Why feed live prey?

I'm just curious why some people feed their ball pythons live prey instead of pre killed.

If given my druthers, I would not feed anybody live. However, I have one that we adopted as an older Bp, and he will have no part of anything with out a heart beat. F/t or p/k is much safer, and cheaper.

I have one that is refusing all types of pre killed. I have tried just about everything, so I basically have no other alternative except to try the live. I think some snakes are just more picky & won't eat pre killed.

I heard a good way to switch em over is to feed live a few times but still use tongs to hold the live and after a few feelings like that try per killed and than a few later f/t

Well, I don't feed F/T because we once had two snakes in at the vet with what we eventually found was internal gangrene because the rats weren't thawed properly.

I feed live and not pre killed because, well, I've never had a problem with it. While I'd have long stints of fasting when I fed pre killed, I found my snakes became more aggressive feeders and all around better eaters for live.

I've only had one rat show a tooth to my big gal, Sienna, and I reached in and snatched him up before the situation could progress. I got a good bite out of it, but that's the only issue I've ever had. It seems underwhelming in lieu of the benefits I've noted. (:

In a perfect world, all of my snakes would eat f/t.

However I am feeding two of my hatchlings live prey right now because that is all they will eat. They show absolutely no interest to f/t and trust me I have tried multiple times. They are still under 400 grams so once they put on some more weight, I might try to switch them over to f/t again.

Personally I dont have a problem with feeding live, however I would rather feed pre killed. The one and only reason I feed some of mine live is that they simply will not eat pre killed no matter how many times I have attempted the switch.

(In reference to the sick f/t fed snaked, they were not mine, mind you. I worked as a vet tech. So my grasp on the situation may not be 100% accurate)

I feed live because I've never had a refusal or problem with it. Plus its the most excitement the animal gets in its life...Didn't you see Jurassic Park? "It doesn't want to be fed...it wants to hunt"

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Originally Posted by AEnimaDrummer98

"It doesn't want to be fed...it wants to hunt"

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There's not much hunting to be done in a tank...captive snakes don't need the "thrill of the kill".

I feed live purely out of convenience. It's much quicker and efficient to feed 25-30 snakes live. I've had no issues with live feeding, and I give my snakes no longer than 5 minutes to eat...if they don't, they wait till next week. And no rats ever end up in the garbage should any snakes not eat.

Most of my snakes will eat f/t as well though. I breed my own feeders and any over-abundance goes in the freezer and fed off as needed.

RobNJ's reason is the same one that I have.

I feed live because it is convenient. I do not want to waste money by throwing out a thawed rat (or like... ten thawed rats, depending on how my snakes feel at the time). It also sounds like a lot of effort to thaw rats as currently my collection is just too big for it. With live, if someone doesn't feel like eating, I can put the prey item back in its cage and feed and water it until next week - no spoilage, no loss. My snakes are more enthusiastic about live, too.

I have actually experimented with my snakes to see if they would eat pre-killed. The aggressive snakes will happily take a freshly killed rat with no complaints and little wriggling. My shyer snakes want nothing to do with a pre killed prey item. However if I take the item out and give them a live prey item (minutes after!), they strike and constrict.

There are risks and benefits to both live feeding and frozen thawed. So to say feeding f/t is safer isn't exactly accurate...
As long as you're feeding responsibly, there shouldn't be a problem with either methods.

Personally, I feed live mostly out of convenience and the fact that my snakes don't like f/t. Some, but not all, will take p/k.
I'd rather just put rats in the tubs and check back a few minutes later. Although, all of my snakes usually grab their rats the moment I drop them in. I breed my own feeders as well.

A safe method to feed live is to feed small and more frequent rather than larger and less often.
Rat crawlers and small rats are harmless. It's the adults that are potentially dangerous.

Also, I have a male who is off feed. I offer him food every week, but he refuses. Can you imagine how many frozen rats that would go to waste?
I would never refreeze a rat more than once...


And my roommates would be scandalized to find frozen rats in the freezer...

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

There's not much hunting to be done in a tank...captive snakes don't need the "thrill of the kill".

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While they may not get the 'thrill of the kill', it's the one if not only activity they have in their lives. Think of it as enrichment? LOL

I have never heard of feeding a snake a TV Dinner (F/T) lol

I fostered a Retic and a Burm for months and months out of the year for 4 years (Owner Had Legal Issues :confused:)

After only feeding my Lesser once and seeing the work that had to go into it, Holding the F/T rat with the tongs and wiggling it.... I would be easier to toss a pup in there and let him at it.

