Is it really impossible for some ball pythons to switch to F/T from live?

[Shadowy]

I had a discussion with another ball python owner about switching from live. He claims for some snakes the switch is impossible no matter how persistent you are. I disagree, but then again I haven’t had issues thus far. I would think with persistence and preparing the frozen feeder correctly, any snake can make the switch.

[AbsoluteApril]

I personally have yet to meet a snake, ball python or otherwise, that cannot be switched to F/T.

[Shadowy]

I personally have yet to meet a snake, ball python or otherwise, that cannot be switched to F/T.

I think I need to stay off other ball python groups other than this forum. Lol too many misinformed people it’s driving me nuts.

[PitOnTheProwl]

I have had one female that wouldn't take anything but live.
After 11 months of trying everything possible to get her to eat f/t I caved and gave her a live.
When I quit breeding rodents a while back I forced my whole collection to switch. I haven't bred in a couple years because of the amount of weight loss many of my big females have had.
I lost a really nice VPI Axanthic male.
So yeah, there are some that refuse to switch and it sucks.
I also gave away several really nice animals to people that have rodent colonies so they could feed live.

[Bogertophis]

I think I need to stay off other ball python groups other than this forum. Lol too many misinformed people it’s driving me nuts.

Yeah, though some BPs are much harder than others to switch. Really the better question is "Is it really possible for all owners to learn to feed their ball pythons
on f/t prey?" Not all have the patience, and not all consistently tick all the right boxes* to ensure success. *Like they might warm the prey enough, but offer at the
wrong times, like during the day or when their BP is cruising the cage. Instead of making the f/t prey look "alive" they've got their rats break-dancing & scaring their
BP so it refuses, or they still insist on feeding their snake in a "separate container"....so many ways to FAIL.

I've personally known about 10 BPs, but I'll also take Pit's word for it that some just will NOT take f/t...most can be persuaded with all the right techniques, but
some will frustrate owners to death...& still refuse. I don't doubt that.

[pretends2bnormal]

It may be possible to get all of them to take F/T, but there is the odd individual that is a much more hit or miss eater on frozen even when things are done properly for one reason or another. However, there's no reason that the vast majority can't be switched with the right tactic. The kind of difficult frozen eater I'm referring to is not the norm at all.

My pied girl is a juvie and is still so shy of an eater that if I move or move the tub once she strikes, she will drop the rat and refuse to eat. She will not drop feed and has to have a VERY convincing and hot zombie rat to even strike and sometimes she will be supremely interested and still refuse to strike. So about 70% of the time if I get her to strike F/T, she will drop it and often refuse to strike again. Either because me backing away spooked her, or I closed the tub and that spooked her, or the rat got cool before she was done killing it... etc. She would eat at most 1 in 4 meals (about once a month) with 30+ minutes of reheating, offering, and praying she won't drop it. (I've used every trick posted on here for the last 2 years to try to make F/T more appealing to that minimal success.)

I've since started breeding my own rats and am just letting her have live now and she has eaten them successfully every time. I can drop it in and watch the strike. Since it struggles, she doesn't mind/notice the tub closing as long as it is done before the rat dies so I have time to ensure she got a good wrap on it/didn't get bit. As soon as I'm sure she has it well-coiled, I can close the tub and back away before it dies so I'm out of sight and she will eat it every single time. Maybe when she is older, she will be less spooked eating with me there and I can give it another try.

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[rufretic]

I've had somewhere around 80-90 ball pythons over the last few years and consider myself very good at getting them feeding f/t rats. I've successfully switched many from mice to rats as well. Almost every one I've purchased has been on live before I got them and all my hatchlings start on live hoppers. I've never failed at getting a young snake switched to f/t, some took much more time and effort but they've all switched. I've had one that never switched from mice but he's taken f/t. I currently have 2 young females that are being difficult and only want live rats but I still have hope for them.
I've had one female that I got as a sub adult and she never switched to f/t after years of trying she had taken one f/t and that was it. Months at a time refusing which would lead to weight loss and I'd be forced to give her anything she would accept to get weight back up and then start over trying to switch without luck. A couple years of this and I finally gave up. She regularly refused live food as well so she was just a terrible eater to begin with and just never had a good enough feeding response to get her switched. So I would have to say that some will never be able to be switched to f/t but it is an extreme rarity.

[Moose84]

Incorrect.. You have to understand what you are putting the snake through... If it is used to eating live its entire life and you or anyone for that matter keeps shoving FT in front of them and they aren't eating it isn't about the snake anymore.. Its about the owner not wanting to for whatever reason.

This response was to this comment... "I would think with persistence and preparing the frozen feeder correctly, any snake can make the switch."

[Cheesenugget]

I think imports or adult bp used to eating live will have a much harder time to switch than captive bred babies. I also think too young of a baby are easily prone to stress and eat better starting out live. While I had success switching all my snakes, bp or not including another notoriously known shy eater species, to frozen, feeding live or not out of necessity is not a bad thing and the keeper should not be judged for doing so. I had met a handful of people who tried every trick out there and had no success. The snake was simply stubborn.

On the other hand, I have a harder time getting my snakes except my bp to accept both mice and rats other than my woma and Children. My king who came to me eating rats love to eat. However, no matter how hungry she is, she would take a bite of a rat and immediately spits it back out. Give her a mouse and she is eating it with enthusiasm. Same for my boa. Strike, bite, and drop the rat. Give them a mouse and they happily gulp it down and beg for more. So I think no matter how well one prepares the food, some just know that their food is not to their liking or simply 'off' to what they are used to so they want it their way or no way.

[redshepherd]

I bought a 3 year old female a few years ago who was fed live rodents her entire life, and I couldn't get her to switch to f/t after half a year (so I sold her). But I still fed her live every other time I prepped and offered her f/t, so that clearly didn't help lol.

I obviously can't say for sure whether she would be "impossible" to switch to f/t, but I know it would take many, many months of starving her of food first, maybe even a whole year. And watching her drop in weight. And not all owners are willing to do that and watch their snake grow thin just for the sake of f/t.

So you could say that some are impossible to switch to f/t, in a way. Especially adults that have always been fed live and some imports, like cheesenugget said.