Live to FT advice.

[thenosuchlibrary]

Hey everyone, I picked up a normal baby ball about 6 months ago. He has been eating live about once a week without any problems at all. It is hard for me to buy live mice all the time so I wanted to switch to FT. I ordered some from rondentpro and the first one I placed in the tub he ate after about 30 minutes or so. Its been about two weeks now, I have offered him one a week after the last one and he shows no interest at all. Did I just get lucky the first time or are there any tips you guys can help me out with?
Thank you

[p3titexburial]

Do you know what you did differently the first time? (i.e. time, method, heat, etc)

With F/T sometimes you have to heat it up (with a blow-dryer after you thaw it) instead of just leaving it in the tub, and then you gotta wiggle it a bit to let it mimic the live mice. Prescenting the room is a good idea too, and so is braining.

Mix and match to see what your baby will take, sometimes one way works, sometimes one doesn't--but make sure you don't stress the little guy out and give him rest in between tries.

[thenosuchlibrary]

I tried to do everything the same in terms of time and placement of the mouse. All this with the ball pythons are new to me I have three king snakes and it's so easy with them. I can't even get the mouse all the way in the tubs and they are striking them. The balls are def a bit tricky when it comes to feeding. I will try what you mentioned! Thank you.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Try offering it on tongs, and doing the zombie mouse wiggle with it. Most of my snakes need the visual stimulation of a moving target.

[Bleepr]

Thaw the mouse like you would a steak (place in a baggy in luke-warm water) and leav it on the snakes enclosure for an nour or so, then take it out and warm it with a blowdryer (sounds gross, I know, but it works). You'll want to be holing the mouse with tongs at this point. Offer it and do the zombie mouse dance, he should snag it right up.

[Mike Schultz]

Don't just drop the mouse in- make it act like a live mouse!

[thenosuchlibrary]

Thanks for the advice everyone. The first time he did eat the FT I warmed it up just by letting it sit out room temp, I placed it in the tub on a small plastic bowl turned upside down. I did everything the same this time with no luck. I tried to wiggle it on the tongs too but it just seemed to scare him. I will try again in a few days this time warming it up in the water like mentioned above. Thanks a lot for the advice, i'll let you guys know how it went in a few days!

[bamf64]

something that helped me was that after the mouse was thawed, blow dry it to where it is warm. especially around the head. and feed in the enclosure thats also somehting that helps.

[Kaorte]

If you have a hair dryer, try warming it up with that right before offering it. 15-20 seconds should do the trick.

[thenosuchlibrary]

I tried to offer a FT again a few hours ago. I tried to warm the mouse in a bag in warm water and dangle it. I got a few good looks but nothing else. I tried to heat it up with the blow dryer and same thing. Its been over a week now and like I said this is my first BP, all my snakes have never had a problem eating in the past. Should I just throw a live one in there tomorrow or should I stick with the FT? Thanks