My Normal on the other hand is a very good eater (So far) basically I lay it on the floor of the feeding tub and he knows what to do.

I always use water from my Kuereg to thaw, so it is Hot 192F after a few minutes there is no chance that the rat isn't thawed

I have four snakes. Two of the four will only eat live. I have tried p/k and f/t. They want nothing to do with it. I am however very lucky that the other two willingly accept f/t.

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Originally Posted by Ohlacey

Well, I don't feed F/T because we once had two snakes in at the vet with what we eventually found was internal gangrene because the rats weren't thawed properly.

I feed live and not pre killed because, well, I've never had a problem with it. While I'd have long stints of fasting when I fed pre killed, I found my snakes became more aggressive feeders and all around better eaters for live.

I've only had one rat show a tooth to my big gal, Sienna, and I reached in and snatched him up before the situation could progress. I got a good bite out of it, but that's the only issue I've ever had. It seems underwhelming in lieu of the benefits I've noted. (:

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How were you thawing out your rodents that did that?

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Originally Posted by Hermosa

I'm just curious why some people feed their ball pythons live prey instead of pre killed.

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Why not feed live prey?

Mostly live--for the convenience, and lack of waste. I also feed FT at times, though. I TRY to get all of my snakes to at least accept FT, even if they aren't fed that way most of the time.
I have some that simply aren't interested.

I also have one big adult female who refused anything that wasn't still breathing for FOUR years...and then started slamming FT like she'd never had an issue with it. Weird snakes. lol

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Originally Posted by Rob

How were you thawing out your rodents that did that?

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Originally Posted by Ohlacey

(In reference to the sick f/t fed snaked, they were not mine, mind you. I worked as a vet tech. So my grasp on the situation may not be 100% accurate)

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I believe the patient's owners said they thawed for two hours in a lukewarm tub, though. It was a few years back.

I have no qualms with feeding live, and would do so if I had a snake that would only eat that way.

Currently I only feed F/T because it works best for my very small collection. I never have to waste very many rats, if any, due to refusals.

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Originally Posted by ExotixTowing

I always use water from my Kuereg to thaw, so it is Hot 192F after a few minutes there is no chance that the rat isn't thawed

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I would stop doing that. That hot of water is probably cooking the rats. Warm tap water is much safer, just drain and refill the water a couple of times and itll thaw out fine.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

I would stop doing that. That hot of water is probably cooking the rats. Warm tap water is much safer, just drain and refill the water a couple of times and itll thaw out fine.

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Internal temps of the rats are never higher then 39f so I can't see it being cooked

How long to you thaw in cup of hot water ??

The water coming from my hotwater tank is 160 ish

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Originally Posted by ExotixTowing

Internal temps of the rats are never higher then 39f so I can't see it being cooked

How long to you thaw in cup of hot water ??

The water coming from my hotwater tank is 160 ish

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I use warm water. Maybe 100-110 degrees. I drain and refill probably 3 times. Once every half hour or so. Thaws them out safely.

192degrees would definetly begin to cook the rat. Thats only 20 degrees below boiling.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Why not feed live prey?

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in the almost 20 years i've been keeping reptiles i have seen my fair share of injurys resulting from bites. so i personaly choose to feed f/t or fresh killed. even when my collection was almost 300 animals it really didn't take much longer to feed f/t than it would have live. i keep hearing that people don't have any problems with feeding live but out of all the keepers i know that feed live i can't think of a single one that doesn't have at least one animal with a bite scar on it.

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Originally Posted by Ohlacey

Well, I don't feed F/T because we once had two snakes in at the vet with what we eventually found was internal gangrene because the rats weren't thawed properly.

I feed live and not pre killed because, well, I've never had a problem with it. While I'd have long stints of fasting when I fed pre killed, I found my snakes became more aggressive feeders and all around better eaters for live.

I've only had one rat show a tooth to my big gal, Sienna, and I reached in and snatched him up before the situation could progress. I got a good bite out of it, but that's the only issue I've ever had. It seems underwhelming in lieu of the benefits I've noted. (:

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The " rat wasnt thawed out enough so it caused an illness " isnt really a valid argument against feeding f/t. Thats like saying UTHs are bad because they can burn the snake. They CAN if not used properly.

