switching adults from mice to rats.

Im sure there is a thread about this already but i was hoping you guys could give me some tips or links to solutions i can use. I bought an adult female pied around 1300 grams but she only eats live mice... its very hard for me to get mice out here unless i was to pay about 2 bucks for a very small mouse, they dont even sell adult mice... and on top of that she eats like 6 at once. So ill try anything to get her on rats.

I've always fed f/t rodents, but the way I've switched from mice to rats is by scent transferring. I put frozen rats and mice in the same bag for a day or two.
I'd also recommend going to f/t when you switch to rats, as live rats can definitely be more aggressive than mice and can seriously injure your snake.

Ive tried froz4n mice... she wont take them

Try warming them up in hot water or using a hair dryer on them. Sometimes its the temperature that throws them off.

We had a male with the same issue and joked about him eating "popcorn chicken" every week, except is was four mice and not six. This is how we got him switched and he's a happy rat eater now, though he still wants live over f/t so we will work on that next. It took about a month for the transition.
Start with 4-5 mice and a rat weanling the same size as the mice. Note that larger rats will kill mice, but a weanling likely won't. Keep the mice and rat weanling all together in a large critter keeper for an hour so the rat smells nice and "mousy" and the mice pick up some rat scent. Offer one mouse as normal, maybe two, to get her into feeding mode, and then offer the scented rat weanling and see if she takes it. Once she's at the point where she takes one rat per feeding then offer four mice and two rat weanlings or a one slightly larger rat. After a few weeks we started offering the scented rats first. Once our guy took those readily he switched to unscented without any problems.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

We had a male with the same issue and joked about him eating "popcorn chicken" every week, except is was four mice and not six. This is how we got him switched and he's a happy rat eater now, though he still wants live over f/t so we will work on that next. It took about a month for the transition.
Start with 4-5 mice and a rat weanling the same size as the mice. Note that larger rats will kill mice, but a weanling likely won't. Keep the mice and rat weanling all together in a large critter keeper for an hour so the rat smells nice and "mousy" and the mice pick up some rat scent. Offer one mouse as normal, maybe two, to get her into feeding mode, and then offer the scented rat weanling and see if she takes it. Once she's at the point where she takes one rat per feeding then offer four mice and two rat weanlings or a one slightly larger rat. After a few weeks we started offering the scented rats first. Once our guy took those readily he switched to unscented without any problems.

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Wow thats a great idea, i will definitely try that, thanks

I have a 200g female pewter that will take a mouse within a second of putting the mouse into the feeding bin. I'm trying to convert her to take rats but I haven't had any luck. Do you think I should try feeding a mouse first then a rat after she takes the mouse?

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Originally Posted by digizure

I have a 200g female pewter that will take a mouse within a second of putting the mouse into the feeding bin. I'm trying to convert her to take rats but I haven't had any luck. Do you think I should try feeding a mouse first then a rat after she takes the mouse?

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Ive tried that, my girl fell for it the first time but after she killed it she didnt eat it... and when i tried it again the next few meals she learned to not even go after them.

I inherited a nine year old snake about a year and a half ago. That snake lived on mice its entire life. I transitioned him over on small rats first...approximate size of a mouse. Took it right away with no problem, and now eats rats only...any size rat too. I don't get why people are so scared to feed live. As long as you are standing by ready to intervene if necessary, and not leave it unattended, I don't get why it is frowned upon. My snake will not even look at it if it's dead.

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Originally Posted by WhiteSoxPyro83

I inherited a nine year old snake about a year and a half ago. That snake lived on mice its entire life. I transitioned him over on small rats first...approximate size of a mouse. Took it right away with no problem, and now eats rats only...any size rat too. I don't get why people are so scared to feed live. As long as you are standing by ready to intervene if necessary, and not leave it unattended, I don't get why it is frowned upon. My snake will not even look at it if it's dead.

