My 3-year old Ball Python won't eat Rats.. only Mice.

Well my three year old Ball Python will NOT eat any rats, only mice. I have been feeding him once per week a jumbo mouse (about 33-45 g) for the last year. and now the jumbo mouse just doesn't seem big enough anymore, he swallows the thing in like 5 minutes easy.

I buy my rats and mice online from Big Cheese Rodents (http://www.bigcheeserodents.com) which are frozen. I then put them in a zip lock bag and submerge them in hot water for about an hour to thaw them out. I then feed them dead to him.

Well just recently I ordered 100 rats (small rats, about 50-89 g). I thawed it out, made sure it was warm and tried feeding him. As soon as he smelt the rat he just quickly moved his head away and went back into hiding, no attempt to eat at all. It was almost like he was afraid of the smell of the rat or something. I then thawed out a mouse, put it in there and he went wild and attacked it right away and ate it.

The next week I took a single mouse and a single rat, put them together in the same zip lock back, thawed them out together in hopes that the mouse smell would permeate the rat. Well I tried once again to feed him the rat first and he did the same thing, wouldn't even go near it. I then took the mouse out and before I could even get the mouse inside his cage he was already stuck up against the glass ready to attack. As soon as the mouse was in the cage he struck and ate it.

So what can I do to convert him to rats?

Thanks

Well you could do one of two things. If you really want him on rats, do the "tough love" approach. Just keep offering rats, eventually he will get hungry.

Or you can feed multiple jumbo mice.

Also, How much does your BP weigh? It sounds to me like a 3 year old ball python should be eating something MUCH larger.

An adult male doesn't need multiple jumbo mice. Good lord..

Try for 2-3 medium to large adults(2 if large adults, 3 if medium adults, I mean mice, not snakes).

If the snake doesn't want rats, it doesn't want rats. Who cares. They grow just the same on either and you can vary the amount of food they get each week if you're feeding mice. Keeps them on their toes, so to speak.

My adult females generally get between 3-5 adult mice. These weigh about 20-25g. That's equal to a large small or a medium rat. The adult males get 2-3 mice, depending on how big they are(the snake). Yearlings get 2-4, also depending on how big they are.

I have girls who are 6+ years old eating mice. They're quite content and chunky :)

Lol I meant adult, not jumbo XD :crazy:

Not sure if this will work but you can put like multiple mice in a bag with a rat and thaw them together, so hopefully the scent will be on the rat.

I agree with Becky. Your ball can feed on mice its entire life and be perfectly happy. However if you are insistant that it converts to rats tehn I have a couple of tricks I tried on my burms switching them to rabbits(no one wants to keep a burm on rats...lol). First try a rat hopper small....a live one. Drop it in the cage, shut the lights off and leave it alone for about 30 minutes or so. One method that has always worked for me is what I call chasing. I feed the snake a small prey item of their liking, in this case a mouse. Make sure it is smaller then normal. Then snake will take the mouse and start swollowing it. Heres the tricky part, Take a small prekilled or ft rat and just as the ball is gulping down the last bit of the mouse gently insert the head of the rat into its mouth. If you work it in right the snake should continue on eating and continue on to the rat. You usually just have to get the head into its mouth and it will work. Usually have to do this two or three times but the have always gotten used to the new prey item this way. Hope this helps, Todd

well I want to convert him to Rats because the mice are too small for just one.. and after I feed him one mouse, he won't eat a second one consecutively. So then I would have to wait another couple of days to give him another mouse. So it's much more work having to feed him like 2-3 seperate days per week. If I can just get him eating one rat then it makes life much easier.

btw.. he really isn't that fat yet at 3 years old... don't know what he weighs. Can snakes stay small by how much they eat? is it bad for them to stay smaller? or should I be trying to get him as fat as possible? he seems perfectly healthy..

