How to Switch Foods Effectively?

[RiA MaU]

Hello. This is l kind of a branch off my last post. I have a BP who is about a year and a half old. She was raised on live food before I got her and I stuck to it while I've had her. This is becoming very inconvenient now that she's living with a friend of mine. We don't have another animal who can eat the rat instead of she decides she's not eating this week, so my friend has to basically care for another pet until she eats it. The last rat we got refused food/water and killed itself. Tragic. I've been wanting to switch her to f/t for a while, anyway but I just haven't had the means or the know-how. I know there's no "quick and easy" way, but what's the fastest and easiest way to switch a BP's food?

[Eric Alan]

Have you tried offering f/t? Sometimes they'll surprise you and make you wonder why you worried so much about it in the first place.

[Yzmasmom]

My baby girl was raised on live. First meal with her, we heated well to make her think it was live and did the Zombie Rat Dance. She took it. Will she take it this week? All we can do is try.

[Scosta56]

I feed all 9 of my animals frozen thawed. Always make sure they are defrosted properly. I put mine in cold water for about 4 hours to make sure they are 100% defrosted. Then I warm them up in warm water and finally hit with blow dryer to make them look alive. They all do the "wiggle" and once they hit they all "fight back" my snakes do not know the difference. They all "kill" their food the same as a live. Patience is key. Skip her meal this week so she is hungry and than offer a frozen thawed nice and warm. Use tongs and make it fight back if she does hit it.

[Neal]

You just have to try, no real way to switch. Either the snake will or won't eat f/t and that doesn't mean it'll stay on it.

Few things is to make sure it's properly thawed, make sure it's properly heated, and make it look alive, don't just hang by the tail. Though mine ate like this without problem.

[RiA MaU]

Have you tried offering f/t? Sometimes they'll surprise you and make you wonder why you worried so much about it in the first place.

I tried offering f/t a few times when I first got her in hopes of never having to feed her live, but no luck.

[RiA MaU]

I feed all 9 of my animals frozen thawed. Always make sure they are defrosted properly. I put mine in cold water for about 4 hours to make sure they are 100% defrosted. Then I warm them up in warm water and finally hit with blow dryer to make them look alive. They all do the "wiggle" and once they hit they all "fight back" my snakes do not know the difference. They all "kill" their food the same as a live. Patience is key. Skip her meal this week so she is hungry and than offer a frozen thawed nice and warm. Use tongs and make it fight back if she does hit it.

It's been over 3 weeks since she's taken a meal. I think she's fasting so I have no idea how to tell when she finally gets hungry again...

[Zincubus]

I tried offering f/t a few times when I first got her in hopes of never having to feed her live, but no luck.

Just have to persist , give her a little break from trying then do as the other guys suggested . I sometimes have to repeat the warming with a hairdryer quite a few times , sometimes it will take 7 or more attempts and they generally get more and more interested each time until they strike .

After that I'd leave it for another week or so before trying .





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[Stewart_Reptiles]

The way the feeder is thawed, warmed up can play a role, most importantly it's a game of patience and tough love.

With a year old animal assuming she has a good body weight it can take MONTHS, that means offering F/T and not offering live if the animal refuses.

Of course at some point you have to use common sense and know when to stop because tough love cannot go on forever either.

I had a female that took 3 years to convert doing 3 months of though love at the time (I really id not want to push it more also I could have), what finally did the trick is that I bred the female and she laid eggs, usually after laying they will eat ANYTHING.

Every animal is different some will never switch some will switch back and forth from a month to another (usually those are very agressive feeders)



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[cletus]

The way the feeder is thawed, warmed up can play a role, most importantly it's a game of patience and tough love.

With a year old animal assuming she has a good body weight it can take MONTHS, that means offering F/T and not offering live if the animal refuses.

Of course at some point you have to use common sense and know when to stop because tough love cannot go on forever either.

I had a female that took 3 years to convert doing 3 months of though love at the time (I really id not want to push it more also I could have), what finally did the trick is that I bred the female and she laid eggs, usually after laying they will eat ANYTHING.

Every animal is different some will never switch some will switch back and forth from a month to another (usually those are very agressive feeders)



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The one time my new girl wouldn't eat was because I thawed in water that was way too hot and pretty much cooked the mouse. I was just in a hurry. She wouldn't touch it. The next week and ever since she is back to being a garbage disposal. I don't thaw with water anymore. I let it thaw all the way naturally and then warm it up with a hair dryer and she nails them every time. Really trying to resist the urge to overfeed.