Frustrated. she's stuck on mice.

[TheSnakeGeek]

just an update: she took her first rat last night! SO proud of her.

it was a weaned rat so it was just a little bigger than the mice she's been getting. i had a tub with four mice in it. i put the rat in there with them for about 8 hours (the duration of my work shift), and when i came home the rat was all cuddled up with the mice. figured the rat had to reek of mouse to a snake. threw the rat in with her and she took it without even thinking.


i think i'll keep these mice as "pets" for the next few feedings to leave a rat in with for a few hours prior to feeding. hopefully i can gradually work her up to eating small rats from these weaned ones, because she's definitely big enough for them.. she just has to man up. lol

[XoKarma]

Good to hear, glad she made the initial switch for you. A few more mousey rats and she won't care if they've ever come in contact with a mouse.

1.0 ball pythons - Koba
0.1 pitbull/lab - Cinnamon
0.1 collie/elkhound - Fluffy
0.2 children
1.0 boyfriend

[AdamF]

I would give f/t rats a try. Much less intimidating

You could probably try the tough love approach for a month. Hold out until she takes the rat. 3-4 weeks without eating shouldn't hurt a snake that size.

This is best solution. One of my "mousers" was easily converted to FT rats. Try feeding at night. Try leaving the room, and wait a few weeks before next feed. Then try zombie dance. If all that fails, give her the the mouse and have a small frozen rat available for piggy back feed. After the 1st mouse is 80% in, gently put the nose of the FT rat behind the butt of the disappearing mouse. Her swallowing reflex will have her to continue eating the rat. Eventually she will get the "taste" of rat, and take only rats.

[mainbutter]

my main question is, how long should i be stubborn and let her go without eating?...she's up to 5 or 600 grams.

My answer: Very.

5 or 600 grams and stuck on mice, plenty big to take a 50-100 gram rat without difficulty in swallowing, your snake could go a month or more and still be perfectly healthy.

My advice when switching is to attempt to feed them when they are hungry and looking for food, not when you want them to eat.

edit: saw the update, congrats

[earthdragons737]

I have had the exact same problem with my female bee when she was around 800g. She would only take mice and was afraid of rats. What I did was give her mice, but before i would let the mice sit infront of her tub (scenting) before i offered them to her. I tried a small rat the next feeding while scenting with mice and there was no luck. I had the problem with the rat bumping her and she would freak out into a head sping thing. So what i did was did the scenting again, then offered a weaned rat a tiny bit bigger than a mouse. She took it well. From there I worked up to a live small rat. before this she would refuse any frozen, but now she is pounding frozen small rats weekly. I think its not the mouse these bees get stuck on, its the size of the rat combined weith the wobble. Its almost as if they know that it impares there feeding respones and they have fear of the live larger rodent. Now my female be is 1100 grams and gaining for next season, looking for some killers!

[DooLittle]

This is best solution. One of my "mousers" was easily converted to FT rats. Try feeding at night. Try leaving the room, and wait a few weeks before next feed. Then try zombie dance. If all that fails, give her the the mouse and have a small frozen rat available for piggy back feed. After the 1st mouse is 80% in, gently put the nose of the FT rat behind the butt of the disappearing mouse. Her swallowing reflex will have her to continue eating the rat. Eventually she will get the "taste" of rat, and take only rats.

Personally, I would never force feed my snake like that. And why would you want to mess with them while they are eating? There are lots of ways to try to switch them to rats. Some snakes are just mousers and will never switch. But I wouldn't stuff something down my snakes throat, I would have a mouser before I did that.

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[KingPythons]

Glad you got the switch! I've tried everything with my girl and nothing. I starved her for two months and nothing. Some balls really at times won't take what you want them to buy would prefer what they've been on.

[barbie.dragon]

You can try a rat that is roughly the same size as the mice you're feeding. Or switch to F/T mice then to F/T rats.

[youbeyouibei]

Glad she took a rat for you and that you didn't have to resort to anything too desperate. I've heard of leaving a rat in the bedding but not of leaving one in with live mice...good tip to keep in mind if I ever get a mouser who won't convert, lol! Good luck with her and glad she's eating for you.

[TheSnakeGeek]

this was the first live weaned rat i could get my hands on, so it was smaller than a "small rat." i really think she was just more intimidated by the rats size but we'll see. hopefully i can get her to keep taking them. now that she took her first one without having to miss a few feedings i think i'm gonna start being stubborn with her and not let her have any more mice. lol i'm rootin for her.