Out of methods She Wont Eat Rats

[Alli Scott Amazonia]

So I have a ball python who is about four months old. She was raised on live rat pups. She was eating both rats and mice perfectly fine even when she switched over to Frozen thawed. But for some reason she will not take Frozen thawed rats. I have tried scenting the rats with mouse bedding, I have tried putting the Mouse blood all over the rat, and now I have tried actually braining the Rat and Mouse together and putting it all over the rat. I've also tried feeding her a live rat first then a Frozen thawed rat and she did not take that either. I have tried obviously a lot of methods but I need a little more advice. If you can help me out that would be wonderful. Oh and she also will sometimes take from Strike and sometimes take when I put it in the cage by itself and leave her just to give you a heads up. Thank you

[butterballpython]

You've tried a lot of things on a very young snake. How many days apart are you offering meals, and how long has she had to settle in?

[Alli Scott Amazonia]

I have had her for almost 3 months now. She has been a very strong eater since I got her and the switch over to Frozen thawed it was very simple. And I only try feeding her once every 4 to 6 days. I basically wait until I see that she has pooped and when she starts crawling all over the cage and now she's hungry. I always tried a rat first with scent on it and if she doesn't take that the next day I will feed her a mouse so she can get a meal in. She is also maintaining a decent Waite of 150 grams.

[Dezoruba]

I have had her for almost 3 months now. She has been a very strong eater since I got her and the switch over to Frozen thawed it was very simple. And I only try feeding her once every 4 to 6 days. I basically wait until I see that she has pooped and when she starts crawling all over the cage and now she's hungry. I always tried a rat first with scent on it and if she doesn't take that the next day I will feed her a mouse so she can get a meal in. She is also maintaining a decent Waite of 150 grams.

If she refuses the rat wait 7 days before trying again

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[cchardwick]

My ball pythons are very finicky. Sometimes they will all eat and sometimes they won't. I have had some go off food for weeks. The only thing that seems to consistently work are live rat pups (I won't feed them live if they have their eyes open). I usually try fresh killed mice or rats and that works good most of the time. I tried frozen thawed yesterday and almost none of them took it. So I gave them live rat pups and they all ate! Then I followed up with frozen thawed and some took that as an extra meal. I'm thinking about getting seven 40 gallon breeder critter cage glass aquariums with female rats and rotating my male rat through and getting a new batch of rat pups every week because they work so well. I can CO2 my extra and put them in the freezer for later.

Just picked up a 6 month old dwarf reticulated python, that thing is a monster and ate all my unused frozen thawed mice LOLOL!!

By the way, I only feed my young ball pythons once every seven days. Most people say 4-6 days but seven has been working for me and they all look very healthy. I like to keep all my snakes on a weekly feeding schedule, it's just easier for me. If I feed a pretty small meal I'll follow up with a second within about 10 minutes of the first.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Pretty simple feed what WORKS

[enginee837]

I our albino spider female had been a strict mouser for the last 2 years. About 2 months ago my buddy and I built this melamine cage system and moved her into it.
[IMG][/IMG]
Now for some reason she takes rats with no coaxing at all. The cage is about twice the size of what she was in but I am not sure why that would make any difference. Anyhow, good luck with yours. I know how frustrating that can be.