From live mice to f/t rats

Hi,

First post in this forum, although I've been browsing it for a while.

I have one question to add to the thousands of questions that must have been asked on how to switch a snake's feeding habit.
But hopefully this is going to be a slightly different question :p

So, I recently got a female that has been eating live mice with her previous owner. With time, I'd like to switch her to f/t rats. I have switched from f/t mice to f/t rats successfully on other animals, but this is a "double switch", and I wonder if someone has any advice on the best strategy.

The options I have in mind are:
A) Switch from live to frozen mice first. Then switch from frozen mice to frozen rats

B) switch from live mice to live rats first, and then go from there to f/t rats.

C) Try to do it in one go, and get her to switch directly from live mice to f/t rats.

Anyone has had success with that kind of switch? Which strategy do you think would work best?

Thanks!

I'd say choice "C". She will eat it if shes hungry. May take her awhile, but im sure it will work. Good luck which ever choice you choose.
Oh and welcome to the forum!

Do you know the weight of
the snake?
All snakes will not eat if they're hungry.
That's a very generalized statement

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Yea, snakes can and have starved themselves before. So that's a very broad statement. I got a hatchling that had only had one meal and it was a mouse hopper, then I offered it a rat pinkie the next day after I got it, it refused, but the spider I got with the black pastel ate while in shed the day after I got it. Then the next week my hatchling ate the f/t rat pink. I'd just try it in one go, just for size advice though how big is your BP?

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

Do you know the weight of
the snake?
All snakes will not eat if they're hungry.
That's a very generalized statement

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So what would make them not eat if they are hungry...other than being sick or any other health problems?

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Originally Posted by ROACH

So what would make them not eat if they are hungry...other than being sick or any other health problems?

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For reasons we probably don't understand. The same reason they go off feed for months. You don't think they're hungry? They do it many reasons.

Umm I don't know ask my hatchling that wouldn't eat f/t for 2 months, nothing changed husbandry wise, but now eats every 5 days without hesitation as soon as I got her live

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

Umm I don't know ask my hatchling that wouldn't eat f/t for 2 months, nothing changed husbandry wise, but now eats every 5 days without hesitation as soon as I got her live

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So do you think your hatchling would have eaten sooner if you offered it Live from the start? Or did you try that and it refused that also? Ive never fed F/T or had one that was on them, so Im just wandering. From what Ive read on this forum, trying to switch from Live to F/T can be a hassle and sometims they may go without for some time. But some have said, "soon enough they will eat".

She definitely would have eaten sooner, I went live because she started striking every time I went into her enclosure and was always searching at night. After she started eating she went right back to her docile self
She has never refused a live meal so far.

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Originally Posted by Neal

For reasons we probably don't understand. The same reason they go off feed for months. You don't think they're hungry? They do it many reasons.

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Neal, I never said they were not hungry. I said "So what would make them not eat if they are hungry". I of course dont know if they are hungry or not, but I offer anyways. If they dont eat I try again the next week. I of course have had some go without for a few months, but started eating again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ROACH

I'd say choice "C". She will eat it if shes hungry. May take her awhile, but im sure it will work. Good luck which ever choice you choose.
Oh and welcome to the forum!

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ROACH

Neal, I never said they were not hungry. I said "So what would make them not eat if they are hungry". I of course dont know if they are hungry or not, but I offer anyways. If they dont eat I try again the next week. I of course have had some go without for a few months, but started eating again.

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In the above post is what I was referring to roach, that's all. Just be careful with your words, especially when it comes to something like that.

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Originally Posted by Neal

In the above post is what I was referring to roach, that's all. Just be careful with your words, especially when it comes to something like that.

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Ok cool. I guess Im just not understanding the situation then. Other than she may never accept the F/T. In that case may have to stick to Live. Correct? So how long shoud you give a shot at offering F/T? Like I said, I feed Live and have never done F/T. I have thought about trying to go to F/T, but havent tried it with them yet.

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Originally Posted by ROACH

Ok cool. I guess Im just not understanding the situation then. Other than she may never accept the F/T. In that case may have to stick to Live. Correct? So how long shoud you give a shot at offering F/T? Like I said, I feed Live and have never done F/T. I have thought about trying to go to F/T, but havent tried it with them yet.

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That depends mainly on if the snake is maintaining weight. If so then you can try to wait it out. If it's weight starts dropping I would go with live for awhile and try again in a little while if you absolutely have to have them on f/t.

To Op... I would try option c, but don't buy a large amount, if it doesn't go for it within a couple feedings try f/t mice... if it takes it then work towards rats

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Thanks for all the replies.

To answer sme of the questions:

- She is sitting at 1300g, so I know I could be up for a very long waiting game. But I would never try to put her in danger. I don't even think I'd have the patience to go over 2 months trying.

- All my other animals are on f/t rats, so I have a stock for that ready.

So far, she has refused a f/t rat and a f/t mouse on separate days. Because she still has to feed for me, I think I will try a live mouse next, just to rule out any other reasons for her refusal. After that, I might go with option C as you guys suggested.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ROACH

Ok cool. I guess Im just not understanding the situation then. Other than she may never accept the F/T. In that case may have to stick to Live. Correct? So how long shoud you give a shot at offering F/T? Like I said, I feed Live and have never done F/T. I have thought about trying to go to F/T, but havent tried it with them yet.