It is up to the owner to make sure the f/t is thawed properly.

You cant say though that you can guarantee your snake wont get bitten. Even if you are careful, the snake can wrap at an angle where you might not be able to see the rats head. I know some people argue that you should only feed rat pups since they cant really bite but personally i dont see how that is a viable option for a 3000g

I'll answer this like I've answered before.

• F/T is only feasible in bulk. I don't have the space to store F/T in bulk.
• Thawing and warming is time consuming and has to be done just right.
• Refreezing and rethawing can be problematic.
• Most importantly, only one of my snakes will give the time of day to F/T.

Live just makes more sense for me in feasibility. The snakes readily eat them and when refused I can put them in a holding tank till next week.

If you feed appropriately sized prey and don't leave them alone for hours then there's no real risk to the snake. I give them 30 mins tops with me there then they get taken out.

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Originally Posted by Kyle7676

The " rat wasnt thawed out enough so it caused an illness " isnt really a valid argument against feeding f/t. Thats like saying UTHs are bad because they can burn the snake. They CAN if not used properly.

It is up to the owner to make sure the f/t is thawed properly.

You cant say though that you can guarantee your snake wont get bitten. Even if you are careful, the snake can wrap at an angle where you might not be able to see the rats head. I know some people argue that you should only feed rat pups since they cant really bite but personally i dont see how that is a viable option for a 3000g

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It most certainly is a valid argument. Its more like saying heat rocks are bad because they can burn your snake. The argument doesn't assert that every person feeding F/T is putting their snake in danger every feeding. Its saying that some people may have a problem at some point. By your logic you couldn't say risk of a bite is a valid argument. The point is that you could have this problem with feeding F/T at some point if you are not careful. Just like you could have your snake bitten at some point if you are not careful.

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Originally Posted by MasonC2K

there's no real risk to the snake.

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Live or f/t that's cool whatever works for you and your snakes. But there is ALWAYS a risk when feeding live. Every mouse or rat has a "punchers chance". One of my snakes right now will only eat live and I hate it cause I know all it takes is one good bite to the head and my animal is gone.

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Originally Posted by MasonC2K

• F/T is only feasible in bulk. I don't have the space to store F/T in bulk.

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As I've previously stated, I have no problem with feeding live to live eaters, but I have to disagree with your feasibility statement. I have a very small collection, and feeding F/T is actually more feasible than feeding live. I can store F/T in my freezer. I have no place and no desire to store live rats.

Only 3 of my snakes refuse anything without a heart beat, the rest all get f/t. I prefer f/t simply for convenience and safety. Some nights I wouldn't have time to sit and supervise live feedings for all my snakes. It's also very easy to just buy f/t in bulk and store them in my freezer. The three that eat live, I have to drive 20 minutes to the reptile shop once a week and get live rodents for them. I don't mind because as long as they are eating I'm happy. I can't do prekilled. I can't kill a rodent. I've tried talking myself into it on many occasions and I just can't. So, they get live. It's easier to supervise 3 live feedings instead of 16, so it's not a big deal.

I have a pet rat (two actually). One I bought as a pup, eyes closed and all, for my very first picky snake. I left the poor little critter in with her overnight, and in the morning when I went to check if she ate, the baby rat was huddled up in the corner of the hot spot. The reptile shop I got him from told me to put him in the freezer, alive, if she didn't eat him. I couldn't do it. I actually stopped my boyfriend from doing it for me, and I bottle fed him for about 3 weeks then weaned him. Now he's a fat and happy adult, sweet as can be. And, probably the reason why I have trouble prekilling and feeding live lol.

I must add that I don't like feeding live because in the only about 8 months I've needed to feed a live rodent to one or more snakes, I've had two get bit. Very minor, but it's still scary, especially when you can't see the rodents mouth. I'm treating a minor wound on my female albino even now from a recent bite, and I supervise from the time I place the mouse in the tub to when it's down the hatch.

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Originally Posted by Egapal

It most certainly is a valid argument. Its more like saying heat rocks are bad because they can burn your snake. The argument doesn't assert that every person feeding F/T is putting their snake in danger every feeding. Its saying that some people may have a problem at some point. By your logic you couldn't say risk of a bite is a valid argument. The point is that you could have this problem with feeding F/T at some point if you are not careful. Just like you could have your snake bitten at some point if you are not careful.

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Sorry but you are wrong on ever point you made.

