Need Advice on switching from Mice to Rats.

[Vince407]

So, my BP is about 160 grams and I figure better to switch to Rats sooner than later. Especially, since she has been eating real well lately. However, it's not happening. I have tried warming the rat a bit with a light or hair dryer, scenting the rat with a mouse by thawing together and rubbing together, and leaving the rat over night (btw... these are all frozen/thawed, appropriately sized rodents and each of these attempts has been 5 days apart). No luck. My BP seems interested... stares at the rat but never strikes. It has been about 3 weeks since her last mouse and I don't want to give in by going back to mice.
Any other ideas or helpful advice on how to make the switch??? Thanks!

[ExotixTowing]

About 160 grams ??

Have you scaled her

Have you scaled the Rat ??

[Vince407]

Yes. 160 g on the gram scale. The rat pups have all been aprox 20 grams.

[ExotixTowing]

try a hopper, live just for the taste. My guys went to rats and have never looked back actually my normal turned down a mouse lol

I am sure an expert will chime in about the time span of feeding but I say don't give in and scale her now to check weight

[Vince407]

Only went down 3 grams in the past 3 weeks. I'm not sure about trying the live just cause she has never had live... Might work though?

[enchantress62]

Hi, I'm a newbie to this hobby but just a few days ago I got my baby girl to eat her first rat pup. She is 165g and the rat was 22g. What I did was make her wait 2wks for a feeding then I placed the rat pup inside a bag with a medium sized mouse (both frozen). I heated a cup of water in the microwave for 3 minutes which brought it to boiling. I placed the bag in the water and let them sit there until the water was almost cool. Then I rolled them around in the bag making sure that there was plenty of mouse smell on the rat pup. I offered the rat first and she hit it like a champ. Mind you I've been trying for a long time to switch her over and I was beginning to think she would never eat rats. This worked for me. Good luck

[Vince407]

Thanks enchantress. That's almost exactly what I tried last night but didn't work for me... Guess I've got a picky girl. Maybe I just need to let her get a bit hungrier and try again in a week.

[Slim]

Keep trying the mouse scent trick. It won't hurt her to go a few weeks with out eating if she continues to refuse.

You could also try braining the rat pup.

[enchantress62]

I think making them wait and get really hungry makes all the difference.

[fatSNAKEs]

go live ... trust me, works all the time. Good luck.