A new member question about f/t

Hi,
I'm new here and I do not have a BP yet. I've been looking around, but it seems as though most breeders only feed live to their hatchlings. One breeder said, when asked, that many of his customers feed f/t and said I could switch it to f/t if I wanted to (as if it was an easy task that I could easily do). I refuse to go to a pet store.
However, based on my research, it seems it might not be this easy. I know they are picky, but since I don't own one, I can't base this on my experience.
So my question to all the experienced owners here is, how easy or hard is it to switch a hatchling to f/t? Do they imprint when they are young? Would it just not be worth it to try to do so if it is eating AT ALL? I have dealt with non-feeders and regurgers in corn snakes and had no problem switching the really bad feeders from live anoles to f/t. To people have done this before with corn snakes, would it be more difficult than this? Thanks in advance. Sorry for the super long message, I'm a newbie.

It all depends on the snake, I have 6 ball pythons, 5 of them will eat just about anything you put in there live, F/T rats or mice. I have one girl that wont eat anything but live, she just refuses. You will just have to see what your snake prefers. If you only have one snake feeding live is not a bad idea, it doesnt cost much... The reason I feed f/t is to save money...

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Originally Posted by Mochelem

It all depends on the snake, I have 6 ball pythons, 5 of them will eat just about anything you put in there live, F/T rats or mice. I have one girl that wont eat anything but live, she just refuses. You will just have to see what your snake prefers. If you only have one snake feeding live is not a bad idea, it doesnt cost much... The reason I feed f/t is to save money...

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hey thank you so much for responding. 5 out of 6 seems promising. So it sounds like they can be switched over, but like with any species, there's always that one or two that won't at all due to individual preferences?

I'm trying to see if a majority of BP's will take f/t or if the majority of them take only live. I was hoping for replies from different people as well to determine how common it is. Your reply alone is still very helpful though, so thank you :)

Hi,

Why not ask which ever breeder you decide to buy from to do the switch to F/T for you?

I think most of them would be willing to do that wouldn't they?


dr del

It has been my experience that a breeder will switch them from mice to rats, but not all breeders can do the f/t switch because they raise their own rodents.

That said, I have only one snake right now who is eating live mice. All the rest are eating f/t rats with no issue. If she continues to stay on mice I'll just need to deal with that- and find a less expensive outlet for live mice ;)

So, I guess I'm suggesting that most snakes can be converted to f/t and from mice to rats. A few, though, don't seem willing... :oops:

In my experience most hatchlings will take f/t for a first meal -- a few require a live feeding or two before switching but switch readily after being started off. The very few that don't take to f/t are usually the picky feeders -- few and far between but they are the ones that will be mousers or fasters or just require the extra work no matter what they are feeding on.

Welcome!!
My ball was bought only feeding live as a hatchling, as soon as i got her I fed her a f/t rat, and she took it right away. Good luck!

Hi,

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Originally Posted by starmom

It has been my experience that a breeder will switch them from mice to rats, but not all breeders can do the f/t switch because they raise their own rodents.

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Really? It seems it would be far easier to convert a live rodent into an F/T rodent than the other way round. :P

They may not want to take the time to kill and freeze etc but they have the ability in most cases I would think.


dr del

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi, ..Really? It seems it would be far easier to convert a live rodent into an F/T rodent than the other way round. :P
dr del

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:rofl:

It definitely depends on the snake. All of my snakes will eat live or f/t, except for one bp that will only eat live. My baby burm took f/t as his first meal, so i'd say it's an individual thing. Good luck, and i'm glad you came to ask questions before your purchase.

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Originally Posted by dr del

They may not want to take the time to kill and freeze etc but they have the ability in most cases I would think.


dr del

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I would think too, but not all breeders have the time (or supplies) to make F/T. Imagine thawing 500 different size rats and mice.:O Then (if needed) do the zombie dance to 500(not to mention a FULL Deep freeze of rodents, probably more than one because 500 rodents a week takes alot of room.) snakes.:O There goes the weekends...lol. Im sure some breeders do it, and don't mind it, I hope I will be able to feed live, so I don't have to deal with the frozen rodents. Yay for food variations!

