tips for feeding f/t

Monday my little girl will have been here a week so I'm going to try feeding her that day. I'd like to give her f/t mice since they're safer for her, but the breeder didn't say whether he was giving her live or f/t before. He did say she was on adult mice, but my friend thought that she would be better off with a hopper right now, since she only weighs 90g. I've read about different ways to thaw out the mice and then using a blowdryer to warm the outside and heat them up so they seem like live mice. I've also heard people mention prescenting, but I have no idea what that is. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should go about this first feeding on monday?

I started to feed mine f/t rats recently seeing as how they are huge and this takes the chance of him getting hurt. i let mine thaw out through the day on top of the tank. mine take a good 8 hours to thaw cause they are jumbo rats...urs shouldn't take near as long. Pre-senting is where u introduce the mouse or rat into the room so the sent can be carried so the snake can start to sence and smell it. Therefor getting the snake worked up and letting him be awarethat there is food on the way. Hope some of this helps!

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Originally Posted by scales owner

I started to feed mine f/t rats recently seeing as how they are huge and this takes the chance of him getting hurt. i let mine thaw out through the day on top of the tank. mine take a good 8 hours to thaw cause they are jumbo rats...urs shouldn't take near as long. Pre-senting is where u introduce the mouse or rat into the room so the sent can be carried so the snake can start to sence and smell it. Therefor getting the snake worked up and letting him be awarethat there is food on the way. Hope some of this helps!

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So if I thaw the mouse in the room with the snake, say, on top of the snake's cage, that'll prescent it before feeding it to her?

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Originally Posted by wilwarin712

So if I thaw the mouse in the room with the snake, say, on top of the snake's cage, that'll prescent it before feeding it to her?

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YEP! it's what I do!!!

tried this with my new hatchlings, they all seemed very active and sniffing but as soon as I showed them the mice they werent interested any more tips.

Well how old are they? The first 2 weeks or so after hatching they may not eat at all. However, mine have had the same reaction and they're like 6 and 5 weeks old, they won't eat frozen left in their container, and the moment I open it they try and run off ~_~ So I have to feed them live for the time being, but I intend to bring them over to frozen in time, I'm waiting for my hemostats, though, so I can get them used to seeing them while going to eat.

But yes, pre-scenting the area is a great way to get them ready to eat. If you have problems feeding her the thawed then give her 5 more days and offer it again, then another 5 days and offer it to her again. If she still doesn't take it I'd suggest going over to live to see if she will take that. If she does you may have to ween her on to the pre-killed food items. A lot of people offer food with hemostats so I would suggest grabbing the mouse by the skin on their upper back with the hemostats and then putting it in the cage, while leaving the hemostats on it, let go and take them out when she takes the prey item. Then do that a couple times and after that try a pre-killed one, then move to frozen from there.

And by me suggesting this I mean I have seen this suggested before and am going to do this myself, haha.

For me, switching my bps over to F/T was pretty easy. But I was more worried about just making sure that they ate all before trying to switch them. I got lucky with my female pastel, she is an aggressive eater so it didn't matter to her. For my other two, they didn't make a complete switch until i moved them into a rack. Something about the security of a tub in a dark rack and a really warm rodent did the trick.

will try them all in a few days again then, all four of them are about 4 weeks old and have all shed now as well.

Hey, I just tried feeding my 3 month old Pastel for the first time with the same results. After 8 days in the new tank since buying him, I assumed he'd be hungry, but he couldn't have been less interested in the f/t rat that I offered him.
There is a chance that the rat was maybe a little too big, because I couldn't find anything smaller around (but it looked ok in size to me). The breeder I got him from said that he had been fed rats previously so that's what I was trying to go for.
So with that in mind, does anyone know where I can get Pinkies and Fuzzies in the Atlanta area?

I thaw in a cup of hot water (not scalding, but higher than lukewarm). Right before I'm about to feed I replace the water (which has now cooled) with fresh hot water to give the rodent a solid heat signature. I dab the wet rodent on a paper towel to remove excess water and then feed.

Some people report their BPs won't eat wet rodents. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I like that the wet rodent gives extra hydration to the BP.

Personally I just think thawing in water is gross. Why would a ball python be eating a drown rat? But you know they probably wouldn't eat dead ones in the wild anyway. I just kind of dislike the idea and think if you're going with hot whater you might as well go for oing it in a bag. Still it's just personal choice, I doubt the snake will really care one way or another if it's hungry.

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Originally Posted by simplechamp

I thaw in a cup of hot water (not scalding, but higher than lukewarm). Right before I'm about to feed I replace the water (which has now cooled) with fresh hot water to give the rodent a solid heat signature. I dab the wet rodent on a paper towel to remove excess water and then feed.

Some people report their BPs won't eat wet rodents. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I like that the wet rodent gives extra hydration to the BP.

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I do the same, and then place the food under the heat lamp atop the cage for about ten minutes, with it's head closets to the bulb. If he doesn't take the first time, back under the bulb, and try once more. Works well for me.

Ok, well, I tried today with a live feeder, just to make sure she'd eat at all. I used the tongs like someone had suggested, to acclamate Ari to them for when I try a f/t this weekend. She shied away at first, but after less than a minute, she suddenly turned and just attacked the little hopper! She even left blood on her aspen bedding. I was pretty surprised by her quick reaction to the mouse, but I guess it's good that she has such a good appetite. I'll try feeding her a f/t next weekend and let you guys know if it works. Thanks for all the advice.

Glad to hear you had a good first feeding experience!

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Originally Posted by simplechamp

Glad to hear you had a good first feeding experience!

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Yeah, I was definitely pleasantly surprised. I had heard a rumor that spiders were one of the more hearty eaters of the morphs, but I didn't realize it til today.