now I'm really confused

[psiam]

For 2 nights, my BP was out of his hides and extended all over his enclosure every evening. When I approached him, he softly hissed at me. Periodically, he'd do a little soak in his water dish but otherwise was just hanging out.

I took him out to handle him yesterday afternoon and he was alert and docile. No hissing. I thought he might be hungry, so I took out a rat to thaw. We've only fed live prey before but thought it might be time to try to switch him to f/t.

The rat was fully thawed and was still in the plastic bag in which I got it. I submerged the bag in hot tap water for about 15 minutes to warm it up a bit once I saw Haku out and about in his enclosure. I checked to make sure that the rat wasn't cold anywhere, took it out of the bag with 16" tongs, and opened up the snake enclosure.

I dangled the rat for a moment and then touched Haku's nose with it. He coiled around it at the speed of light! It was so fast that I kind of jumped. LOL He never went after live prey that fast.

After he'd coiled around it for a bit, he opened up and left it on the bottom of the enclosure. When we checked half an hour later, he was just lying there with his head resting on the dead rat . . . but showed no signs of interest in eating it.

The rat was still there this morning. I removed it.

I'm guessing that the hissing was his way of telling me that he was hungry, but why would he coil/attack and then just leave it? Should I go ahead and get some live prey for him right away, or wait a few days? Should I try again with a f/t?

The learning curve never ends.

[midgard]

He could have not been Hungary. Or he just lost interest because the rat was not moving.

[BCS]

I have a female like that. She is 2 years old though and has been on live he whole life. She snaps at me, not the F/T, but when she misses me and snatches the rat she will coil around it but not eat it. F/T and live smell different. Even us people can smell the difference so snakes know. They also sometimes have a hard time finding the right end to start eating at and then they lose interest. This is quite common, and I find it more common with F/T eaters.

Getting hissed at usually is just a warning but once you have them in your hands, they can be the sweetest animals in your collection. I personally do not know why this is what they do. I can only guess that you are huge animal, and big animals scare the little ones. I honestly cannot say.

You can keep trying F/T all you want. I know I never give up on my live eaters. I waste food doing so but to me it is worth it.

Good luck

[Asherah]

On those difficult switchers to FT I usually jiggle the rat a bit after the snake has coiled. Nothing too crazy, just enough to fool the snake into thinking the prey is alive. They will almost always eat after a strike that way.

[M.P.C]

Are you sure the rat was hot enough?

[blue roses]

I feed FT, and Since i need to cross a room with his dinner i make sure the food is at least 115 degrees and it does cool to 105 by the time i get it to his viv and get it opened and offer it to him. I check it with a temp gun, to make sure it is the right temp, I also found that the head end stays colder longer then the body so i always check the skull end for temp. Hope this helps.

[nightrainfalls]

for a few seconds after the strike, this will sometimes cause an extra strong feeding response.

David

[JoshSloane]

Just stick with live. Seems like a finicky eater, I would save yourself the hassle. Its just fine to feed live as long as you monitor the interaction. People waste so much time measuring the temperature of their food items, doing zombie dances, and pontificating on forums about the benefits of f/t. Just put a rat in and let nature take its course. Make sure that the rodent doesn't harm your snake and you are golden.

[AllieKin]

My snakes have always eaten F/T and they have inexplicably left the food on the bottom of the cage a few times. They don't do it often anymore, but when they were younger, they did it every once in a while. Like another user mentioned, a couple of times they have had trouble finding the head and have given up trying to eat their food by the time I check up on them. If you want to switch to F/T, I would keep trying. I think it's worth it - it's much less trouble to keep a freezer full of frozen rats than to continually buy live ones. Of course, many people are okay with purchasing live rats on a regular basis. It depends on if you think it's worth it. But I wouldn't worry too much about the snake missing a single meal. Well-fed snakes can usually miss quite a few meals and be totally fine.

[PassionFruitReptiles]

What i did with my live feeders when i was trying to switch them to F/T is leave a couple live rats in a plastic bin above the enclosure or rat for about 3-4 hours, then i would thaw out the frozen rat (making the head warmer than the rest of its body), scent the thawed rat really well with a live rat, allow the snake to strike and coil then move the F/T rat around for about 30 seconds so the snake believes the rat is struggling - usually the snake will take the rat without an issue. However some snakes are set on live rodents and wont take F/T regardless, but most will as long as you stay consistent and continue offering F/T.