Feeding frozen/thawed rats

[Alicia]

Do all of them have hide boxes? It's a little hard to tell. If not, try adding hides. Security is always an issue with BPs, as are proper temps and humidity (humidity, less so with larger juveniles and adults, but it can still be a factor). Too warm, as well as too cold, can inhibit feeding.

Do you know how the breeder presented their rats? Wet/dry/warmed?

I pretty much do what Zincubus does, just with an incandescent light bulb. I let the rodents thaw fully at room temperature in the room with the snakes over several hours. By evening, when the rats are thawed all the way through, I put them under the light for ~12 minutes until they reach a living temp or slightly over to account for cooling. New snakes aren't re-offered, as I don't want to stress them. I just wait them out.

[Emily_Doughty]

Do all of them have hide boxes? It's a little hard to tell. If not, try adding hides. Security is always an issue with BPs, as are proper temps and humidity (humidity, less so with larger juveniles and adults, but it can still be a factor). Too warm, as well as too cold, can inhibit feeding.

Do you know how the breeder presented their rats? Wet/dry/warmed?

I pretty much do what Zincubus does, just with an incandescent light bulb. I let the rodents thaw fully at room temperature in the room with the snakes over several hours. By evening, when the rats are thawed all the way through, I put them under the light for ~12 minutes until they reach a living temp or slightly over to account for cooling. New snakes aren't re-offered, as I don't want to stress them. I just wait them out.

Thank you. I'll try again in a few days

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[cchardwick]

I have four ball pythons that just went off feed and haven't eaten in about two months. Before that they were slamming fresh killed rats. They all got to be around 1500 grams, about breeding size for the first time. I'm thinking they went into breeding mode and just refuse to eat. I was thinking of pairing them up but I may wait until November and then pair up all my snakes that are old enough. A lot of my ball pythons will also fast around 1000 grams, they call it the '1000 gram wall'. I imagine with just one snake it can be pretty confusing when they refuse to eat but with a rack full of snakes I'm starting to see a pattern...