help switching to frozen thawed

[CB1125]

So my albino I've had for a month still won't eat so I call the guy I got him from and he said maybe its because he has been eating live great so now I'm wondering how do I go about gettin him to eat the frozen my vet said to start with live pinkies or freshly killed but idk where to get those in my area

[Kymberli]

You'll have to search around a bit, maybe find someone near you on here who breeds their own rodents. I'm no expert, so others may be able to give you better advice, but I would suggest finding appropriately sized live mice just to get him eating regularly again. Once he's taken a few regular live feedings you can try f/t (same size) mice, probably giving the mouse a little "zombie dance". This worked for me when I rescued my male who had been on live mice the entire 4 years of his life. Then when switching from f/t mice to f/t rats, I scented the rats with mice a few times. Hope this helps a bit..

Edit: Also, I might add, I've heard some people say they've had BPs who simply refuse to ever switch from live to f/t. So, consider that as well.

[Kinra]

How are you preparing your f/t rodents? A couple of my BPs are picky and won't eat if they don't think it's warm enough. I can't give you any advice on switching from mice to rats, because all of mine switched no problem, but the advice Kymberli gave you sounds pretty solid. The zombie dance works really well for me, but you sometimes have to be willing to wait them out. I've wiggled a rat for what felt like over 5-10 minutes once before she would take it. Also how often are you offering food? It took me 3 weeks to get one of my BPs to eat, she was very stressed from being shipped, but I only offered food every 6 days. Offering food too often will just stress them more.

[hongkongluna]

My boys won't take the F/T if they are wet. So I blow dry them. Works every time I forgot where I read that, can't take credit for it.

R

[blushingball419]

Definitely make sure it's warm enough!! I always thaw and heat up my rats in warm water, and then right before I offer them to my bp, I use a hair dryer on them for a couple minutes, mainly around the head and upper body. That and doing the zombie dance works like a charm for me. Some bps like to be more difficult though.

And I second what Kymberli said... the most important thing is to make sure he's eating and at a good weight before you try to make the switch. So if he's used to eating live, feed him live the first couple of meals and see how it goes.

Good luck!!

[loonunit]

He won't eat at all? Is he a baby? If he's real little, you really wanna get him to eat SOMETHING, ANYTHING first, even if it's live. Hopper mice are your best bet, because the hopping around is hard for snakes to resist. (warning: hoppers are really cute.) Aaaaaand sometimes they even reject that, and then you have to figure out what to do with the mouse...

If you can get him to eat live, and he's obviously hungry, sometimes you can follow up the live mouse with a nice, freshly-thawed, warmed-nose dead mouse as a second helping. Most of my stubborn live eaters went through several weeks of that before taking frozen thawed on the first helping.

You need help finding a live rodent supplier? Can you contact the person who sold you the albino? They probably know where to get them, if they don't have their own rodent production on site. Or you can go to google maps and just type "reptile supplies, Greenville, SC", and you'll get a list of likely places to try calling.

I don't like "prekilled", because that means I have to do the killing. And I have a hard time doing it cleanly. The small live followed by small f/t for dessert strategy has eventually worked for all of my animals.

[CB1125]

Well he is now 7months at that age what should he weigh? Jw but I will try all of those things ill do anything to get him to eat lol(: