This is good to read. In my case, I have a male that was a die hard FT guy, then during last breeding season, he refused and went to live. Even on live he is finicky eater, at best once every 2-3 months. In his case, I start him with a live mouse to "get him in the mood". Once he gets near the back of the mouse's body, i gently take a medium FT rat, and have it follow the nearly consumed mouse. It works very well.

Conversely, have a female who use to eat ONLY live, and now she eat the FT no problem, but it took some time to convert her.

I suspect the male will come around, if i ever let him get VERY hungry.

Anyway, now I can gamble on 2 new ones who are so far only live eaters