Question on mice eating females

I was just wondering if anyone else has a mice eating female that you have converted into rat eating female. I currently have a 2 year old female that prefers mice over rats. She hasn't eaten in a week so today I tried feeding her a small rat but she didn't take it. What else can in try to get her to eat rats. Thanks

I always put a mouse in the same bag as the rat to scent it, thaw them out together. I recently just converted my mouser to rats, thank god! It's worked like a charm for me, thawing them out together makes the scent much stronger...

When I really want to push a point like that (you WILL eat f/t, you WILL eat rats), it usually involves some sneaky stuff like that? But mostly it involves out-waiting the snake. Basically, I wait until July or August, when they're really, really hungry, and then I simply won't feed them if they won't eat rats. (You WILL eat rats, because there are no mice in the house. No rat = no meal.)

This is hard with females, because I desperately want them to eat and gain weight before October. And sometimes going through this means they won't be ready to breed in the autumn if we go through the hassle of switching to rats, when they would have been borderline if I left them on a mouse diet.

... so now I have a 1300 gram het lavender female who finally eats f/t and gave me 5 good eggs. But she gives even live rats the evil eye and won't bite.

I have a dinker that will only eat live mice:mad:
She has to be left alone and in the dark:mad::mad:
She will only eat two a week:mad::mad::rage::rage::rage::mad::mad:

It is kind of crazy because she is just over 700g and will not look at any size rat. I even put a hopper rat in with my mice overnight and it didnt work:rolleyes:
I have only gotten one rat in her and it was when I caught her in the final swallow of a mouse, I had a pre-killed hopper and stuck his nose in her mouth while she was open. I was worried she would gurge it but she didnt. She did smarten up and will freeze if there is any movent around her tub:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I have a two year old female Mojave that eats live mice. She has taken live small rats a few times. But will usually skip the next week then. She will take a mouse sometimes two a week. Maybe I should find some mutant giant mice?

When I put the rat in she looked like she was going to strike right at it. She got closer to it and finally backed away from it. Thought I was going to have a successful rat feed but I guess not. She about 875 grams on empty. You guys think I can stick to huge mice if she takes them everytime I offer.

Gee, I hope this won't be the issue with my female. However, she's a hatchling. Whether she will be when I find rats IDK.
I can't find any live rats of the right size around here, so she's eating mice. Right now she's already eating small adult mice. Need some rats! Can't find them.

Anyway, I hope she'll eat rats for you. :3
GL!

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Originally Posted by LGray23

I always put a mouse in the same bag as the rat to scent it, thaw them out together. I recently just converted my mouser to rats, thank god! It's worked like a charm for me, thawing them out together makes the scent much stronger...

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This worked for my male, only thing I do different is to wash the rat first to try remove as much rat smell as possibly before senting.

My female is extremely picky, and will only take mice. While she is young I plan on feeding her what she will take and later once her growth slows down I'll try again to get her on rats again.

I have a couple of mouse eaters. Yes, they are a PITA. However, after several long and difficult struggles, I let them eat what they want as long as they eat.

To my advantage, my mousers will happily eat 4 or 5 mice if I let them. Yes it's a nuisance, but for me as long as they are eating regularly that's what matters.

I have a real grab bag of spoiled brats right now, most eat rats, although over half of my rat eaters only eat smaller than ideal rats. A few are dedicated mousers. One only eats gerbils, two only eat hamsters. It is a little easier for me since I breed most of my own food, but then again juggling that many different feeders is a job in itself.:juggle:

Maybe someday I'll out my foot down and stop being such a pushover for my snakes. :sigh2: But for now they just walk all over me, or should I say slither. :P

Gale

i actually have two that jsut started switching the last two feeds.. they check it out for a while first then decide its ok.. sometimes it takes putting it in there a couple times but at least they are taking it... i just feel lucky to have to switch in a month haha. good luck everybody

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Originally Posted by loonunit

When I really want to push a point like that (you WILL eat f/t, you WILL eat rats), it usually involves some sneaky stuff like that? But mostly it involves out-waiting the snake. Basically, I wait until July or August, when they're really, really hungry, and then I simply won't feed them if they won't eat rats. (You WILL eat rats, because there are no mice in the house. No rat = no meal.)

