Question about buying BP's online (feeding related)

Hello e everyone,

I have really been enjoying my new snakes (sand boa and hognose) and am considering adding BPs to my collection in the near future.

That said, I'm somewhat nervous about buying BPs online due to all the stories of BPs that are hard to feed or won't feed regularly. I am also only feeding f/t, at least for now, and I am sure this will complicate matters as well.

Given my total newbieness to the BP community, I have a few questions for those of you that are experienced with buying snakes online and i greatly appreciate any info / feedback you can share.

1. If a seller does not specify that a BP is feeding on live, pre-killed, f/t, etc. is it safe to assume that it is on live?

2. What are common / accepted questions to ask a seller about a snake's feeding habits?

3. Is it possible that a breeder would be willing to attempt switching a snake to f/t or even pre-killed, while still in their possession, if I told them I wanted to feed f/t and had put a deposit on the snake? (not sure how the protocol on this goes).


Thanks again for your help and time!
Artgecko

1. I always assume if the seller doesn't specify, the snake is eating live.

2. If a seller is unwilling to answer questions about the snake's feeding habits that instantly throws up red flags for me. Good questions to ask a seller are of course live or frozen, mouse or rat (or other, such as ASF), how often the seller is offering and how often the snake eats. Many breeders keep feeding cards that gives a more detailed account but not all of them.

3. I doubt it would hurt to ask but some breeders don't even have frozen if they maintain their own breeding colony.

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1. If a seller does not specify that a BP is feeding on live, pre-killed, f/t, etc. is it safe to assume that it is on live?

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Typically yes. It's very true for hatchlings. Your best bet is to ask the seller if they will try feeding f/t for you before you buy the snake.

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2. What are common / accepted questions to ask a seller about a snake's feeding habits?

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What is it eating, mice or rats, what size, live or f/t, how often do they feed it, how many times has it ate (if it's a baby), does it go off feed, is it a picky eater. That's everything I can think of right off the bat.

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3. Is it possible that a breeder would be willing to attempt switching a snake to f/t or even pre-killed, while still in their possession, if I told them I wanted to feed f/t and had put a deposit on the snake? (not sure how the protocol on this goes).

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Yes, I would say most breeders would at least try if they have that size of f/t available. I have done it, but only for people that specifically ask me to. It's much easier to feed babies live so I'm not going to take the time to feed them f/t if I don't need to.

I've never bought a BP online, but I did purchase two hognose. The seller was wonderful, answered all my questions about what they were eating, how often, temperament (which was important to me), and a whole slew of other questions. IMO, if it's important enough for you, it should be important enough for the seller to answer. If they really care about their snakes and their potential homes, good sellers won't hesitate to answer your questions.

On the f/t switch, it never hurts to ask :)

Thanks so much for the info guys!
Your replies make me more confident about the possibility of buying a BP and that a seller might work with me on seeing if the snake will take pre-killed or f/t.

I will probably setup a breeding colony of rats / mice eventually, but getting a snake that will take f/t would make me a lot more comfortable at the start.

Thank you again for your help!
Artgecko

^^^^^^Stephanie nailed it for you^^^^^^. :gj:

I convert most of our babies over to f/t. If you talk with the breeder, many will work with you. It is all about communication. Be sure to research the BOI to make sure you are working with a reputable breeder.

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Originally Posted by artgecko

Hello e everyone,

I have really been enjoying my new snakes (sand boa and hognose) and am considering adding BPs to my collection in the near future.

That said, I'm somewhat nervous about buying BPs online due to all the stories of BPs that are hard to feed or won't feed regularly. I am also only feeding f/t, at least for now, and I am sure this will complicate matters as well.

Given my total newbieness to the BP community, I have a few questions for those of you that are experienced with buying snakes online and i greatly appreciate any info / feedback you can share.

1. If a seller does not specify that a BP is feeding on live, pre-killed, f/t, etc. is it safe to assume that it is on live?

2. What are common / accepted questions to ask a seller about a snake's feeding habits?

3. Is it possible that a breeder would be willing to attempt switching a snake to f/t or even pre-killed, while still in their possession, if I told them I wanted to feed f/t and had put a deposit on the snake? (not sure how the protocol on this goes).


Thanks again for your help and time!
Artgecko

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1. I don't assume anything. I ask. Jon asked me what I intended to feed the leopard girl and told me her currently had her on live. I also messaged the seller of my clown female that will be coming on Thursday. He said she eats both F/T and live rats with no problem.

2. I just ask what type of food they are on live/ or F/T or rats or mice.

3. Yes. You can certainly ask. In the case of the leopard girl Jon held her for three weeks for me in order to get her to take prekilled so I could switch her to F/T. When she came to me it took some coaxing and lots of zombie dancing to get her to take the F/T but she takes her food just fine now. I paid in full as soon as I said I wanted to buy her.

Thanks for your input!
I'll make communication a priority with whomever I decide to buy from and will also thoroughly check out the BOI on any perspective breeders.

Your best bet is to get something that's well started. Somewhere between the 100-200 grams that has already taken F/T. Brian of BHB Reptiles has some great snakes and you could ask him any kind of questions you want. He has the YouTube page SnakeBytesTV. But yeah hes a great guy and if you have any worries about buying I'd buy your first from him. He actually makes follow up calls to see how you and your new snake are doing.

http://www.bhbreptiles.com/

I would think that any good breeder would try giving a baby you wanted f/t ....esp if you put a deposit on it. I know I would. They just prob wouldn't guarantee that it will take f/t....or that it may take several attempts to get it to take f/t if you had to have it eating f/t. So, you may have to wait awhile to get your snake. Keep this in mind too, that shipping a snake is a lil stressful, and a f/t eater may have to be offered live or p/k to get it to feed right away.

Thank you for your replies!
Cissin- The weights you listed are very helpful, I will keep that in mind and check out the breeder you mentioned.
4theSNAKElady- I appreciate your response as well... I do have some stores in my town that sell live, I am just unsure on the quality and the price would be prohibitive if I had to use that as a routine option... But I could do so short term to transition a snake.

I think after doing more reading, and everyone's great advice, that I will still try to get a breeder to work with me and find an animal that will take f/t... But I will also make starting up a rat colony and breeding my own feeders a priority since I could run into snakes that wouldn't take f/t in the future and it would be nice to not have to worry about a snake needing live or pre-killed verses f/t.

Thanks again everyone for your great comments! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your expertise with me. :)

Artgecko

When it comes to buying new snakes online don't do what I did. I bought a snake from a breeder that only feeds live (which there is nothing wrong with that) but I feed frozen thawed. He never told me, and I didn't ask because I was stupid. But asked a lot of other questions that one just slipped my mind for some reason. So for the first couple weeks I was wondering why he was rejecting food all the freaking time, contacted the guy and now he tells me he's been feeding him live lol. So now I have to convert a snake from live to frozen thawed and it is not fun at all. I've been doing tons of reading on it to see what people have done, and most say the switch is easy for them but this little guy I have is fighting me on it. So just ask the breeder every kind of question you can possibly thing of. And yes 100% ask them to try and get them on frozen thawed for you. I really wish I would have.


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