Swapping mice for rats

Just fed my ball his first rat fluff (he was on small mice.) He struck at it straight away, dropped it, struck again, constricted it and pulled it into his hide although he doesn't seem to be doing much with it. Do you think he'll eat it? Do they always eat if they strike and constrict?

He feeds on f/t by the way so he's at no risk from bites or scratches :)

My ball usually strikes, then leaves it then starts to constrict so i wouldn't worry i am sure your ball will eat it!
and Congrats getting yours to take rats mines on mice also and when i offer rats he is like "erm no thanks"

I was happy he was even interested! It took us a long time to get him to take anything, so was quite worried about putting him off! But he obviously really wanted the rat, he even came out of his hide to strike at it! Little champ! He's getting to be a good little feeder, I don't even have to wiggle it anymore! Lol. Thanks for the reply :) I've never really watched him eat as he doesn't come out of his hide far enough for me to see!

Haha well congrats :)
i like watching mine eat his prey, never gets boring!

I was quite amazed! He's so fast. Hopefully the rats will help beef him up a bit, he still looks a tad on the thin side from his initial fast! Hope he eats it!

Good luck, hope he continues to eat those rats :)

Sometimes they will strick and constrict and then leave it alone because the f/t isn't warm enough. I usually ahve to find a way to get distracted from the f/t without getting bit, remove the f/t, reheat the head, and try again.

Oh. It was pretty warm, should I go and check?

IMO, you shouldn't bother him, but its your choice.

You should try and warm the mice/rats head to around 32c i believe.

How do I distract him without putting him off? And will it not reheat by itself lol, it's in his hot hide? Sorry if that sound dumb but he's not been as quick to strike before and then he let go! Although he did go for it again and pull it in... Surely ifit was too cold he would have left it?

IMO, i would leave it till morning... if he hasn't eaten it bin it but im probably in a different time zone then you but its all your choice.. i am not sure on how to distract him though, you may stress him out.

That's what I thought, I'll leave him to it and have a peep when u go to bed. I'm sure he'll eat it! Thanks for your help :)

My Pleasure :)

99% of the time my bps will eat it if they strike and constrict. There is always that slight chance that they change their minds after that but for the most part they do eat.

Some of my snakes don't even strike. I'll just leave the f/t rat in the cage and they just start swallowing. It takes time to learn your bps habits, in time you'll get to learn yours as well.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Cool, I wasnt sure if they'd they'd strike and constrict even if they weren't keen. But 99% sounds good, I hope he eats it!! Thanks for the reply :)