First, heat rocks ARE bad for snakes because you cannot effectively control the temperature. You CAN control an UTH but if you dont, then your snake gets burned.

If you are careful, will your f/t always be thawed out ? Yes. Period. If it isnt thawed out then that is a matter of the owner being careless NOT because it is f/t. I honestly dont even see how you argued that in the first place but w/e.

Last point. You can have your snake bitten REGARDLESS of whether or not you are careful. If you are careful you will never feed a snake a frozen rat.

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Originally Posted by Kyle7676

If you are careful, will your f/t always be thawed out ? Yes. Period. If it isnt thawed out then that is a matter of the owner being careless NOT because it is f/t. I honestly dont even see how you argued that in the first place but w/e.

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I don't think you understand.
You're saying, if you're careful, the f/t will be safe.
But if you're careful with live, it can also be safe.

It is the owner's responsibility to feed the rats, so if a live rat bits, it is the owner's own carelessness as well and NOT because the rat is alive.

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Last point. You can have your snake bitten REGARDLESS of whether or not you are careful.

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WRONG!
If you feed live responsibly, your snake will NOT get bitten.
Feed smaller and more frequently than larger and less often.
There is no bite risk with a crawler or small rat. They're too young and helpless to bite. Like I mentioned in my previous post, it is the adults that are potentially dangerous. I would never feed a fully conscious adult to my snakes.


Like your UTH and thermostat example. Without the thermostat, there is a risk of burning your snake. With a thermostat, the risk is gone, or at least minimized. Same thing w/ feeding live. Feed smaller and more frequent and the risk is gone/minimized greatly.

If f/t works for you, that's great. But no need to say that it's risk free and that live feeding is always dangerous.


There are risks and benefits to feeding both live and f/t. To say feeding f/t is safer is inaccurate.
As long as you're feeding responsibly, there shouldn't be a problem with either methods.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

I don't think you understand.
You're saying, if you're careful, the f/t will be safe.
But if you're careful with live, it can also be safe.

It is the owner's responsibility to feed the rats, so if a live rat bits, it is the owner's own carelessness as well and NOT because the rat is alive.






WRONG!
If you feed live responsibly, your snake will NOT get bitten.
Feed smaller and more frequently than larger and less often.
There is no bite risk with a crawler or small rat. They're too young and helpless to bite. Like I mentioned in my previous post, it is the adults that are potentially dangerous. I would never feed a fully conscious adult to my snakes.


Like your UTH and thermostat example. Without the thermostat, there is a risk of burning your snake. With a thermostat, the risk is gone, or at least minimized. Same thing w/ feeding live. Feed smaller and more frequent and the risk is gone/minimized greatly.

If f/t works for you, that's great. But no need to say that it's risk free and that live feeding is always dangerous.


There are risks and benefits to feeding both live and f/t. To say feeding f/t is safer is inaccurate.
As long as you're feeding responsibly, there shouldn't be a problem with either methods.

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If you noticed, my first point I addressed the issue of feeding rat pups to snakes. You mean to tell me that you are ok with feeding a 3000g snake rat pups ? Really ?

I stand by what I have said. If the owner is careful, there is no risk from feding f/t. By all means, prove me wrong. Show me the risk of feeding f/t where the owner is responsible.

I also stand by my point, along with many others on here, that there IS a risk to feeding live. If you have more than a couple of large snakes, I honestly dont see feeding a full size BPs 30g rat pups working. Now of course if you are ONLY talking about small / med size snakes and only a couple then fine, I guess that could work in THAT situation.

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Originally Posted by Kyle7676

If you noticed, my first point I addressed the issue of feeding rat pups to snakes. You mean to tell me that you are ok with feeding a 3000g snake rat pups ? Really ?

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You can feed a 3000g snake small rats multiple times a week rather than one jumbo rat every 2 weeks.

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I stand by what I have said. If the owner is careful, there is no risk from feding f/t. By all means, prove me wrong. Show me the risk of feeding f/t where the owner is responsible.

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And I'll still respond with, if the owner feeds responsibly, there is no risk from feeding live. Most if not all of the times you hear about a rat bite or attack is due to feeding an adult rat and/or leaving the rat alone with the snake for an inappropriate amount of time. A rat left for a few hours or more is a hungry rat. The only other thing in the enclosure is the snake. So put two and two together and you get an injured or dead snake.

