Is your BP a mouser?

[LightningPython]

I only have one that I'm feeding on f/t mice only because I don't have any rats small enough for her.
I'm gonna be ordering a shipment of frozen food after the new year

[bumblebella]

I have a picky eater... he will only eat live rats. Literally snubs his snoot at anything else.


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[Kroberts10]

My male absolutely hates rats. If he takes a mouse scented with rat, he won't eat again for a couple weeks. But he's about 850g, a year and a half old, and eats one jumbo mouse averaging 40g a week. He used to be a disposal when younger but now only eats one mouse at a time. When he eats he gains wait, slow but steady. He just got off a 2 month fast and went down to about 820g and stabilized there for a month or so.

Kyle


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[EDR]

My pastel was a serious mouser. One way heck maybe the only way to get them to switch is to offer f/t rats until they eventually take. It sucks and i hated doing that to her but in the end it was for the better.

[Scosta56]

^^^ This ... I hated doing it , but I have switched all my to frozen thawed rats. Remember the switch stresses you out 100 times worse than them lol. Battle of the will power haha who can hold out longer. Don't offer her anything for 2 weeks see if that changes her mind. If not ... well they always said patience is bliss right lol ? Good luck it's a pain , but soooo worth it.

[voodoolamb]

I had a mouser. Ugh. Never again. I have no clue how her previous owner got her up to 2000g.

She wouldn't take frozen thawed and it took forever to feed her enough mice for a single meal. Picky eater that took a lot of enticing.

I switched her to african soft furs. She pounded the first one and has never taken more than 30 seconds to go after another.

I've even leven able to get her to take rats if they're scented with soft fur bedding.

I have 1 guy on mice right now due to his size. I can't wait till he is big enough for rats.

[cletus]

As far as rats go, are ASF and regular rats the same as far as the snake is concerned? Is there a difference between them like there is between a rat and a mouse? Can/Do they go into ASF mode and only want them?

[voodoolamb]

As far as rats go, are ASF and regular rats the same as far as the snake is concerned? Is there a difference between them like there is between a rat and a mouse? Can/Do they go into ASF mode and only want them?

Yeah the snakes definitely know the difference. And they can ger stuck on them just the same as they can get stuck on any prey item.

However, if I have to have a snake stuck on something, I'd rather it be ASFs. 1 ASF is equal to 2-3 mice size wise. That alone is enough to make it worth it to me. I don't wanna sit there and feed multiple prey items. And I've actually found sources of ASFs cheaper than mice and Norwegians in my area.

Plus I figure since that's what they evolved to eat they're probably going to do well on them.

That said mine switch back and forth easily between rats and ASFs depending on what I have available.

[cletus]

Yeah the snakes definitely know the difference. And they can ger stuck on them just the same as they can get stuck on any prey item.

However, if I have to have a snake stuck on something, I'd rather it be ASFs. 1 ASF is equal to 2-3 mice size wise. That alone is enough to make it worth it to me. I don't wanna sit there and feed multiple prey items. And I've actually found sources of ASFs cheaper than mice and Norwegians in my area.

Plus I figure since that's what they evolved to eat they're probably going to do well on them.

That said mine switch back and forth easily between rats and ASFs depending on what I have available.

Sweet. Thanks for the info!!!

[cchardwick]

I breed ASFs and mice and rats, the ASFs produce SLOW!!! I actually accidently fed off all my males, luckily I had a female that had babies and at least one is a male, so I'm waiting for him to grow up to breed back. But the babies grow painfully slow, and they have a problem raising up their babies, seems like a lot of the babies end up dying. My rats and mice produce 10 times faster than the ASF. I almost got rid of them but since they are very difficult to come by I decided to keep one tub of ASF in my rack just to keep them around.

It seems to me that the size of the prey item is more important than what type of rodent it actually is. Usually I switch back and forth between mice, ASF, and rats. Most times when a snake doesn't eat it's because I offered something too big, I think that's why a lot of snakes like the mice, they are a good size for just about any ball python, big or small. This week I was having a problem with my rodents stinking up the basement and I realized it's because I have too many male mice in the tubs, so I fed off a bunch of males tonight (my smell almost totally went away!).

Even if I give an adult snake a mouse he only gets one. I feed twice a week, sometimes they get an adult mouse, sometimes a small / medium / large rat, and sometimes an ASF of various size depending on which tubs are full of rodents that week. I have 20 rodent tubs and 20 snakes and it works out just perfect. If I have too many rodents I double up or triple up, especially the mice or small rats. I do have snakes that randomly won't eat for a couple weeks, but I still offer whatever is available twice a week, not really concerned if they don't eat unless they start looking really skinny.

I feed only fresh killed rodents, the only live ones I'll feed are the newborn hairless pinky mice to my AZ MT King snakes. That's actually the only reason I keep the mice around, the newborn baby rats are too big for my King snakes LOL.