I Give Up On FT

[Skittles1101]

I have 9/10 that take f/t without issue. One female will only eat live hoppers apparently...just took her first one from me today. lol

[AK907]

Yeah, I don't get it either. I've had two ball pythons take f/t for me and each one was only once and they were VERY hungry. No other ball python has done that for us. We do start our corns out on f/t without any issues, though.

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

I stopped the FT ordeal long ago. Most breeders don't even deal with it. It really is faster, cheaper, and easier to breed your own when your have a sizable collection. Also much easier to start hatchlings on live rat pinks.

I however, do not feed live once my snakes graduate to rats that are just about weaned. I will not risk a bite or injury. Therefore all of my snakes now, except for one, (knock wood) take prekilled. That one is my ever picky blue eyed leucy "Sinatra".

I was feeding FT a couple years ago but I was wasting at least a few rats every feeding for the ones who just weren't hungry or didn't want FT. So I got rat racks and now life is much easier.

Also easier to feed proper sized rodents. Especially when trying to quickly grow babies or breeding females by giving small meals often. More variety of sizes to choose from when you breed your own. You also know what your rats are eating, wether they are healthy, etc..

[KLMuller]

I have tried f/t on all my snakes at least once and some take it most wont even look at them. I produce all my rodents and I find it is helpful to have a few that will take frozen or pre killed to keep my rodent population balanced. If I have a week where I get lots I freeze some for the weeks where my rats have smaller litters. If have frozen and over population I sell extras off works well

[Bill T]

Sorry to hear brother. All of mine take thawed but i started breeding my own anyway to cut on cost. If u lived in mn id give ya some but ur in georgia.

[dr del]

Hi,

All mine that I keep or have bred eat F/T - it's a whole lot of hassle to start them off on occasion but I have never let one starve to death and they all gave in at the end.

Very, very few people in the UK feed live. Not because it is illegal ( despite the misinformation out there by PETA et al ) but because it is illegal to buy rodents under 6 weeks old from a pet store.

So it is breed your own or feed F/T. In my case the landlord wouldn't allow rodents in the flat so I don't really have a choice.

Live is a lot easier but F/T will eventually work. Though bear in mind I had one hatchling take almost a year before she started eating F/T on her own.


dr del

[waltah!]

I've been pretty lucky I guess. Everything I have eats f/t. I didn't even start hatchlings out on live as they all took f/t right away.
If you have a good sized collection and the time/space live is probably cheaper and faster, though.

[robeyeshua]

Don't give up - I do know the struggle - I live 20 miles away from the nearest supplier of anything and I am certainly not gonna raise rodents for 6 snakes - they will give in - eventually - I have found the key is patience - as you are well aware I'm sure, they feed by "smell, if you will" and heat - thaw them in a sandwhich bag sealed - never touch them - then heat them undersink HOT - still sealed in bag and offer off tongs - in most every case - they will give in eventually

[benwallage9]

I buy f/t small rats (45-84grams) for .95 a piece and medium (idk the gram range off the top of my head) for 1.35 to me this is really cheap. I don't feed live because I had a mouse attack my corn snake but a 5 months ago, it was a nasty ordeal where I ended up having to break the mouses neck well trying to not get bit by the snake. In the end my snake had 6 bite marks on her, two of them have scarred, and she was so pissed she wouldn't even eat the mouse. It was disgusting seeing the mouse take chunks out of my snake because she didn't get a correct strike on the mouse, the whole thing made me feel sick.

Since that incident I swore to only feed f/t and have, I have never feed a bp live, and don't plan to. All of my snakes came to me as live feeders, and I have successfully switched them all and I've bought bps from hatchlings to 2 years old. I think the key is when you first get them to stick to your guns and only do f/t, also scent the room for every feeding. My philosophy with this is the snake is in a new environment, with new lighting, new heat spot, slightly different temps, new smells, new everything. Adjusting to a new way of eating is like them having to adjust to all the other new stuff. As long as they realize they can take it or leave it they will take the food. I've waited as long as a 4 months before the snake took a f/t.

[RichsBallPythons]

How i get snakes OFF live to frozen has proven to work for me. With 45 snakes all will eat either live, Pre killed or frozen but 3.

I started them off with live till i knew they ate well, then moved to pre killed few meals. Then after pre killed feedings were good i moved to frozen and it never fails for me. Works great with hatchlings and have converted few Adult breeding females off live.