How To Switch Stubborn Baby Sumatran From Live Mice To Frozen/Thawed

[Aedryan Methyus]

Thanks, April. She has always been a little larger than my male (her clutch mate) and even though the male is a whole month of weekly feedings + one shed up on her she is still a little larger than him and looks great. I really need to start weighing and documenting all of my snakes weights on a regular basis. That's one thing I haven't been doing the way I should...

But, yeah... That's kinda what I was thinking, April. Right now, I think she is just playing me like a violin! lol

[Aedryan Methyus]

I still haven't had any luck getting this girl to eat frozen/thawed. I have been heating them up and trying to feed late at night and she still doesn't want anything to do with it whether I wiggle it around in front of her, try to pi$$ her off with it or leave it over night. I have refrained from giving in and giving her live, so she hasn't eaten for about a whole month. Her weight dropped from 270 grams down to about 240 grams. At what point should I give in and give her live? Now, her brother/boyfriend stopped eating a couple of weeks ago, too... All temperatures, humidity and airflow couldn't be any better...

[Sunnieskys]

I had stubborn BP snakes at work that refused FT. I had to thaw them in hot water (not boiling) then take used mice bedding, throw the FT mouse into that and shake and bake. Puts that fresh mouse smell on it. Worked and they finally started eating. I didnt have to shake and bake after that. I also put used bedding on the top of their feeding cage at work to get the hunting in motion. oh the things we do...

[Aedryan Methyus]

Thanks, Sunnie. I have heard of that before. Unfortunately, that wouldn't really be an option for me, because I don't keep live rats on hand. I just buy them one at a time from a local pet store on an as needed basis. The amount of frozen rats that have been getting wasted lately is starting to be a problem. I don't know what has been going on, but 4 out of my 9 snakes have been refusing food for about the past month. I will only re-freeze f/t rats once each, so a lot of rats have been getting thrown out...

[Sunnieskys]

ask the pet store for used bedding. I know if someone asked me for some for their snake i would give in a heartbeat. Doesnt hurt to ask.

[GoingPostal]

I wish I had advice but my picky borneo male still wants live mice-I got him to take a f/t one last week and not sure if that was a win or not. I've got 1-2 months offering nothing but f/t rats and he never takes them so eventually I give in, give him a mouse or two and go back to trying. It's super frustrating because mice are too small but he will not take rats, he's taken maybe 3-4 in a year and the best success has been offering a mouse and following with a rat. I've offered chicks, rabbit pinks, small quail-I'm not even stuck on feeding him rats if he'd just eat something bigger but the live is really the key for mine. Maybe I need to rig up a better system of offering instead of tongs, rat on a string/stick to move around?

[Aedryan Methyus]

Honestly, sometimes she acts like she doesn't know what she is supposed to do with it and sometimes she acts like she is scared of it. I know I want her to grow and I definitely don't want her to keep losing weight, though. So, I am considering just giving the f/t a break and giving her a live mouse once a week until she gets big enough for larger prey. She is at that weird stage where hoppers and mice aren't really big enough and small rats are too big. Either way, I think her health and growth is what is most important, though. So, do you guys think I should get a few more feedings in her with live mice before trying f/t again? Or, should I keep holding out? Like I said, her weight has already dropped from 270 grams down to around 240 grams...

[AbsoluteApril]

When I was getting my baby to switch, I was doing all sorts of little dances with it in order to get him to take it - putting it on the floor outside his hide, grabbing the nape of the neck with tongs and making it 'sit up' and move that way, also putting it on the side of the water bowl and dancing it around there. Not annoying him with it at all, he'd never take it when I did that, just away so he'd have to come out a bit to hunt it down. It was so frustrating. now he'll usually just take it off tongs dangled by the tail but boy it was a lot of work and frustration. The mice (hoppers and small adults) he would take were way too small, he could have had a weaned rat. He still won't take weaned rats, just looks at them funny but takes the pup size fine.

I never re-freeze f/t but I have plenty of back ups to take anything refused (corns and a king snake).

I can't say how much weight loss is too much, usually after 4-8 weeks, I'd give in and give a live then start all over again. It took a long time and a lot of patience. Mine also won't eat while in shed (he's albino so it's kind of hard to tell). I still wishing you the best of luck, hopefully your baby will come around Aedryan!

[GoingPostal]

Mine won't even leave the hide to investigate, but a mouse hits the entrance and it's gone. Remove the hide or tease him just makes him defensive, he acts more interested when it's in the air vs ground but no amount of dancing has gotten him to grab a dead rat. I went and looked, this year so far he's taken 5 live mice, 1 f/t mouse and 3 f/t rats. Not terrible I guess. I gave in for a couple months when he was small and fed mice weekly and when he grew and looked scrawny, get him at a healthy looking weight and feeding regularly, see if that helped any, it didn't but I do want him to keep growing obviously so you do what you have to do although I really wanted to be done breeding mice, no pet stores local to me.

[Zincubus]

I just wanted to give a little update on this picky little girl and see if you guys have any other suggestions. For the past two feedings I have offered her well heated frozen/thawed hoppers late at night and she still refuses to eat them, whether I dangle them in front of her or leave them in her enclosure overnight. So, reluctantly, I keep giving in and giving her live mice the next day... I will say that she definitely acted a lot more interested in the well heated f/t than she ever has one at room temperature. She actually looked like she was going to take it while I was dangling it in front of her. She sat straight up out of her tub flickering her tongue at it and smelling it.
?

Sadly it sounds like you , like so many others , gave up too soon .

You had her ripe for the picking ... Flicking the tongue , smelling it , moving towards was so promising .... In my experience feeding 22 every week if you'd have warmed up the mouse/ rat again and offered IMMEDIATELY she may have taken it , even if it took another 5 or 6 goes it's worth it . Once you've managed once or twice , you get confident and then you expect it to work ...

Feed at evening , in low light .... even offer in front of her hide and she may strike from within the hide .

Just takes patience and follow the guidelines I mentioned in my previous post ..

Good luck !



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