Switching adult python from live rats to dead/thawed.

[Godzilla78]

I have had no issues with feeding frozen-thawed rats to my pythons, once I started using the blowdryer to heat them up before feeding. HOWEVER... these all have been snakes I raised from hatchling or juvenile age. I recently bought 6 proven adult breeders. 2 of them have been eating the dead rats. The other 4 have shown almost zero interest. At first I thought, they just needed time to acclimate to their new habitat. (new terrarium). It has been 5 weeks, and still they show no interest in eating. All my other ball pythons take the dead rats and eat them like candy, rarely refusing. Some of them NEVER refuse.

So my question is, is it possibly that because these adult ball pythons were fed live rodents by their breeders, (eating live rats their entire lives), is it even possible for me to get them to take a dead rat? Or should I just surrender, and give in to feeding them live?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It's harder to switch adults but the best time to switch an adult female if you breed is soon as she lay her egg, once they do and after being off feed so long they will eat ANYTHING, and if their first meal is F/T after they lay they will switch to that without issues.

[KevinK]

Have you tried fresh killed (stunned) rather than frozen thawed?....there's certain magic working with freshly knocked out rats I swear. Otherwise, try scenting with some mouse fur or thawing f/t rats in soiled mouse bedding. Worked for a picky Burm....and they are the WORST to transition from live.

[Dianne]

I’m going through this with Artemis, my dragonfly. I purchased her on 9/2/18 and she has yet to feed for me. I just received a new scale and weighed her for the first time tonight - 1388 g. While I don’t have an original weight, her body mass has remained the same - no evidence of weight loss, great muscle tone, etc. I purchased the scale to better track her condition. I have only handled her to clean the cage 2-3 times, using that opportunity to check her condition, then tonight to weigh her. She’s very calm when being handled, tongue flicks and no attempt to flee.

I’m offering f/t every 2 weeks, which she looks at but so far hasn’t shown any interest in eating. I’ve heated the rats in warm water (in bags) like I do for the rest of the crew, heated with a hair dryer, dangled the rat by the tail, held it by the scruff of the neck and “walked” it in front of her hide, left it over night, and tried both small and medium rats. Per the prior owner, she had eaten f/t before but was most recently on small to medium live rats. I prefer not to go the live route if I can help it, so I’m currently waiting her out. If she starts to drop weight, I’ll try live as a last resort but hoping she gives in before I do.

[Jasmijn]

I had bought a 4 y/o ball python that had eaten live his whole life as well, however i offered it a f/t after a week of having the snake, overnight it ate the f/t so it’s definitly possible!! (And way safer then feeding live rats; my snake had several bite wounds from the breeder feeding him live before (which after a shed healed nicely)) try asking the person who you got you snake from how he/she fed the snake and try replicating that with the f/t. It also helps alot if the f/t is dry and a little warm. For some snakes just wiggling the f/t or dropping the food in front of the snake (from an inch above ground or so) seems to work well too. Try leaving the food in it’s cage overnight if it doesnt eat right awy since in the wild they tend to feed at night.
hope this helps! let me know how it goes

[zina10]

5 weeks is really not that long, considering they sometimes take far longer breaks, even if they haven't been moved and nothing has changed.

For adults, it is much more difficult to get used to a new situation. And going to F/T from live, is difficult with an adult who never ate anything else.

But it can be done. I used to rescue imported adults that were in rough shape. Full of parasites, never having eaten anything, URI, scale rot, etc.. Now they really were a challenge. Time just didn't factor in. It took as long as it did. First of all just getting them healthy took time. Letting the meds work. Getting them housed in a small, private and dark container with the correct heat and humidity.

Once healthy, the battle with feeding began. I didn't even try F/T right of the bat. I wanted them to eat readily once healthy and comfortable in the new setup. For some it even took Gerbils. Live ones But they all switched eventually. They were placed when they ate F/T rats readily.

After a long break (and yours didn't have a long break just yet) it can help to jump start their Metabolism with one live meal. Smaller then what they would usually take. Once they had a meal, it seems their Metabolism really kicks in and they get HUNGRY!!! Most will then take a F/T or at least Pre killed as their next meal, after waiting 5 to 7 days.

Yours may need some more down time, but you could try to feed a small, live meal and see if that will get them going again. I just told a local guy about that trick, and it worked for his BP beautifully

That said, do NOT go to Gerbils or anything like that. I did that because of the snakes having been imports, having never eaten rats, and I needed to try anything to get them started.