4281

She is 600g, 8 months old. I have not tried the live with the dead chaser I think I will try that next but would that get her eating ft?

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What do you mean by dead chaser? Do you mean putting a dead rat in its mouth as it eats the (formerly) live rat?

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Originally Posted by reno-cg

What do you mean by dead chaser? Do you mean putting a dead rat in its mouth as it eats the (formerly) live rat?

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Hello,

I think whats ment is to offer a dead one, after the living one is all eaten up. After eating it, the snake maybe won't make a difference.

Just wondering, will every ball python EVENTUALLY switch over to f/t or will they literally starve themselves? I ask because my lesser has gone about a month without a meal. She was fed live the majority of her life. Thanks

I think it depends on the snake. My male albino is such a pain. He likes live. I did have him eating f/t there for a bit - but he suddenly stopped. I have tried EVERYTHING to get him to switch! Even using live mice to scent the f/t ones... I got to the point where he would eat f/t, but only if he was in a certain hide :confused: AND I would have to wiggle the mouse to simulate a fight once he grabbed it. If he was in the other hide, he would grab the mouse and constrict, but not eat.

However, he stopped eating at the end of January. I finally broke down and fed him live mice earlier this month, which he ate instantly. I would like 5 months and he would definitely eat a f/t - but he never did. :(

Make sure it's warm enough. I was having the same problem, and it turned out the rat just wasn't warm enough.

Truthfully if the snake is healthy enough to begin with it is extremely doubtful that it would purposely starve itself to death while still being offered f/t if they are prepared right. They do eventually give in, but most people seem to make the same mistake I did when my problem feeder was young and refused to switch for me and start giving them live just because you're afraid they're starving. Trust me, if they get hungry enough, and aren't sick, they will eat.
My boy went off feed a month before he started breeding my female, and stayed off feed for 6 whole months during breeding and after the fact with absolutely no ill effects. Once he was ready he started eating again no problem. People really do have a hard time believing how hardy these snakes can be when in good health.
Just don't give in and keep going back to live, every single time you do that you just make it that much harder to convince them to go with f/t. I delayed my boys switch by a year by giving in to him the first few months because I kept being afraid after 3-4 weeks of not eating that he was going to starve and die. I just ended up doing more harm than good with that mind set. If I would have just stuck with it and kept offering him f/t like I finally started doing after 3 months of struggling from the very beginning, then it wouldn't have taken nearly as long and wouldn't have been so difficult to get him on f/t and a regular schedule.

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Originally Posted by Aleria

Truthfully if the snake is healthy enough to begin with it is extremely doubtful that it would purposely starve itself to death while still being offered f/t if they are prepared right. They do eventually give in, but most people seem to make the same mistake I did when my problem feeder was young and refused to switch for me and start giving them live just because you're afraid they're starving. Trust me, if they get hungry enough, and aren't sick, they will eat.
My boy went off feed a month before he started breeding my female, and stayed off feed for 6 whole months during breeding and after the fact with absolutely no ill effects. Once he was ready he started eating again no problem. People really do have a hard time believing how hardy these snakes can be when in good health.
Just don't give in and keep going back to live, every single time you do that you just make it that much harder to convince them to go with f/t. I delayed my boys switch by a year by giving in to him the first few months because I kept being afraid after 3-4 weeks of not eating that he was going to starve and die. I just ended up doing more harm than good with that mind set. If I would have just stuck with it and kept offering him f/t like I finally started doing after 3 months of struggling from the very beginning, then it wouldn't have taken nearly as long and wouldn't have been so difficult to get him on f/t and a regular schedule.

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Exactly.

Thanks Aleria, very useful info!

I bought 3 BP's from a breeder a little over 2 weeks ago and all were live feeders. I bought them on a Saturday and feeding day in my house is Tuesday (coincidentally, Tues is feeding day for the previous owner too). Even though they had only been with me for 3 days, I offered them a F/T small rat. First, I tried my 900g female and bam, she took the rat and ate no problem. Next was the 1700 gram female and she was interested but did not take it. Then my 700g male bumble bee. He could care less about the rat. I fed again a week later and my same female that ate before ate again within seconds, my 1700g female was worked up but didn't take, and the bee was interested but didn't take. This Tuesday will be attempt #3 but I am determined to go at least a month. I can see the two that have not eaten are more active at night. Also, the previous owner feeds his males every two weeks so my male may take a little bit longer to convert. I may eventually try a wet rat too, but for now, I am keeping my rats dry, defrosting in hot water, and blow drying before doing the Zombie Dance.

Well my new lesser female hasn't eaten in a month now because I am trying to get her on f/t. I haven't tried the blow dryer yet but that will have to wait until next weekend or so, as I just offered tonight and she refused.. She is sooo nice looking too. Why are all the pretty ones so stubborn? Oh well, she will eat it eventually. In the mean time I just feed what she doesn't eat to my female spider. She'll eat anything, anywhere, anytime. You gotta love those spiders!

It was the blow dryer for mine he was a baby that had never been fed and he would not eat for me but the first time I used the blow dryer he took it almost right away ! It scared the crap out of me I was not expecting him to eat and he grabbed it and I jumped out of my skin !! :O
I am a firm beliver in it . He has now had 2 feedings with out it ( I was out of town and did not have the dryer ) he had no problem .

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Originally Posted by ed4281

She is 600g, 8 months old. I have not tried the live with the dead chaser I think I will try that next but would that get her eating ft?

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Mine miraculously went from 600g to 1000g just eating a weanling every 1-3 months for about a year.

Wait a second.... 6x40 = 240... yup, she's probably mostly made of water....

At this point I'm too stubborn to even bother trying to go out and get her lives, either she will pick up f/t eating regularly, or she'll keep doing this, either way I just throw the extra weanlings to my pastel, who eats like a champ.

giving her time to get hungry will most likely help the most. you can also try waiting a few weeks and offering her a freshly killed rat. kind of in between live and F/T. once she take that it's a waiting game again but hopefully not as long until she takes the F/T. good luck don

Hold out on her. I have a couple who I know take ft and they fast yearly for 6 months but have recently started eating again with a vengeance.

They can last a LONG time without losing much body weight/tone at all. Longest i've had is 10 months.

I only feed ft so it's that or nothing. :rofl:

Skipping a week is hardly trying everything.