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

[Aedryan Methyus]

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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Hi Zincubus,
This girl i'm talking about does the same thing. She seems fairly interested in it while i'm dangling it in front of her (keeping it still). She will sit straight up flickering her tongue at it, but then it's like she loses interest and moves away. Then if I start making it crawl around on her and following her around with it she doesn't want anything to do with it. I still haven't given in and gave her a live mouse yet this time.

Are you saying we should keep warming the mouse up during the same feeding attempt?

[Zincubus]

Hi Zincubus,
This girl i'm talking about does the same thing. She seems fairly interested in it while i'm dangling it in front of her (keeping it still). She will sit straight up flickering her tongue at it, but then it's like she loses interest and moves away. Then if I start making it crawl around on her and following her around with it she doesn't want anything to do with it. I still haven't given in and gave her a live mouse yet this time.

Are you saying we should keep warming the mouse up during the same feeding attempt?

Yep . I just persist , if there is ANY interest at all .

Feed evening , low lighting , heat mouse / rat up especially the head area - then offer immediately - just repeat the above until it hopefully takes it .
Most of mine strike from their hides so I just dangle the food outside the entrance .
I have tried that thing you mentioned about trying to annoy the snake with the mouse / rat but it's never worked for me .

Here's my pair of Albino Royals eating at the same time , fed seconds apart . Just so you can see I'm not making it up

..

[Aedryan Methyus]

Alrighty then... I guess it's time to turn my stubbornness and persistence up to 100 and keep holding out... lol

[Zincubus]

Alrighty then... I guess it's time to turn my stubbornness and persistence up to 100 and keep holding out... lol

Well good luck !!

Just one proviso ... if 'initially' the snake shows absolutely ZERO interest and even moves away quickly then it's best to just leave it a week or so but if there is any interest like tongue flicking or even nudging it then I just persist .... for SOME the mouse / rat HAS to be warm though so heating then waiting or faffing around won't work . Heat for 15 or so seconds with a hairdryer then offer with tongs IMMEDIATELY ... ...and repeat


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[Aedryan Methyus]

Most of the time this girl does come right up to it and flickers her tongue right on it, so maybe there is hope... I will try it again next Monday on feeding day. Keep your fingers crossed!

[marckitt]

My small boy came to me on Wednesday. Thursday evening I offered him a f/t 50 gramm rat. After one second he striked and a few minutes later the rat was gone. ��

[marckitt]

[Aedryan Methyus]

That's awesome that you were able to get him to eat for you so soon! Congrats!

[Aedryan Methyus]

I FINALLY got this little girl to eat a frozen/thawed! Yaaaay! Zincubus, your idea worked! I just kept heating the rat pup up (under hot water, though). She was interested in it the whole time and made two different attempts to slowly and gently get her mouth around it while I was dangling it in front of her by the tail, but she wasn't able to. So, then I would just keep dragging it around all over back and forth in front of her and ultimately just let go of it and let it lay right in front of her. She finally took it ever so slowly and gently and pulled it back under a piece of newspaper. It probably took a half hour or so of messing around, but she did it! At some point will she start nailing it properly instead of taking it so softly?

I was also able to get her brother/boyfriend to take a f/t from me while dangling it for the first time as well! Normally, I just have to leave it in there with him, but he hasn't even been eating them that way for about a month. Great week of feeding, though! I got 7 out of 9 to eat. No clue why by adult Ball Pythons are still on a hunger strike, though. They're both hanging around the front of their tubs looking out like they're hungry, but they're still refusing to eat...

Thanks for all of your help with this picky little girl! Such a huge relief!

[Zincubus]

I FINALLY got this little girl to eat a frozen/thawed! Yaaaay! Zincubus, your idea worked! I just kept heating the rat pup up (under hot water, though). She was interested in it the whole time and made two different attempts to slowly and gently get her mouth around it while I was dangling it in front of her by the tail, but she wasn't able to. So, then I would just keep dragging it around all over back and forth in front of her and ultimately just let go of it and let it lay right in front of her. She finally took it ever so slowly and gently and pulled it back under a piece of newspaper. It probably took a half hour or so of messing around, but she did it! At some point will she start nailing it properly instead of taking it so softly?

I was also able to get her brother/boyfriend to take a f/t from me while dangling it for the first time as well! Normally, I just have to leave it in there with him, but he hasn't even been eating them that way for about a month. Great week of feeding, though! I got 7 out of 9 to eat. No clue why by adult Ball Pythons are still on a hunger strike, though. They're both hanging around the front of their tubs looking out like they're hungry, but they're still refusing to eat...

Thanks for all of your help with this picky little girl! Such a huge relief!

That's such great news !!

I get loads of PMs thanking me for feeding tips but it's nice to get a mention in a thread

I let mine thaw naturally and then blast them with a hairdrier before offering IMMEDIATELY . This method worked so much better than warming with water - I presume the soak washes away the rodent aroma which is vital apparently .

Just be persistent and he/she will get better and better at taking it plus you get more confident and start expecting them to feed


As regards the Royals , reading around the forum there are loads of Royals not feeding as they're in breeding mode ...