is this a good way to switch to rats?

[FrankieCarbone]

I know a good way to switch a bigger BP (900+ grams) from mice to rats is throwing him into some stinky mouse bedding, or feeding a mouse first then a rat, but how about if hes starving? I offer every 6 or so days a mouse and sometimes he takes it sometimes he does not, sometimes he takes one and not the second, sometimes both, anyways after 2 weeks of not taking anything, this is the third week since he has eaten and he is out of his hide and active, but i can tell hes REALLY hungry but the way he is acting.

Anyways, is this a good way to try a rat? I'm 90 percent sure hell take a mouse, at atleast the first mouse right now the way he is acting, maybe probably even the second. What i dont wan to do is mess up a feed by throwing in a rat and him smelling him and retreating back to his hide, cuz then i will have to wait another 7-10 days or even more before i can offer again.

[Annarose15]

I would try a rat that's not much bigger than the mice you've been feeding (weanling size rat - 40g or so). You don't want him intimidated by a sudden size change, and you can inch him up to small rats after he's taken a few weanlings. Use the dirty mouse bedding trick to help him recognize the prey. If he really is hungry, you shouldn't have an issue (fingers crossed!). If it works, I'd used the bedding trick for one or two more meals before just going to straight rats.

[dave g]

he isnt starving yet. just put a rat in and find out. dont do nothing different than if you were feeding a mouse. just use a rat instead of mouse.

do you feed in the evening or night time? if he doesnt take it the rat with normal procedure try turning room lights off and making it dark for him. i have a female that has to eat in the dark.

good luck

[snake lab]

When i get in a mouse eater the first thing i do is switch em to rats. The way i do it is i put the the snake in a smaller tub and throw a rat in. If it doesnt nail it i take the rat out after 10 minutes. I repeat this process till it takes the rat. It works well. Then next time i try and feed i do it in the snakes regular tub. If it doesnt take it then i repeat the smaller tub till it works

[FrankieCarbone]

interesting, havent heard that one before. So take my bp out of his enclosure (29g tank) and put him in a smaller enclosure (his pervious 19g tank) and throw in a rat and see if he takes it? What i dont get if when u say take the rat out and try again, do u mean take the rat out and wait a half hour or so and try again, or take the rat out and try again in a few days?

[snakesRkewl]

I would just try a rat where it normally eats, there's no reason at all to move a ball python to eat.
If it doesn't take the rat wait a day or two and feed the mouse, you don't have to wait 7-10 days...

[apple2]

I do pretty much the same thing as Snake Lab.

I have one of the mouse transport bins from a lab, and it works a charm. You can close the lid and the snake will feel safe, like in a hide, but it can still breathe because of the mesh on the top.

I jiggle the rat around for about 15 seconds. If the ball shows no interest, I put the rat near the head and close the tub. I wait for about 30 minutes. 9/10 times the rat is gone

[Mr. K.]

True, i didnt put my mojave female to a smaller bin but i try everything (smaller rats, live, defrost, fresh killed, throwing them in to mice bedding...) and was doing that from 1. december till 13 february and nothing. On 13. february i gave her a mice and she destroyed him.
Ill try the small tub method on the next feeding. Hope it will work.

[Mike41793]

I think snake labs idea is good, pretty much the same thing i did.
My normal female wouldnt convert over to rat pups from mice so i put her in a 6qt instead of a 12qt. Before i put her in tho i let a mouse (that i just fed off to one of my garbage disposals after) run around in the 6qt tubs for like 30min. It ran all over the tub and peed a couple of times. Then i took out the mouse and put the snake in, let her sit for like 5 min to get the scent of the mouse then dropped the rat in and she took it right away. Afterwards i just put her back in her regular tub.

[FrankieCarbone]

i dont get how that works, why is he more likely to take a rat in a small enclosure rather than a larger/current enclosure???