You can put an adult rat with rat pups without food and the adult will kill the babies to eat.

The point is, the owner has to be vigilant and responsible.

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I also stand by my point, along with many others on here, that there IS a risk to feeding live.

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Just like there is a risk to feeding f/t.......

Like I said previously, there are risks to both methods. There is no right or wrong.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

There is no bite risk with a crawler or small rat.

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I don't know what your definition of a small rat is, but my small rats can have a pretty painful bite.

I am very responsible with my live eaters, and like I said I've had two snakes get minor bites from mice. Not even rats! Mice.

My female albino ball has two nice mouse bites on her right now from a supervised live feeding. They are minor, but to say if your snake gets bites you aren't feeding responsibly is offensive. I sit there and watch, tongs in hand, from the time I put the MOUSE in to the time it's down the hatch, and I've still gotten bite wounds.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

You can feed a 3000g snake small rats multiple times a week rather than one jumbo rat every 2 weeks.

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Again, you are failing to address the whole issue. So you mean to tell me if you have 10+ adult size BPs, it is practical to feed them all several times weekly ? Really ?

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Originally Posted by satomi325

And I'll still respond with, if the owner feeds responsibly, there is no risk from feeding live. Most if not all of the times you hear about a rat bite or attack is due to feeding an adult rat and/or leaving the rat alone with the snake for an inappropriate amount of time. A rat left for a few hours or more is a hungry rat. The only other thing in the enclosure is the snake. So put two and two together and you get an injured or dead snake.

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I think so many people on here would disagree with ya there. There is a risk. Even with rat pups, they do have teeth. They can bite. Would they d damage like a large rat ? No, but they can still bite. Even if you stand over EVERY snake you own and vigilantly watch them, they can still wrap so you cant see the rats mouth. They can get bit this way.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

The point is, the owner has to be vigilant and responsible.

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Well I guess we can agree on something.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Just like there is a risk to feeding f/t.......

Like I said previously, there are risks to both methods. There is no right or wrong.

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LOL yet you still fail to provide an example of how f/t is risky when the owner is careful. There is no risk.

If a snake will only eat live, why not just flick it? It still will move around as if alive but is basically brain dead. Opinions??

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Originally Posted by Rob

If a snake will only eat live, why not just flick it? It still will move around as if alive but is basically brain dead. Opinions??

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Im not going to lie. When I first owned BPs, I had one snake get bitten while eating. She wrapped wrong and after she was done eating, I found the bite. After that I just smacked the rat against a metal frame I had and fed it that way.

Now I know people on here are going to argue that is so inhumane and horrible and there are ways you should do it. My response to that is this : If you cant smack a rat hard enough against a metal frame to kill it in one hit, obvious you shouldnt go that route. I never had a rat " linger " around in pain. I have seen many rats get bitten and squeezed for a very long time before they actually died. Personally, I dont see how feeding a live rat to a snake to be suffocated and then eaten is any worse than just a quick smack, even if it doesnt immediately kill the rat.

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

I don't know what your definition of a small rat is, but my small rats can have a pretty painful bite.

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Whatever is after the weaned stage under 100g.
I've never been bitten, so I wouldn't know. My rats live in my bedroom and I play with them often, so they're well socialized.

I'd also like to add to the live debate, socialized rats are less prone to bite than unsocialized ones. They tend to be less frightened when introduced to new situations (including being put into a snake enclosure). Frightened animals will attack and fight back...

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Originally Posted by LGray23

I am very responsible with my live eaters, and like I said I've had two snakes get minor bites from mice. Not even rats! Mice.

My female albino ball has two nice mouse bites on her right now from a supervised live feeding. They are minor, but to say if your snake gets bites you aren't feeding responsibly is offensive. I sit there and watch, tongs in hand, from the time I put the MOUSE in to the time it's down the hatch, and I've still gotten bite wounds.

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I apologize that I offended you.
However, mice are known to be bite aggressive ... Are you feeding adult mice? I wouldn't put it past some mice to bite anything that comes near it, humans included.
Behavioral studies have even shown that mice are more aggressive than rats.

100% live 100% of the time 70+- snakes zero issues.

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Originally Posted by Kyle7676

The " rat wasnt thawed out enough so it caused an illness " isnt really a valid argument against feeding f/t. Thats like saying UTHs are bad because they can burn the snake. They CAN if not used properly.

It is up to the owner to make sure the f/t is thawed properly.

