need advice for the live/frozen-thawed switch

i got a girl who im trying to switch to f/t. she eats like a champ if its breathing and full of life but not dead. i know there is info online about this thats where i got some of the ideas ive already tried just thought maybe someone her could shed some light on this. So what ive tried: heated it to body temp of a live mouse, soaked it in chicken broth, brained it, scented it with live rodent shavings, rubbed it on a live rodent, placed it by hide, left over night by hide and away so she could hunt for it all with no joy. husbandry is correct and like i said Eats if its breathing. any other suggestions? also ive read that when you offer her the thawed if she refuses wait a week then offer it again. Is this advisable? and whats the refreeze rule ive been just throwing away the thawed rodent she turns down seems like a waste.

Have you tried using an FT African Soft Fur rat? They are pretty irresistible even to stubborn eaters, since that's primarily what they eat in the wild. See if you can present that.

Try feeding a small live hopper mouse first, then following up with a thawed rat. Sometimes the hopper gets them in feed mode, and they become a little less picky for a short amount of time.

How are you thawing the mice? I have never had any issues feeding f/t. I am currently making a tutorial video for the forum, but I'm having some editing issues.

You want the mice to smell like mice. Don't thaw them out in water. I just set them out for 45 min to an hour. I like to use a heat lamp to heat them up after they have thawed. I have had incredible success with this method of thawing.

When are you trying to feed? Always try to get new snakes to eat at night in a darker room to increase their comfort too. If you place the snake and hide in a tub next to the thawed mice for a little while. After awhile she should become curious for the source of the rodent smell. I would offer then when her head is poking out from the hide.

Archi i have a soft fur breeding colony going but there only 2 1/2 months right now so no feeder sizes yet and no where close to me sells them. i know i could get them online but im not gonna pay another $40 for shipping i have over 400 mice with varying sizes in fridge so i dont need another order at the moment. but thanks suggestion

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Originally Posted by 200xth

Try feeding a small live hopper mouse first, then following up with a thawed rat. Sometimes the hopper gets them in feed mode, and they become a little less picky for a short amount of time.

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i was going to try this but wifey rescued the hopper from me before i had a chance, she literally said the snake can eat thawed or its got to go, shes like to make things difficult lol. and now we have a new pet mouse. thanks for suggestion though if all else fails i will be trying this without her knowing

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Originally Posted by Webley

How are you thawing the mice? I have never had any issues feeding f/t. I am currently making a tutorial video for the forum, but I'm having some editing issues.

You want the mice to smell like mice. Don't thaw them out in water. I just set them out for 45 min to an hour. I like to use a heat lamp to heat them up after they have thawed. I have had incredible success with this method of thawing.

When are you trying to feed? Always try to get new snakes to eat at night in a darker room to increase their comfort too. If you place the snake and hide in a tub next to the thawed mice for a little while. After awhile she should become curious for the source of the rodent smell. I would offer then when her head is poking out from the hide.

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i thaw with warm water then heat lamp for few minutes so hopefully this is my problem. i will give this a shot and see how it goes thanks for advice

an adult mouse take about an hour to an hour and a half to fully thaw. regardless of what you're thawing I have a simple trick for when to start heating the mice. I wait till they feel soft and are seemingly sweating. I keep my heat lamp around 8 to 10 inches above them while I heat them too. Make sure once you start heating to check on them every five minutes or so. Once they are nice a fluffy and warm i hold them up under the light for like 10-20 seconds then offer it to the snake. Like I said, also try putting her in a tub or box with a hide next to them before offering. The smell helps stimulate the snake a ton!

This is a great video to help. I developed my method from Garrick's video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbX1YVZp4WU

If you want you can also take a blow dryer to it for a bit. I like to keep my f/t fairly dry when feeding. I have my rats in single servings vac sealed. I let it warm up to room temp, soak in hot water (still in the bag), then blowdry a few minutes, get it nice and warm, blast the head of it for good heat signature, then feed. Ours eats like a champ. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Webley

This is a great video to help. I developed my method from Garrick's video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbX1YVZp4WU

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watched the vid saw that i could offer the mouse head first, i was dangling it by the tail which might be another slight fail on my part. my other snakes dont mind it at all so i didnt think to try it this way

glad I could help! Let me know how it goes and good luck :gj:

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Originally Posted by MonkeyShuttle

i was going to try this but wifey rescued the hopper from me before i had a chance, she literally said the snake can eat thawed or its got to go, shes like to make things difficult lol. and now we have a new pet mouse. thanks for suggestion though if all else fails i will be trying this without her knowing

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your wife does realize the Frozen rodents were once alive right? why does it matter if they are put down by the snake vs. a co2 chamber?

