mice to rats

[Orangephoner]

So i am making the big switch from adult mice to rat pups. But my Bp claire is not responding very well to it. I have tryed 3 times now and everytime she sits there and acts interested for a second and then later i find her laying on it or trying to escape the bucket i feed her in. i am feeding F/T and i was wondering if anyone has any advise on making this switch. i have read on here that it can be hard.
thank you in advance for any advice/tips
christian

[xXCleoPatraXx]

My girl cleo was fed F/T and she would eat it at all, so i tried a live one instead, she was much more interested in it, so, start feeding live and see what she does, yes it is also possible for the rat to bite her, to prevent that have a pencil near by, stick the pencil under the rats mouth as fast and you can. Hope this helps

Cleo.

[Inarikins]

Try feeding in her enclosure for one. Cage aggression is a myth. Rat pups shouldn't be a threat to your snake - they still have their eyes closed and don't move a lot. Try F/T first. Make sure it's thawed and warmed properly and if you have a F/T mouse just scent the thawed pup (or whatever) with the rat the first time or first few times. If she's interested then that might be all you need.

[Orangephoner]

So scent the rat with a mouse and put it in her cage? And you are sure that cage aggression is a myth? And if that doesn't work try feeding live? What are pros and cons of feeding live. I have heard bad things

Christian

[Inarikins]

Scent the thawed, warm rat with a mouse and offer it to her. Do the zombie rodent dance for her to entice her to strike without moving her from her enclosure. To scent, you can just rub a still-frozen mouse across the thawed rat really well, making sure you get most of it. You're trying to fool her into thinking the rat is actually a mouse, so you want to hide the rat scent as much as possible.

Yes, I'm sure cage aggression is a myth. Unless you smell like food, you're typically not going to get a strike unless it's defensive, which are pretty rare in a healthy, unstressed BP. Most bites are because the hand you're reaching into their enclosure with smells like mouse or rat. And following 'their' line of reasoning, what's going to stop the snake from associating you reaching in to pick it up to handle with you reaching in to move it to its feeding tub and it strikes? Plus it causes unnecessary stress to your BP. It might be why she's refusing. It's best to eliminate as many variables as possible.

I would try offering F/T first before going to live. You're less likely to get refusals if you feed live but there's also a risk of a live feeder harming your snake. If it's not hungry or thirsty and you don't leave the live feeder there and walk away from your snake for more than 20 or 30 minutes then you're probably going to be okay feeding live. But if she'll take F/T without hassle I would do it. Plenty of people here feed live and have never had an incident, but why even take the risk is what I think. /shrugs

[Riv]

Ive had a lot of success with feeding live pups(Feed pups regardless of the size of snake, you want them to get used to the taste and smell, and in my experiences, if the prey item is an appropriate size for the snake they are more easily intimidated by it.)

As someone earlier said, pups dont move around much and their eyes are closed, so the threat is almost insignificant. Then next feeding, I move to F/T Rats that are slightly larger. Inbetween the pup, and a good sized meal, and using a heat lamp and or a blowdrier, get the rat up to temp. I personally blow the heated rats scent into my snakes enclosure to excite them, but ive never noticed any difference. At this point the snake hasnt had to deal with much in the way of their prey moving. I keep the rat, low to the ground, and a good distance away from the snake. If theyre interested the smell will usually make them investigate, and then they'll either take it or they wont.

I have had this method work for both my 700 gram spider, and my Juvy Burm. My two normals have not made the switch yet, and im still attempting to get them to eat even the live pups. They were from petsmart, and have always been terrible eaters, but im sure ill get it eventually.

Hopefully your transition is smooth. Best of luck!

[jcoylesr76]

not sure how my transition is going to go with the BP's (getting funds for the rat order) but generally all other types of pythons i do a 14 day starve out before switching from Mice to Rats. generally they are hungry enough to go for it with little hesitation, i have had to scent them occasionally but not often. but if i intend to feed F/T, i offer F/T first before resorting to live.