One thing to keep in mind, and it's been stated on this forum in numerous posts. Rats have much more protein for our pets than mice do. Rats are the preferred food for our snakes when it comes to nutritional value.
Now, there are ways you can try to wean your snake to rats. As was mentioned, you can bag your mice with the rats and let the scent of the mice be absorbed into the rats. Another thing you can do, and it takes a pretty strong stomach to do it this is, you can basically open the skull of a mouse and rub the brain matter of the mouse on your rat to give the rat a definitive scent. For some reason pythons go crazy when they detect the scent of brain matter. Again, this is a gruesome and messy task that is not for the faint of heart.
Hope these tips help. ;)

Bri, I don't think that is completely true. I have never heard anywhere that rats are healthier than mice....


To the OP, yes if you don't feed your ball python correctly sized meals it can make them grow slowly. This doesn't mean they are unhealthy though. If you start feeding slightly bigger meals he should plump up for you. Don't over feed though, you don't want a super lazy fat snake!

If your going to try to feed him rats your going to have to be persistent for a few weeks. I would get the smallest rat available, that way it wont be as intimidating for him. If he doesn't take a rat the 1st week, wait another, if not wait another. I wouldn't go for longer than a month without him feeding.

Another option is to feed him multiple mice. Thats what I did. For some time I though my female didn't want rats but I found out the only reason she didn't want them was because she was just coming off winter fast. Now that shes been eating for a few months she will take anything I put in her tub.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding multiple mice vs. a rat. The ONLY downside is expense. If thats not an issue, don't stress.

well maybe I will just keep trying to feed the rats and see what happens. I think maybe I should let the thawed rat sit outside the cage for like 20 minutes before feeding so he starts smelling it. I just don't think he likes the smell of rats though. I already tried putting a mouse in the bag with the rat and thawing them together.. this didn't work.. he still wouldn't take the rat.

I really don't wanna have to cut open the skull of a mouse that's just gross..

is there any 'mouse' scent that they make which you can spray onto the rat?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grim reaper in NY

One thing to keep in mind, and it's been stated on this forum in numerous posts. Rats have much more protein for our pets than mice do. Rats are the preferred food for our snakes when it comes to nutritional value.

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Just because I like to be contrary - it's also been stated on this forum in numerous posts that since there have been no studies on the the nutritional REQUIREMENTS of ball pythons, no one can say definitively that mice or rats are better for you ball python. They may only require the exact nutritional values of a mouse, and everything over that from a rat is just waste.

There are many, many happy, healthy mousers living in people's homes all over the country!

I have a 3 year old 4' female and I can't get mine to switch to rats either but she eats three medium sized mice the size of a normal rat. I have tried introducing live rats, frozen rats and have had to take them all back to the store because she wont eat them. Oh well I guess she is just a mouser for life unless anyone has any good tips on how to get her to switch other than whats listed above.:snake:

how do you get her to eat 3 mice? do you feed one right after the other? see once mine eats one mouse, he seems to not want to attack anymore.. so is it a timing issue of how you need to get multiple mice down their throats?

I agree with trying a smaller rat with this snake---try a weanling. Of course meals of mice are fine. At least he 'll eat f/t!

The best trick is to put some mouse bedding in the enclosure with the rat, that way he smells mouse. The only reason a rat would have more protien is because they are bigger. Larger rodent = more protein, its about size not species.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grim reaper in NY

Rats have much more protein for our pets than mice do.

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True however there is no study on nutritional REQUIERMENT of BP.

Can YOU show me a study showing that rats are better, if so how many animals were included in that study and for how long?

The bottom line is that until proven otherwise there is no prey better than the other (more convenient for the owner yes but better…no), gram per gram it is all the same, it all comes down to feed what works for the animal and is convenient for the owner.

If the animal has nothing to do with rats there is absolutely nothing wrong to feed him mice.

I have a few that will only eat mice and they are doing fine.

Mine generally eats 3 adult mice every 7 or 8 days. Sometimes Dakota will only take two. I wait til the 1st one disappears before dangling the second one and so on. It doesn't seem to be a problem and he grows quite well. Seems happy and content.