Dead is dead, no matter how it happens!


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Yeah, try dangling the rat by the tail near the snake's head.
If she still doesn't go for it, try dropping it. We have a couple snakes that will not strike until it's dropped. I think it may be the sudden movement that triggers it.
Either way, we've never had issues switching snakes to f/t. (Zoo policies won't let us feed live, so all new snakes have to get switched).

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Originally Posted by Webley

This is a great video to help. I developed my method from Garrick's video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbX1YVZp4WU

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Am I the only one who thought it looked like he was setting up a Ball Python BBQ? Good video.

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your wife does realize the Frozen rodents were once alive right? why does it matter if they are put down by the snake vs. a co2 chamber?

Dead is dead, no matter how it happens!

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I feel that it is just inhumane to the prey. I have no problem with nature in the raw but this is captivity. I would rather be put down with Co2 than be thrown to a painful and brutal death. It is just as easy to feed f/t as it is to feed live. Any excuse like, "my snake doesn't take f/t," is a cop out. I would rather put in the extra effort to ensure safety for my animals, and know that I'm not putting any animal through extreme pain before death.

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Originally Posted by Webley

I feel that it is just inhumane to the prey. I have no problem with nature in the raw but this is captivity. I would rather be put down with Co2 than be thrown to a painful and brutal death. It is just as easy to feed f/t as it is to feed live. Any excuse like, "my snake doesn't take f/t," is a cop out. I would rather put in the extra effort to ensure safety for my animals, and know that I'm not putting any animal through extreme pain before death.

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I don't think so. My clown girl refused F/T no matter what. Weighing a whopping 110g I didn't want to hold out longer than the month and half she went without eating. Offered live and she ate. Now she won't even eat live. So yes there are some snakes that won't switch. Heck this snake won't even eat at all right now. :/

From what others have said the squeezing releases endorphins which lessens the pain. The rodents die rather quickly.

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I don't think so. My clown girl refused F/T no matter what. Weighing a whopping 110g I didn't want to hold out longer than the month and half she went without eating. Offered live and she ate. Now she won't even eat live. So yes there are some snakes that won't switch. Heck this snake won't even eat at all right now. :/

From what others have said the squeezing releases endorphins which lessens the pain. The rodents die rather quickly.

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I can understand certain circumstances. I just don't like it when people openly choose to talk down about feeding f/t. I see pics on this forum every month about live feeding mishaps. They happen to everyone who feeds live eventually too. I feel like most people don't try hard enough/don't know the best tricks for getting balls to eat f/t regularly. I really can't wait to finish my f/t tutorial video.

P.S. I didn't know that factoid about squeezing and endorphins. I hope it's true.

Mine used to take f/t, but suddenly stopped regardless of what I tried. I posted several threads on here and tried all the tricks people suggested, but it was a no-go.

She would always eat them in odd ways too, like swallowing them from the back end first and never constricting. I hate feeding live b/c of the potential bite risk to my snakes, plus I do feel that CO2 is probably a bit more humane. She's my only animal (other than frogs that eat insects) that eats live, but it eventually got to the point that she had to eat something or starve. I still try to get her back on f/t now and then, but haven't had any more success than I did initially.

My main issue with live feeds is when I see people (especially with frogs... I guess it's something about a frog eating mammals that really attracts idiots) who are only feeding live because they want to seem 'cool'. Of course, they're also the ones I see most often feeding prey that's too large and walking away. You're eventually going to see bites with live-feeding no matter what, but if you monitor it you can usually minimize the damage.

Webley your the man(or women)! let thaw with room temp, followed up with some heat from heat lamp and then offered head first. took all but a minute before she grabbed it. strange how the slightest detail can make such a big difference. thanks again guys.

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Webley your the man(or women)! let thaw with room temp, followed up with some heat from heat lamp and then offered head first. took all but a minute before she grabbed it. strange how the slightest detail can make such a big difference. thanks again guys.

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No problem! When it comes to feeding f/t it's all in the details. Glad I could help out :D

I just wanted to answer a few of your other questions. If a snake doesn't take a f/t mouse I will usually just refreeze it, and try again in one or two days. I would only recommend doing this one time per mouse though. If a snake doesn't eat you can wait a week for sure. I don't think you need to wait that long though. A day or two should be enough time to allow the snake to relax without stressing it out. If waiting 2-3 days doesn't work go back to the usually weekly feeding schedule.

Cool thanks a lot if i would've asked that question weeks ago i would have saved a few dinners



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