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Feeding F/T isn't always about being "scared" of damage from live rodents. I feed frozen because I do not have the space or inclination in my house to breed rodents, and I don't want to have to run and pick them up every single week for 30+ snakes.

When I first got my female pewter, she wouldn't eat rats so I gave her mice. One day, she finally ate a rat so we kept feeding her rats for maybe a month or two then she stopped. After missing maybe 2 feeding (she's still a baby), I decided to give her a mouse and she snatched that quickly. She obviously prefer mice over rats. Arrrgghhhhhhh!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WhiteSoxPyro83

I inherited a nine year old snake about a year and a half ago. That snake lived on mice its entire life. I transitioned him over on small rats first...approximate size of a mouse. Took it right away with no problem, and now eats rats only...any size rat too. I don't get why people are so scared to feed live. As long as you are standing by ready to intervene if necessary, and not leave it unattended, I don't get why it is frowned upon. My snake will not even look at it if it's dead.

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In my case it's not fear, just convenience. I have 23 snakes, #24 is arriving today (a friend needs a soft landing for it as she's dealing with personal issues), and picking up live feeders several times a week at the local pet shop isn't very easy, especially since they're not open on Sunday. Plus the feeders they do have are small - I've never seen a mouse larger than the hopper, or a rat larger than a small adult, compared to what I can purchase from the f/t online vendors. We do currently feed live to four late 2012 babies and when they have a bit more size I'll work on converting them.

Frozen is the best .... The way I got mine off life was warm water and I would dip the head in warmer water for a few seconds seemed to work well for me and if you want to get on rats from mice ... I would suggest if you have frozen mice I would rub the mice on a rat seemed to work well for me can always give that a try ... :) Goodluck

I'll not enter into a long and silly live vs F/T debate it comes down to personal choice nothing more, the pros and cons are equal. I have a older mouse eater. She will on rare occasions take a rat or even a rat scented mouse (she usually refuses them) I spend 10 months of tough love to try to switch but threw in the towel. She will take mice 100% of the time and rats once or twice a years after a long term fast of refusals. I went so far as to partially skin a mouse to wrap that around a rat this also was met with limited success. the end of the story is simple some adults will not switch at all. Mousers will occasionally stay that way regardless. I hope it is not the case for you but it could be.

Switching adult may get a little harder however it is doable.

If she refuses rats use tough love unless of course you have plan for her next season, in that case a switch to on F/T mice as a temporary solution might be a little easier and would allow her to eat it would also be cheaper for you, then and you could always switch her to rats if you decide to breed her, doing so after she has laid eggs (females will eat and switch to ANYTHING after laying eggs)

I haven't had my 2 BPs long, but I used to have a Pastel guy many moons ago that was a prolific Mouser, no matter what I tried he turned his nose up to rats. To prevent this from happening again, I have my Sulfur and new Firefly both eating F/T Rat Pinks/pups right now. I figure if I never ever give them mice, they won't know any "better" to prefer something different. at least that's the plan LOL

as far as keeping them interested in the Frozen/Thawed, I just make sure they are "tap water hot" and both snakes seem to take to them eagerly :)

Just put a live rat the approximate size of a mouse in there...I'll bet it gets gobbled up.

I've tried putting in a rat that is the same size as the mouse, she wouldn't take. She can obviously tell the difference between a rat and a mouse. I'll try scenting the rat and hopefully she will take.

I want to avoid feeding her mice because she already looks underweight. Should I start feeding her two instead of one? She is a female and I want to breed her someday.

When I first got my male Dumeril's boa, he was about 2 years old and had been fed mice his entire life. The people at the pet store couldn't get him to eat rats, but I got him on small f/t rats in his first feeding by doing the scent transferring. Had to do the same thing with my BP. Every snake I own is on an exclusive f/t rat diet now. Guess I'm blessed that I didn't get any picky eaters!! In fact, mine are quite the opposite.....total garbage disposals lol.