This is hard with females, because I desperately want them to eat and gain weight before October. And sometimes going through this means they won't be ready to breed in the autumn if we go through the hassle of switching to rats, when they would have been borderline if I left them on a mouse diet.

... so now I have a 1300 gram het lavender female who finally eats f/t and gave me 5 good eggs. But she gives even live rats the evil eye and won't bite.

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Yup. I refuse to feed mice to ANY of our balls unless it means life or death. If I have a REAL problem feeder I use the good ole ASF trick. Better than a mouse, but not quite as good as a nice fat rat. I've got one female that had always been a rat eater that up and decided one day she doesn't want them anymore. After letting her get good and hungry I offered her an asf scented rat. Nope, still stubborn. I finally gave in and offered her an actual asf. She has been slamming them like crazy! Now that she is eating like a champ again, next comes the task of switching her back to rats, which hopefully isn't going to mean lots of scenting and waiting.

So as long as your ball is a healthy and has good weight on them, a little waiting isn't going to hurt them. Just be patient and you'll prevail. :gj:

I have a RTB neonate who likes mice. Noooooo ma'am! We're nipping this in the butt right now! I got her to take a rat last week by rubbing a mouse on it. Hopefully she'll decide next week that she likes rats. *sigh*

Wow didn't realize so many people had mice eating females. Maybe I'll just wait till she is really hungry and try again. She's hasn't eaten in a week so I'll try again in a couple days.

I had a confirmed mouser that I converted by a combination of two things. I got some dirty mouse bedding and I put a handful of it in the front of her enclosure. I waited until she came out of her hide, actively tongue flicking and looking for a mouse, then I dropped in a live white rat and she hit it immediately.

She got wise to that, so then, because she was in good body condition, I employed "tough love". I offered a rat once a week. If she refused, I didn't break down and give her mice. Eventually, she was hungry enough to eat rats and she took them from then on.

The "tough love" approach should only be done with an animal with good weight. If you get concerned about loss of weight, go back to mice, then try again later.

She's at a good weight so I'm probably gonna try that. If she don't wanna eat a rat then she ain't eating haha. See how long she can last without losing a drastic amount of weight

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I had a confirmed mouser that I converted by a combination of two things. I got some dirty mouse bedding and I put a handful of it in the front of her enclosure. I waited until she came out of her hide, actively tongue flicking and looking for a mouse, then I dropped in a live white rat and she hit it immediately.

She got wise to that, so then, because she was in good body condition, I employed "tough love". I offered a rat once a week. If she refused, I didn't break down and give her mice. Eventually, she was hungry enough to eat rats and she took them from then on.

The "tough love" approach should only be done with an animal with good weight. If you get concerned about loss of weight, go back to mice, then try again later.

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Yeah, we've gotten Lois-the-mouser to eat one live rat that way, but she wised up, too. "Tough love" is basically the only way I've ever converted anybody to anything.

Oh, and I did take the "wishy-washy" tough love approach with Lois' boyfriend: I offered him one teensy tiny live hopper every other week for several months, but showed him big fat f/t rats and mice every week. Basically, I was saying: I'll give you enough live mice to stay alive, buddy, but that's it. You can be hungry all the time... or you can eat these nice, fat f/t jumbos.

On the bright side: "tough love" usually saves you $20-30 in mice while they're not eating what you're offering. :P

I've been able to convert most all the females to rats via tough love. Fatten them up on as many mice as they will eat, then don't offer anything but rats until they eat! Washing and using mouse scented bedding helps!

Tough love is the key especially with older animals with some weight to them.

If she does not eat a rat do not offer anything until she does, it can take several months and you might need to give in at some point to try again later.

I have a female that finally switch for me after 4 years of on and off attempt to switch her.

Best time to switch for a female is after she lay eggs if you do intend on breeding her.