Hi,

Indeed everyone should be free to feed whichever method they choose. :gj:

I didn't mean the breeder should feed all his stock F/T just that making the odd F/T for a customer who wanted their snake switched before delivery wouldn't be all that difficult. :)

All mine are eating F/t but then again I also have some right fussy beggers and I suspect there may be a link between the two.

Or of course I could just be lucky. :(


dr del

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

Indeed everyone should be free to feed whichever method they choose. :gj:

I didn't mean the breeder should feed all his stock F/T just that making the odd F/T for a customer who wanted their snake switched before delivery wouldn't be all that difficult. :)

All mine are eating F/t but then again I also have some right fussy beggers and I suspect there may be a link between the two.

Or of course I could just be lucky. :(


dr del

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Im pretty lucky aswell. I am getting 4 balls pretty soon, and they are all feeding live, we will see how they transfer over, they better, I just killed off a whole bunch of fuzzies for them, they better eat them...LOL.

Thanks everyone for the welcome and for all of your comments and experience. :) I really appreciate it. There's only so much I can get just by reading up and this was just one of those questions that I felt needed to be answered by people who currently own them.

To those who suggested asking the breeder to switch, this is a good idea, but I know that many breeders have so many snakes, regardless of the type, that it's just not feasible to spend so much time trying to get one snake to feed f/t when it might be easier to just feed live. I understand that fact and I feel it would be too much to ask the breeder to do that for me. I have plenty of time to dedicate to my prospective ball python so I'm not worried about that if most people have successfully switched them over.

So it seems like it should be no problem to try to switch to f/t if I have the time to dedicate to it, accordin to the responses. If get one that never eats f/t, that's fine too. I mean, I'd prefer it to eat f/t, but I'm not going to give it away if it eats live either. It would be ignorant of me to think that it will never eat live food throughout it's lifetime, it would just be easier based on what is available around here and what I have already in the freezer. I am also worried about rat bites, another reason for f/t other than the f/t being more readily accessible.

I've also noticed something, the two posts that said they had all but one snake or two not feeding on f/t, that snake happened to be a female. One person said their female snake at f/t readily. Is it by any chance linked to the sex of the snake as to whether or not they will stay on or try f/t?

Thanks again everyone for responding, I appreciate it and it was all very useful. :)

I think it all depends on the animal. I have about a dozen ball pythons and out of those, only 2 insist on live food - one male and one female. My biggest female wanted live up until she was breeding. Then she happily took F/T and hasn't looked back.

I don't know about other breeders but when I got my pastel and het pied boys from Adam, he had no trouble giving them a few F/T meals instead of live. I'm sure that there are other breeders out there that would take a bit of time to offer whatever baby you wanted F/T instead of live for a couple meals.

A lot of the breeders have far more females than males, so when they say some of their girls are picky its because they have more of them. I would worry more about the males going on long fasts, but I am not an expert.

I got mine the "wrong way", on impulse at a pet shop (well I had wanted one years earlier but was too freaked out over the feeding issues). I think she is female and she wolfs down a f/t mouse regularly with no problem. I have no idea what she was fed before, she is c/h so I would guess live, but she eats like a little pig (no zombie dance needed) and I am grateful.

Ahh ok. One male one female huh? So it doesn't matter what sex it is then. Good point about the breeders having more females. I didn't even think of that. Thanks for pointing that out.
While posting here, I have been looking around at a few breeders, not just one or two, and have talked to one or two about the f/t thing. I've been sending emails out to different breeders inquiring about their animals and all that jazz. I think, for now though, I have all the info I need with regards to feeding. I'll just have to find out through my communication with the breeders about any one particular animal. The reponses here have helped me immensly though and has made this decision a little easier, so thank you to all of you again. I'll be lurking around here a bit and gaining more info from the existing posts until I actually get the ball, at which point I'm sure there will be new owner posts and pictures. Hope you all have a good week :)

I must have gotten one of those picky hatchlings! :( It's really a pain! The woman I bought my hatchling from had fed her once before I got her, of course with a live pinky (I'm sure of that now). It seems as though I've tried every tick in the book and yet I still can't get her to eat f/t. It's been 2 months of not eating, so I went out and bought two breeder rats. I'm so hoping this fixes the problem!!

Not 1 of my balls will eat a f/t, dont no why, so i just feed them live. To me its alot easier feeding live and keeps the snakes senses polished. :snake: