When to try live?

[Badgemash]

I'm glad she ate for you, the best thing about producing your own feeders is knowing you have good quality nutrition for your snakes (and they're not too much work iif it's just a few tubs).

[Marrissa]

Ah I'm so excited. I'm going to start building the tubs this week. I still have over 100 rats of various sizes in my mini freezer so I won't need that many rat babies a week.

[bcardi151]

Sometimes live will kick start them then try F/T. You may want to try a smaller meal.

[Marrissa]

I have two young rats now. One make and one female. Waiting till later in the week when the dumbos go up for sale and I'll pick up my third rat for the breeding trio. She's taken two live mice and still refuses F/T. Fine by me since now I finally have an excuse to breed rats.

[NH93]

Hey!

I have an idea for you to try, if you'd like (for f/t rats). Another forum user was having issues and I told them how I got mine to eat, with trial and error, and he had been trying for weeks to get his to eat. He said he only needed to try "my way" one time, and it worked! Maybe you will have some luck as well.
I'm just going to copy and paste what I wrote on another forum:

Mine wouldn't eat the first week or two, but what I ended up doing (which worked) is I thawed a rat, put it in a baggie in HOT water, left the zip open and the cup right beside the tank for 15 mins. This usually gets my BP out and hunting, if he isn't already. I would then turn out all lights but one in a back corner so I could see, and get the tweezers and grab the rat in the middle, then slowly put it in the tank (not near my BP). I would jiggle it a bit, then slowly go a bit closer to the BP. When he noticed it (so he'd be about 6" away) I would start to entice him with it. Normally that got him to come closer. I would not move the rat closer to him, but wait for him to move towards it. I kept jiggling it, kind of acting like it was alive still. It could take a few minutes sometimes, but he always struck. When he coiled, I would give it another little jiggle for 5-10 seconds after, so he would coil tighter.

Now he knows the whole routine and it really doesn't take him long at all. Usually as soon as I lift the lid after scenting he's ready to go.

I also thawed the rat in with a mouse the first couple of times. I don't know if that made a difference or not though.


You may have already done something much like this.
Anyways, if not and you do try it, I hope it helps! Or at least gives you other ideas

Best of luck!

[Rorschach]

Try live. Why keep throwing away money?

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[Crazymonkee]

Try live. Why keep throwing away money?

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She has already gone on to feed live.

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[Marrissa]

Yep I've switched to live and plan to feed my others a mix of F/T and live as I have them from my breeders (which are too young currently). Since taking two mice she is now up to 141 grams when before she was at 126. I've very excited about her starting to catch up to the weight she should of been at by now.