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  1. #1
    BPnet Veteran M&NSnakeDen's Avatar
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    Need a lil bit of feeding advice from you guys

    So the very first 2 BPs we got have proven to be really stubborn feeders. We jumped the gun when they went on a hunger strike & offered live after about 3 weeks of not eating. Then naturally it's all they wanted. They wouldn't take F/T no matter what I did. Super warm, brained, blow dried, zombie dance, nothing. I watched their weights & gave them some tough love. Lost a lot of $ on F/T rats. Our male lost about 20g, but hardly anything to be overly concerned about. They're just over a year old and closing in on 400g, so that gives you an idea of their stubbornness lol. Definitely not where I'd like them to be, considering they're a 1.1 het albino pair that I was hoping to start breeding next season.

    ANYWAY, I finally found a consistent supplier of rodents (this was another big issue in my area, so damn frustrating) and decided to start them on a "meal plan" going with live ASF's for 2 weeks, then on to F/T ASF for a couple weeks, then hopefully make the switch to F/T rats. Make it an easy transition, ya know? They took live no problem, of course. Had a bit of a hard time with the F/T ASF's but last night, they'd taken their second F/T ASF meal (2 weeks between feeds) which made me happy.

    Now, for my question lol. I have 1 more frozen ASF for each of them in the freezer. My supplier is going on vacation for 3 weeks, so they're making a "catch up" delivery next tuesday, so I'll have to make an order for 3 weeks of rodents. I don't know if I should be like "alright, lets just do it and order rats for them" or stick with ASFs for that delivery? or make it a mix? AHHH lol. I'm worried if I grab 3 weeks more of ASFs, they'll be hooked lol. What would you do?

    Are ASFs not good long term for my babes? I've heard the lack a bit of nutrition?
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  2. #2
    BPnet Royalty DooLittle's Avatar
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    Re: Need a lil bit of feeding advice from you guys

    Asf's are their natural prey. Why not stick with them? I'd feed them whatever they will eat.
    If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies.

  3. #3
    BPnet Veteran M&NSnakeDen's Avatar
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    Re: Need a lil bit of feeding advice from you guys

    Quote Originally Posted by DooLittle View Post
    Asf's are their natural prey. Why not stick with them? I'd feed them whatever they will eat.
    I've thought that too. I have no problems doing that if it's what they'll eat consistently. I'm just curious/worried about the nutritional value of ASFs in comparison to rats. Is there a huge difference? As far as I know, ASFs don't get too big either. I'm giving them large ASFs right now and they could probably even use the next size up, which is the last size, I think?
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  4. #4
    BPnet Lifer Kaorte's Avatar
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    I feed all my snakes ASF and the occasional F/T rat. Nutritionally, there is no difference. If it were me, I would continue to feed them what they eat.

    You can keep trying the tough love approach, eventually they should switch, but some ball pythons will get hooked on a certain prey item. It could be rats, mice, gerbils, asf, you name it! It doesn't have as much to do with the prey item as much as it has to do with a picky snake
    ~Steffe

  5. #5
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    Given that you are still in the 'make up for lost time/fattening up' stage, you would probably do well sticking with what you know they will eat. If you try a switch now they could go back to stubborn 'make the snake momma wanna drink' mode.

    Don't ppl typically go to rats to be able to offer larger prey at one time instead of multiple mice? and perhaps slightly more nutritious? If that is the case, your wallet would need to decide as multiple mice probably cost more than one fat juicy <albiet frozen> rat.

  6. #6
    bcr229's Avatar
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    Re: Need a lil bit of feeding advice from you guys

    I have a local supplier that breeds mice, rats, and ASF's and he will provide either live or F/T. If you're planning on keeping and breeding your snakes, there's nothing wrong with sticking with ASF's as long as you have a regular supply. OTOH any snake I planned to sell would be either started on or converted to rats, as many buyers don't want "mousers" and not everyone has easy access to ASF's.

  7. #7
    BPnet Veteran M&NSnakeDen's Avatar
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    Re: Need a lil bit of feeding advice from you guys

    Quote Originally Posted by MsMissy View Post
    Given that you are still in the 'make up for lost time/fattening up' stage, you would probably do well sticking with what you know they will eat. If you try a switch now they could go back to stubborn 'make the snake momma wanna drink' mode.

    Don't ppl typically go to rats to be able to offer larger prey at one time instead of multiple mice? and perhaps slightly more nutritious? If that is the case, your wallet would need to decide as multiple mice probably cost more than one fat juicy <albiet frozen> rat.
    My supplier is really decent price wise, so I'll probably stick to F/T ASF's for now, considering they've finally started taking something other than live lol.
    I'll tell ya, that hunger strike of theirs really made me nuts. I'd be so disappointed when they'd turn it down.

    That being said, I have 4 other AMAZING eaters that have never missed a meal since being in my care. The rats can be soaked in water & barely warm & they don't care. Even when they're deep in shed. I don't even have the rat dangling over the tub and they're lunging out to snap em up. Our lesser boy is fast approaching the 300g mark (was maybe 130g when I got him in June). Soon enough, he'll probably pass my stubborn ones lol.
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  8. #8
    BPnet Veteran ARamos8's Avatar
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    It can be a bit frustrating. It took me 2 months to convert one of mine to F/T. She can't get enough of them now.
    Tony.....

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