You cant say though that you can guarantee your snake wont get bitten. Even if you are careful, the snake can wrap at an angle where you might not be able to see the rats head. I know some people argue that you should only feed rat pups since they cant really bite but personally i dont see how that is a viable option for a 3000g

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It's not really an argument on my behalf, just a bad experience I noted in a situation unrelated to my means of care taking that left a bad taste in my mouth.

I would never say that I can guarantee that my snake won't get bitten. I can say that I handle the individual rats before feeding, though, and any I've encountered that were overly aggressive to boot have been swapped for a more docile specimen. Any situation in the world can be dangerous, but with proper preparation one can keep most damages at bay. As the f/t rat just might be an odd case, and poison a snake, the seemingly docile rat just might become vicious.

Because of the means I take to prevent that kind of situation from arising, I feel comfortable feeding live. Not an argument or a stand... Just a personal preference.

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Originally Posted by LGray23

and I've still gotten bite wounds.

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Mouse bites suck...I had a little hopper dig its teeth into my finger one night and it would not let go.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Whatever is after the weaned stage under 100g.
I've never been bitten, so I wouldn't know.

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Yeah, rats that size can definitely deliver a good bite. I do what I can to socialize my rats/mice/ASF's as well...not always easy with anywhere from 100-300 of them on hand at any one time, but I put in work with them. Handling them helps for sure, but is still far from a guarantee that they'll cause no problems.

I feed live because its easier for me. We have 8 snakes all eating different sized prey and getting them weekly from our breeder can ensure I always have the right sizes with no waste.

This isnt to say once we have everyone in the same range we won't go to f/t. It just depends in what works best for us.

We do feed f/t for our nile most of the time (unless there are leftover live that we dont keep). Because she eats more often and the same size prey every week, its easier.



sent from my EVO

Sooooo I'm guessing the whole flicking the rodent thing is taboo

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Originally Posted by Rob

Sooooo I'm guessing the whole flicking the rodent thing is taboo

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I've just never heard anything about it before! :oops:

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Originally Posted by Rob

Sooooo I'm guessing the whole flicking the rodent thing is taboo

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I've heard of it, I can't do it. It's just me, I'm a softie. In my brain it's easier to stick a live one in and let the snake kill it as opposed to killing it or stunning it myself.

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Originally Posted by Amon Ra Reptiles

100% live 100% of the time 70+- snakes zero issues.

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Yet...

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Originally Posted by Rob

Sooooo I'm guessing the whole flicking the rodent thing is taboo

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The first rule of Flick Club is we don't talk about Flick Club.

Thank you for that, Slim. Bahaha.

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Originally Posted by Kyle7676

LOL yet you still fail to provide an example of how f/t is risky when the owner is careful. There is no risk.

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Do you breed, raise and freeze all of your own feeders? If not there is a risk that the frozen feeders you are buying were not frozen quickly enough, may have defrosted at some point in time before they were in your possession or something else could be wrong with them that you wouldn't have a clue about. Is it likely no, but there is still the chance. Same as with feeding live, even if you are careful there is a chance a bite may occur.
There are risks involve with whatever way you choose to feed along with every other choose we make. Both with our animals and how we keep them and in life in general.

I'm seeing a ton of responses here about one reason why you feed live that I'm just not buying. People are saying their snake WON'T eat a F/T. In my loosely founded opinion, if the animal gets hungry enough it will eat a carcass before death. Ball pythons are opportunistic feeders, which means if they're starving and come across a dead animal, they will eat it. They're also pretty simple creatures that seem to acclimate to various methods of husbandry pretty well, meaning once they start eating F/T they will continue to.


So here's my real input to the thread in the form of a question:

Can anyone cite a single specific instance of a BP dying of starvation or becoming fully emaciated (not just dropping some weight, DEATHLY thin) due to a hard switch from live to F/T? Did the animal have other issues? Did it take live on the first attempt (for emaciated)? It would probably be hard to identify since it would take serious balls to speak of it on the forum for fear of flaming, but if I were a betting man I'd say that you could probably force any BP to switch to F/T if you really, truly forced it.

Does that mean every snake will warm up to it completely? I'm not going to speculate on that as I have no foundation. Getting them to breeding weight with that strategy or simply keeping them at a healthy weight may be difficult. I'm really confident that the snake wouldn't allow itself to die over eating something that it can definitely identify as palatable.

Just playing devil's advocate here...