Feeding Question - Live to F/T

[bkelley02]

Do you feed live to a certain age/weight or do you try to get them started on Frozen Thawed from the start?

New to bloods and wasn't sure if they could be started like Balls ( F/T after first shed ) or if they're harder to get established.

Thanks for your help!

Brian

[kristan]

Since no one has posted an answer yet...
You definitely want to feed before the first shed, which takes about 3-4 months. I don't know if you can start out on f/t or not (I haven't had to start any out yet), but I don't see why not. I have acquired very tiny neos in the past, that I'm sure did not have too many meals, if any, in them and they all took f/t just fine. I'm sure some others will pitch in at some point and give you some better/more detailed info.

[bkelley02]

Thank Kristan. I received a small red blood on Wednesday that weighs 118 grams. She pooped in the bag on the way too me so I'm sure she had eaten. Was told she was eating Rat Pups, but not if it was F/T or live. Live aren't the easiest for me to get around here so would need to order some in weekly until I could switch over.

Any and all feedback is welcome!!

Brian

[Kara]

Brian,

We typically start ours on live fuzzy rats, and move them to pre-killed within just a few meals. Usually by their fifth feeding, all of our young bloods/STPs eat pre-killed. We typically don't feed frozen-thawed simply because we raise our own rodents, but one important point to keep in mind when doing so, is that bloods & short-tails rely heavily on their heat-sensing pits for detecting prey. Make sure that any frozen-thawed prey you offer has been warmed up significantly, 105 deg. (F) works great (use a temp gun) so that your snake can really key in on that rodent.

Good luck!

K~

[bkelley02]

Thanks Kara, that's what I do for my Ball Pythons too. Use a heat gun to make sure they're warm enough. I know each snake is different, but about how old would you guess a Neo would be at 118 grams? I'll try to post a pic if that helps, but she definitely is not thin. She's actually calmer then the Baby balls that hatched for me recently. So much for the devil spawn attitude........ at least so far.

[Kara]

Hard to say...I've seen them hatch as small as 40 grams and as big as 80+, so 118 grams could be 2-3 months & a few feedings, or a little older not fed well...without a complete background on the snake (feed records, etc), who really knows? Since you say she's in good flesh/condition, I'd reckon she's on the younger side of that guesstimate.

[bkelley02]

Thanks again Kara. I know it's next to impossible to give a 100% accurate guess on age.