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Some will never eat f/t. I will try when younger and then when their feeding response jumps up and they're avid eaters I would try to offer again. It's just like some will never eat rats and only stick on mice. It's a hit or miss and while the odds are usually in your favor, they're not always.

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Originally Posted by ivanb

Thanks for all the replies.

To answer sme of the questions:

- She is sitting at 1300g, so I know I could be up for a very long waiting game. But I would never try to put her in danger. I don't even think I'd have the patience to go over 2 months trying.

- All my other animals are on f/t rats, so I have a stock for that ready.

So far, she has refused a f/t rat and a f/t mouse on separate days. Because she still has to feed for me, I think I will try a live mouse next, just to rule out any other reasons for her refusal. After that, I might go with option C as you guys suggested.

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Good luck with it.

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Originally Posted by ivanb

Thanks for all the replies.

To answer sme of the questions:

- She is sitting at 1300g, so I know I could be up for a very long waiting game. But I would never try to put her in danger. I don't even think I'd have the patience to go over 2 months trying.

- All my other animals are on f/t rats, so I have a stock for that ready.

So far, she has refused a f/t rat and a f/t mouse on separate days. Because she still has to feed for me, I think I will try a live mouse next, just to rule out any other reasons for her refusal. After that, I might go with option C as you guys suggested.

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Good luck!

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Hi,

I thought I would update this post with the progress so far.

- I made a couple of attempts with a f/t mouse and a f/t rat. No interest. She acted scared of them.
- Next, I tried with a smaller item, and left it overnight. It was completely untouched the next day, and she would not go anywhere near it.
- Finally, I got a couple of small live rats, and decided to try if she would take a live rat first, and then try to take her from there to f/t rats. She struck almost immediately.
- While I had her still with a feeding response, I thought I would try offering the second rat, but this one pre-killed. She seemed interested at first, but did not go for it. Tried wiggling it, but only scared her off. BUT, I decided to leave it in for a little bit and give her some privacy. Checked again after 2 hours, and it was gone!

So, very small win, but I'll take it. So far I've gotten her to take a pre-killed rat, and my strategy will now be to ramp from that to f/t.

Just thought I'd post the update here in case anyone was interested. But if you have any other suggestions, I'll be happy to hear them.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ivanb

Hi,

I thought I would update this post with the progress so far.

- I made a couple of attempts with a f/t mouse and a f/t rat. No interest. She acted scared of them.
- Next, I tried with a smaller item, and left it overnight. It was completely untouched the next day, and she would not go anywhere near it.
- Finally, I got a couple of small live rats, and decided to try if she would take a live rat first, and then try to take her from there to f/t rats. She struck almost immediately.
- While I had her still with a feeding response, I thought I would try offering the second rat, but this one pre-killed. She seemed interested at first, but did not go for it. Tried wiggling it, but only scared her off. BUT, I decided to leave it in for a little bit and give her some privacy. Checked again after 2 hours, and it was gone!

So, very small win, but I'll take it. So far I've gotten her to take a pre-killed rat, and my strategy will now be to ramp from that to f/t.

Just thought I'd post the update here in case anyone was interested. But if you have any other suggestions, I'll be happy to hear them.


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Congrats on the feeding! Hopefully next feeding will go good for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ivanb

Hi,

I thought I would update this post with the progress so far.

- I made a couple of attempts with a f/t mouse and a f/t rat. No interest. She acted scared of them.
- Next, I tried with a smaller item, and left it overnight. It was completely untouched the next day, and she would not go anywhere near it.
- Finally, I got a couple of small live rats, and decided to try if she would take a live rat first, and then try to take her from there to f/t rats. She struck almost immediately.
- While I had her still with a feeding response, I thought I would try offering the second rat, but this one pre-killed. She seemed interested at first, but did not go for it. Tried wiggling it, but only scared her off. BUT, I decided to leave it in for a little bit and give her some privacy. Checked again after 2 hours, and it was gone!

So, very small win, but I'll take it. So far I've gotten her to take a pre-killed rat, and my strategy will now be to ramp from that to f/t.

Just thought I'd post the update here in case anyone was interested. But if you have any other suggestions, I'll be happy to hear them.


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Congrats. I know how it is with picky feeders. It's very frustrating, but hopefully it all goes smoother next feeding schedule.

Congrats! Looks promising :)

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Just one more update.
The war is not won yet, but I feel like we've almost turned her over!

Seeing as she took fresh-killed last time. We've been trying to transition from fresh-killed to frozen.

Still staying with relatively small prey for her, we did the following:

- Offered 2 fresh killed. She took them quite readily.
- 6 days later, offered one fresh-killed followed by one frozen. She took the fresh killed and had an interest for the other, but would no go for it. Finally started nagging her a bit, wiggling the rat against the side of her. She finally struck, I think more annoyed than anything else, but ended up swallowing it.
- This week we've tried 2 frozen rats, with the same technique of rubbing them against her a little. It took a little while, but she has taken both!

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if she refuses them in the future, but so far I'm really happy that we've made such a quick progress in switching her.

Anyway, just thought I'd post again in case it helps someone.

Thanks

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