Switching to f/t.

[AkHerps]

My baby ball python didn't eat for over a month and then he finally ate a live small mouse because he was on live before I got him. He has now had 3 meals exactly every 7 days and shed last week. His last was on the 21st. I would like to switch to f/t because it is really hard to find small mice for him to eat, and I already had an incident where his tooth hooked and he ate his face....I really don't want that happening again...although maybe it was just a fluke I don't know...I have found a couple healthy looking poops in his house.

He is still pretty thin from not eating for so long, should I try feeding every 5 days? How often would be best?

How can I go about switching him over, he refused f/t when I first got him, even though I tried everything! He doesn't have the best feeding response, it took him a little under an hour to kill the first mouse, under 10 the second time, and about 30 minutes this last time.

Should I just thaw it out, heat it up, and leave it in his house in front of his hide?

Thanks for any and all help!

[groki21]

try having the mouse really hot (dont cook it obviously) and use your tongs if you have them, and do like a mouse zombie dance. Grab the mouse by the scruf of the neck with the tongs and wiggle it around to stimulate movement. See if that helps. Others will probably chime in with some other suggestions.

[AkHerps]

It takes him a long time to actually strike, 30min-1 hour...so I'd be doing that for a long long long time....

[AkHerps]

*bump*

[dr del]

Hi,

Honestly I'd be more intrested in finding out why it took him so long to eat before I thought of converting from one prey item to another.

I might try leaving an F/T in overnight but that's about it until I had double checked to see if anything could be done to make him feel more secure about eating.

I could of course be dead wrong about this.


dr del

[AkHerps]

He was on live fuzzies and hoppers before, and I couldn't find anything live, so I kept trying f/t with no luck. The first time I found a small live adult mouse and left it in his house with him for a while, he grabbed it and ate it.

[AkHerps]

pfbbbttt well he refused another f/t...he came out crazy hungry when I put it in their and totally looked at it like...WTF is thattt!!!!

Put a pretty big live mouse in there like an hour after trying the f/t and he grabbed it within a minute...I guess I'm sticking with live since he doesn't seem to have a problem even with larger mice xP It was also only 5 days since his last meal so I'm going to switch to every 5 days. I really hope that eating his face thing was just a fluke, if it happens again..I'm getting pictures!!!

[Shenzi Sixaxis]

Ah, you waited an hour, not over night. Put him in a plastic container with a lid or his viv if you aren't using loose bedding and leave it OVER NIGHT. If he eats, good! If not, throw the f/t mouse out. You can either toss him a live mouse or wait a few days for another f/t try.

With the next f/t, try braining and cutting the f/t mouse to make it ooze blood and bodily fluids; I don't have a BP yet, but with my two corn snakes, one will go nuts and one will not eat furry prey unless it is bloody. Again, leave the cut f/t mouse in over night with him if he doesn't eat right away.

You could also try scenting with a rat, broth, washing the mouse, and even tuna and see if that works.

Another thing; how do you thaw your mice? In room temp over a period of time, or quickly in hot water? Either way, try thawing in near boiling water to get the mouse HOT; this also gets a radical feeding responses from my corns.

I'm coming from corn snakes, like I said, but perhaps try these ideas? It sounds like your guy is a slow killer, and takes long enough to strike that this is a disaster waiting to happen, even if you are watching. Hope one of these helps/works.

[Jeremy78]

Sorry but I would have to strongly disagree with thawing the rodent in near boiling water. I would try thawing the rodent at room temperature then putting it in hot tap water for thirty minutes to an hour to warn up.

If you put a frozen rodent in near boiling water odds are the outside will cook and the center will stay frozen.

[AkHerps]

I've tried braining, etc..all those tricks in the past. He's still really thin from not eating for a couple months(he's still a baby) so I'm just going to stick with live. I don't mind him eating it, I just don't want him to eat his face again...T_T