How to Switch Foods Effectively?

Hello. This is l kind of a branch off my last post. I have a BP who is about a year and a half old. She was raised on live food before I got her and I stuck to it while I've had her. This is becoming very inconvenient now that she's living with a friend of mine. We don't have another animal who can eat the rat instead of she decides she's not eating this week, so my friend has to basically care for another pet until she eats it. The last rat we got refused food/water and killed itself. Tragic. :( I've been wanting to switch her to f/t for a while, anyway but I just haven't had the means or the know-how. I know there's no "quick and easy" way, but what's the fastest and easiest way to switch a BP's food?

Have you tried offering f/t? Sometimes they'll surprise you and make you wonder why you worried so much about it in the first place.

My baby girl was raised on live. First meal with her, we heated well to make her think it was live and did the Zombie Rat Dance. She took it. Will she take it this week? All we can do is try.

I feed all 9 of my animals frozen thawed. Always make sure they are defrosted properly. I put mine in cold water for about 4 hours to make sure they are 100% defrosted. Then I warm them up in warm water and finally hit with blow dryer to make them look alive. They all do the "wiggle" and once they hit they all "fight back" my snakes do not know the difference. They all "kill" their food the same as a live. Patience is key. Skip her meal this week so she is hungry and than offer a frozen thawed nice and warm. Use tongs and make it fight back if she does hit it.

You just have to try, no real way to switch. Either the snake will or won't eat f/t and that doesn't mean it'll stay on it.

Few things is to make sure it's properly thawed, make sure it's properly heated, and make it look alive, don't just hang by the tail. Though mine ate like this without problem.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Have you tried offering f/t? Sometimes they'll surprise you and make you wonder why you worried so much about it in the first place.

---

I tried offering f/t a few times when I first got her in hopes of never having to feed her live, but no luck.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scosta56

I feed all 9 of my animals frozen thawed. Always make sure they are defrosted properly. I put mine in cold water for about 4 hours to make sure they are 100% defrosted. Then I warm them up in warm water and finally hit with blow dryer to make them look alive. They all do the "wiggle" and once they hit they all "fight back" my snakes do not know the difference. They all "kill" their food the same as a live. Patience is key. Skip her meal this week so she is hungry and than offer a frozen thawed nice and warm. Use tongs and make it fight back if she does hit it.

---

It's been over 3 weeks since she's taken a meal. I think she's fasting so I have no idea how to tell when she finally gets hungry again...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RiA MaU

I tried offering f/t a few times when I first got her in hopes of never having to feed her live, but no luck.

---

Just have to persist , give her a little break from trying then do as the other guys suggested . I sometimes have to repeat the warming with a hairdryer quite a few times , sometimes it will take 7 or more attempts and they generally get more and more interested each time until they strike .

After that I'd leave it for another week or so before trying .





Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

The way the feeder is thawed, warmed up can play a role, most importantly it's a game of patience and tough love.

With a year old animal assuming she has a good body weight it can take MONTHS, that means offering F/T and not offering live if the animal refuses.

Of course at some point you have to use common sense and know when to stop because tough love cannot go on forever either.

I had a female that took 3 years to convert doing 3 months of though love at the time (I really id not want to push it more also I could have), what finally did the trick is that I bred the female and she laid eggs, usually after laying they will eat ANYTHING.

Every animal is different some will never switch some will switch back and forth from a month to another (usually those are very agressive feeders)



Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deborah

The way the feeder is thawed, warmed up can play a role, most importantly it's a game of patience and tough love.

With a year old animal assuming she has a good body weight it can take MONTHS, that means offering F/T and not offering live if the animal refuses.

Of course at some point you have to use common sense and know when to stop because tough love cannot go on forever either.

I had a female that took 3 years to convert doing 3 months of though love at the time (I really id not want to push it more also I could have), what finally did the trick is that I bred the female and she laid eggs, usually after laying they will eat ANYTHING.

Every animal is different some will never switch some will switch back and forth from a month to another (usually those are very agressive feeders)



Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

---

The one time my new girl wouldn't eat was because I thawed in water that was way too hot and pretty much cooked the mouse. I was just in a hurry. She wouldn't touch it. The next week and ever since she is back to being a garbage disposal. I don't thaw with water anymore. I let it thaw all the way naturally and then warm it up with a hair dryer and she nails them every time. Really trying to resist the urge to overfeed.

Ah. Does a heat lamp work? That's what I used last time. I don't own a hair dryer because I hate using any heat on my hair, so that's something that'll take a long time to save for too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RiA MaU

Ah. Does a heat lamp work? That's what I used last time. I don't own a hair dryer because I hate using any heat on my hair, so that's something that'll take a long time to save for too.

---

Yeah a heat lamp would work. Don't heat them up too much though. I used my g/f's hair dryer because I don't own a heat lamp. lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RiA MaU

Ah. Does a heat lamp work? That's what I used last time. I don't own a hair dryer because I hate using any heat on my hair, so that's something that'll take a long time to save for too.

---

The best results I have experienced are thawing at room temp near the enclosure and warming up with a hair dryer, the hair dryer is for reptile use only (I don't dry my hair either), a hair dryer is a good investment some are real cheap ($10).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deborah

The best results I have experienced are thawing at room temp near the enclosure and warming up with a hair dryer, the hair dryer is for reptile use only (I don't dry my hair either), a hair dryer is a good investment some are real cheap ($10).

---

This is exactly how feeding day goes at my place. It's incredibly rare that I have anyone refuse for longer than a month at a time, with most eating very regularly (breeding behaviors aside).

I agree with most of what's been said already, especially in regards to making sure the prey is completely thawed and warmed up to about 100F before offering it to the snake. I also agree with the tough love approach. Like others have said it can take months for them to convert, and a few never will, but I have yet to see a healthy animal starve itself to death when regularly presented with food. The hunger almost always wins in the end :).I'd space out my feeding attempts to every 10-14 days until his appetite kicks in again. If he starts to lose significant weight then you can offer a very small live feeder. Rinse and repeat until he gets it. Best wishes and keep us posted.

Is there a general guide to how long it takes for a frozen mouse/rat to thaw at room temperature? I imagine a fuzzy would thaw much quicker than a medium rat.

I'm working on converting my BPs, but have only gotten them to eat by leaving it overnight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Okay. It's been about a month since she's taken any food, but I haven't seen her lose weight.