i just dont think its gonna happen (mouse to rats transition)

[FrankieCarbone]

well after many months of my BP only feeding on mouses, i tried again today a rat, to no luck. A little backround on Vic, i have had him for about a year and a half, and i got him at 80g, he is now 963g and he has been a mouser for about a year. The first few months after he grew a little he did eat on some small rats (which at the time were actually way bigger than the 15% rule) until he decided he did not like rats and only 30g mice. So whatever, i tried a few times and he refused rats, so i just kept him on mouses. I weighed him once a month, and due to the fact that his weight drop was not significant, i just stop caring and gave him what he wanted. It got to a point when in the last 5 months he ate 3 30-35g mouses. I was a little concerned cuz it is summer time, but i wasent worried because in those 5 months he shed twice, and has maintained his weight, if not gained a few grams. So since last week he fed on his mouse, and took it down with authority, i though i would try a rat again today. When i dropped the rat in there he showed alot of interest, but after one failed strike, well not even a strike, it was almost as if he just tried to coil the rat and could;t get him. Once the rat was all over him and climing on top of him he gave up and went back into his hide, i guess he got taken by suprise since he used to a little defenseless mouse which when he strikes and coils he almost kills instantly, and there is this rat double the size (it was about a 60grammer) so i of course removed the rat.

Here is the problem. He is taken mice one a month or so, and he is not really loosing that much weight (although he looks skinny), but here is the temptation. It turns out that the local mom and pop petshop i go to for my mice have recently acquired a batch of ASF's. They actually are very knowledgeable about them, and they know about the fact that once a BP takes a ASF, they get addicted and adviced me to stick to the mice. They told me they will "try" and keep a consistent supple of ASF's but they cant guarantee me they will have them 24/7, but that most likely they will have them most of the time. I tell ya, when i saw those asf's (they got about 15 or so in a tank) moving around, hell, even i got hungry, and i just KNOW my BP will destroy them, and they are a good weight (about 60g or so) and to top it off dirt cheap at 3 bucks each!. So what should i do?. Should i give in to temptation and give him a ASF that is of proper weight for what he should be feeding, or just stick with the 1 crappy 30g mouse a month deal?

[The Serpent Merchant]

HAve you tried starting him off on rat pups? Then moving on to larger rats?

If it was between mice and ASF's I would probably go for ASF's (MAybe try getting somer to breed for you)

[FrankieCarbone]

Thats the thing, i WISH i can get my hands on rat pups, would make trying every once in a while easier, but here in NYC, the pickings are slim. Its either petland, which only have 3 types of rodents, itty bitti small 15g mice, then medium rats which are freakin huge 90g+, and jumbos 130+. Then you have your mom and pop shops like the one i go to, and there, u just get what they have. And out of the 2 mom and pop shops i go to, i have seen rat pups in there maybe twice in the last 2 years. The current one i go to has 3 selections, well with the ASF's now its 4. small 30g mice, 40-60g gerbils, and 140g rats, in that tank was where i picked todays rat, it was the smallest one in there and i would say about 60grammer, i did;t bother to weight him cuz my BP was in full strike mode so i just tossed him in.

[I-KandyReptiles]

While its true that a lot of bps will "imprint" on ASFs, it's not always the case.

My bps switch between mice and ASFs with no problem.

[JaGv]

i switched my female at 700g to rats with no problem. what i did was kept letting her get a wiff of the rat tub every couple days before i decided to offer. i still do that to the rest of my snakes that im going to switch to rats once my new litter is big enough hoping they will also switch with no problem

you can always breed your own feeders that way you can make sure you have a supply of what you need

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

Maybe try a smaller rat.

A few of my larger girls have missed a strike on a rat in the past and it has startled them a bit on larger rats. These two girls will shy away from a 60-80g rat, but take two 40g rats without hesitation given about an hour or so between the two smaller rats.

My ferocious Pastel stuck at a medium rat that charged back at him. My pastel laid there like he was dead for a minute. That was a month ago, and he hasn't taken anything since. They sure are finicky critters!!

[FrankieCarbone]

im gonna try a ASF i guess, i hope i dont regret it, cuz (just as a comparison) i used to be a rum drinker then i switched to whisky, and now i would't drink a shot of rum if it was the last drink available, i rather stay sober than drink that crap.

[snake8myelbo]

Buy a pair of asf and breed them. They dont smell like mice. And they produce slow enough for you to have a great supply in a couple months!

[FrankieCarbone]

problem with that is i cant have a colony of rats where i live for VARIOUS reasons.

Honestly, i always said to myself i would only result to ASF's as a last result, as in, he hasent eaten ANYTHING in like a year. But then again, Vic's eating habit, this 30g mouse once a month deal, is no good. I mean i see some of you guys posting up pics of your 8 month old BP's and they are huge. My BP is right around 1 yr 6 months old, and he is no where near what i see as the "standard" weight. And u can see it in his body he is not as thick as he should be.

Right now he is still in feeding mode, and has been since last night. At least an hour after i took the rat out of the tank he came back out i guess looking to try again. And i know Vic, before when i have offered a rat and he got scared and went back in his hide and came back out, it was usually a "let me see if that big rat monster is still out there" and then there is the "im hungry, let me try again". The way i know is that he is in the "im hungry let me try again" is because when i put my fingers infront of him in his tank he looks straight at it and flicks his tongue and moves towards it and follows my hand. When he is on his "let me see if that big rat monster is still out there" he would never do that and just at the sight of something (my hand, or the noise from me removing the tank cover) he would quickly retreat back to his hide, as if "ok he is still out there, let me hide!"


Ill be buying a larger size cage critter today and filling it up with some aspen bedding and making sure that i place every ASF i buy in there for a few hours before offering it to him, that way if in the near future i have no way of getting my hands on ASF's i can atleast try and place a rat in that bedding getting that asf scent in them, in the hopes he mistakens the rat for a ASF.

[FrankieCarbone]

Here is the batch my mom n pop shop has of ASF's, and here is the lucky fellow who (fingers crossed) will be Vics meal tonight