just dont know what to do....

One of my females just refuses to switch to f/t, she will eat live but she is very shy about it. she takes a few minutes to strike a live rat fuzzy. where i live getting live feeder rats is almost impossible and we do not have the ability to keep them on our own. how can i get her to switch?

Have you tried leaving the F/T in the enclosure if she doesn't eat? my BEL is very shy when it comes to eating F/T but he'll eat it if i leave it there for an hour or 2.

she just avoids it and stays away from it

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Originally Posted by jesst

she just avoids it and stays away from it

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My Mojave did this for the first couple of weeks that we had him. It turned out that he was going into shed as well as trying to transition to a new home. I finally got him to eat after watching a thawing method on (gosh I can't remember the site!!) - the guy thawed in hot water with the rodent in a freezer bag... I'll look for the site unless someone else knows what I'm talking about and posts the link first :) I left the rat pup in there with him and just left the house and web about my business, didn't worry about it. Sure enough, several hours later, the rat was gone. I think they pick up on our stress and get freaked out too. He acted scared of the f/t before that... Good luck!!

Have you tried African soft fur rats? I have a very picky girl that only ate live. I tried an asf f/t and she took it when I left it in for a few hours, but they are really hard to find. You might be able to order them online.


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I would hold off on switching to ASFs as you might not be able to switch back. Do some reading on here and there are several topics that cover good ways to try and switch to f/t.

For the record, I have one girl who only eats live mice...

I've converted several from mice and live to f/t rats. However, I think I'm pretty lucky. I don't have a great strategy for you or anything. I can tell you what I was doing, and maybe you can pick up on something.

After feeding a smaller live prey item, i offered a f/t right after. After a few attempts, the snake would eat the f/t after eating the live one.

Another one was eating live twice a week, and i skipped 2 weeks, then offered a f/t, and the snake seemed like she just wanted to eat anything.

My clown seemed to be the most difficult. She started off not eating, but she was 600 grams, so I know she can eat.. I threw in some paper towel rolls and offered a f/t small rat but she refused.. a little later that day she finally ate a live mouse :banana:. I kept her on the live mice for only 2 feedings to ensure she would eat, then I offered a live small rat, and she took that... I then did live mouse, then attempted a f/t small rat, and she took the small rat. I think you should keep giving them what they'll eat, then sneak some curve balls in there :gj:.

My suggestion is heating in hot water until the rat is thuroughly thawed. Then, use a stream of hot water or a hair dryer to heat the head of the rodent to over 100*F (use a temp gun for best results). Once the rodent is warm enough, grab it by the neck with tongs and put it in the tank and make it "move" by slowly making it wiggle. We call this a zombie dance. Usually you can get them to strike like that. Another temp is to thaw the rodent near your ball python so she will smell the rodent and work up a feeding response while it's thawing out.

I had a problem feeder who wouldn't switch/stay on F/T. I just have to feed her live. However, my others switched with a little encouragement.

thank you for all of the suggestions. We have had her since 12/15/12 and have done every that was suggested. she ate them once 2 days after bringing her home. we have 2 others that switched fine and are eating great. i tried last night and nothing...so i will try again next week but the last time she was off food for 3 weeks and had lost a lot of weight. she is only a few months old....

I had to " prime " one of my baby BPs by offering a pre-killed mouse right away during a switch in feeding methods. I use hemostats when feeding all my BPs, and avoids being bitten. Good luck and keep at it. They are BPs and do what they want, when they want.:P

1.0 spider baby
1.0 pinstripe baby
1.0 Lemon Pastel - blushed out baby
0.1 Lemon Pastel baby
0.2 Normals sub adults
0.1 Red Corn Snake breeder
1 Oscar

another feeding last night and once again she did not eat. I made sure it was super warm and even left it in there all night. We just dont know what to do. We have had her for 2 months and has refused to eat f/t except the day after coming home. She has gone weeks without eating and lost weight. She will only eat live and very shy at that. It takes her 5-10 minutes to even strike the live rats.....please we do not know what to do. We do not want to get rid of her, but we are running out options.

What were you told she was feeding on when you got her? imo if shes losing weight then its not important to switch to f/t just get food in her. as much as i hate feeding mice you may want to try a live mouse. some times that will jumpstart a slow or non feeder. good luck with her!

I see two realistic options... Feed her live or assist feed her.

Both have their downsides, but either way your snake will get a meal in her.

Try to look at it this way, What is worse to have...

A snake that could get bitten by its meal, but is eating.
A snake that is stressed out because you had to assist feed it, but is eating.
Or, a snake that is starving its self to death.

John

I think assist feedings need to be reserved for when it will not eat at all. If it will eat Live, then feed it live. I understand personal preferences and not wanting to feed off a live animal, but which one is more important to you? Your snake or the feeder mouse (that'll end up fed off to someone else's snake anyways).

I would feed it live a few times, to get her eating and back up to size then you can give F/T another shot.

my problem is not feeding live but having access to live. it is almost an hour away for 1 rat pup

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Originally Posted by jesst

my problem is not feeding live but having access to live. it is almost an hour away for 1 rat pup

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I would sell her if that is the case...What are you going to do if one of your other Balls stops eating F/T though? Balls change food items all the time...Some will never eat F/T...

Where are you that you are that far away from live feeders?
Doesn't have to be a rat pup...if you can't find those close by are there really no pet shops within an hour that have live mice? That seems a bit extreme...

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Originally Posted by Griffith

Where are you that you are that far away from live feeders?
Doesn't have to be a rat pup...if you can't find those close by are there really no pet shops within an hour that have live mice? That seems a bit extreme...

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i have one but runs out all of the time and other than people i find on craigslist....who are 45-60 minutes away no there is no one.

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Originally Posted by John Marker

I see two realistic options... Feed her live or assist feed her.

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You do not assist an animal that is eating on it's own, sorry but that advice is the wrong one to give.

To the OP not all snakes will eat F/T and as Jon mentioned even if they do, down the road there is no guarantee that all of the sudden at any given time one of your animal will not start to refuse f/t

Your options

Sell the animal in question.

Start breeding your own feeder to have your own supply of live and f/t. You breed your own feeder euthanize and freeze the surplus for those snakes eating f/t and use live for that specific advice.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

You do not assist an animal that is eating on it's own, sorry but that advice is the wrong one to give.

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With what the OP is willing to do for their snake, it is not eating on its own. Yes it may eat live, but the OP clearly is not willing to put forth the effort to feed the snake live rodents.

John

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Originally Posted by John Marker

With what the OP is willing to do for their snake, it is not eating on its own. Yes it may eat live, but the OP clearly is not willing to put forth the effort to feed the snake live rodents.

John

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And assisting is not an acceptable option when a snake is feeding on it's own.

As a reptile owner one needs to be prepared to feed live and other REALISTIC options were given.

Assisting is stressful and can bring own other issues that are much worse than not taking F/T.

Then that is the OP's problem, not the snakes. If it will eat live on it's own it should never be assist fed F/T just for the owner's convenience.

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Originally Posted by Griffith

Then that is the OP's problem, not the snakes. If it will eat live on it's own it should never be assist fed F/T just for the owner's convenience.

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x2
If I run out of proper sized feeders I have to drive 30 minutes to a pet store. If they don't have any, it's now an almost hour drive.

But that's what my snakes eat, and isn't that big of an inconvenience.