Tips for feeding F/T.

[coolluigi007]

Hello everyone, I've been wanting to do a little thing on this for a while. See if I can help anyone win the fight to switch your snakes over to f/t, and share what little knowlege I have on the subject.

First I want to start off with a basic, general overview on what your objective is. The main object is, of course, to not have too feed live mice/rats. There is alot reasons to make the switch. It might be price, easier to find f/t, safety issuses, local laws, or even alot of people love rats and mice, and don't want to have to feed off their little pet friends. Whatever your reason is, there is a few things you need to remember.

There is little to no nutrition lost with feeding f/t. The biggest thing to remember is to feed off or rotate your f/t stock at least every six months. After six months the fat begins to break down on you f/t and they start to lose nutrition.

Now, if you have never made the switch over before, have faith. It is all about conditioning. It takes time, and depending on the snake, sometimes alot of time, but don't give up! If you take the time, you can condition your snake to do pretty much anything. If you're going to take the time to make the switch, the biggest thing you can do is "read" your snake. Sit down, look at your set up. How you feed? Do you go through the same feeding motions every time? Do your snakes like to eat at night? During the day? Where can you make changes to your feeding time. There is alot of tips and tricks out there, but I think the biggest issue is out there is that people don't but the time into, they try once or twice, and then they label it as "only eats live" I have switched over alot of these "only live feeders", and most of them have been very easy to switch.

Now, the biggest thing to remember is once they take f/t once, the next time it'll be a little easier, and the next time is even easier. Thats why I like to call it conditioning, because that is what it is, it would be like going to a different country, and having to drive on the other side of the road that your use too. The car might not have changed, all the signs look the same, but something is VERY different, and snakes are not stupid, they know someting is different.

Okay, now that I ranted for a while, hopefully you understand the whys, and now to go over the tricks. I'm just going to list them in no order, you might have to try some, or all of them, but "read" your snakes and you'll see which ones they have more intrest in, and which ones work better. Also, right before you make the switch, don't offer food for two weeks. Make it wait out a meal for a little bit to make the snake extra hungry.

First of all, you have to make sure that the rats/mice or unfrozen. The best way to do that I have found is the slow thaw method. If you like to feed at night, take them out in the morning, put them somewhere warm in the house, leave them for 7-8 hours. If you like to feed in the morning, pop em out before you go to bed. I have found that the slow thaw is just the best way to get them unthawed all the way through. Make sure you give em a poke to make sure they aren't still hard. I like to leave them in the snake room, off to the corner of one of my lights, so they warm up even better. I also leave a little of the top of the bag open so they mice/rats will sent the room while they unthaw, which helps put all the snakes in the mood to eat.I also have mice and rats in the same bag, so the rats get sented by the mice as well. Then 10-15 mins before I'm ready to start feeding, I put down some paper towels right on a snake light I have, set the rodents on there to warm them up the extra 10-20 degrees, and then start to feed. If the snake is new to f/t, with a pair of tongs, grab the rodent on the back or at the mid section, and make it "run" around the cage. Once they start taking them like that, just holding the rodent by the tail and doing the zombie dance works. Normally just doing this is enough to get a live eater to start feeding, but if it is not, try these tricks.

1. Start out with fresh killed for a week or two, then try f/t.
2. Sometimes the "Split head" trick works, most of you can figure that one out on your own...
3. Scenting mice on to your rats.
4. Feeding a slightly smaller prey item than you normally would.
5. Leaving the rodent in the cage over night.
6. Sometimes, taking them out of the cage and putting them in a feeding box helps.


I hope this helps, I think the biggest thing is just not to give up and keep on trying, it takes a while, but if you really try, I believe you can do it and make the switch! Good luck.


I'm sure I missed some tricks, and spelled some things wrong, if you see and mistakes or things to add, please feel free to give me a shout and let me know.