Switching from live mice to Frozen/Thawed?

[ebbanflo]

Hey everyone,

I have recently taken ownership of a 4 year old Ball Python! He was re-homed to me after my GFs family didnt have the room for him anymore.
I have done tons and tons of research in the weeks before receiving him (as well as taking advice from previous owners, although I have changed many things), and have made sure that all of his needs are being met. He is the sweetest most docile snake ever and seems to already be comfortable in his new home

The only thing is that the previous owners only fed him live mice, and all of the research that I have done seems to point to the fact that f/t is much better. He has been eating this way all his life for 4 years, and I am worried that he will not be able to make the switch after getting so used to live.
I have only had him for a few weeks, and have fed him twice so far. I have fed him live mice only because I am not sure how to begin switching him over.

I have read/watched many different sources explaining how one may get a snake to switch over. Just looking for more information or if anyone has had past experience with something like this!

Thank you!

[dylan815]

I honestly might just stick with live. If it's what he's used too getting all the time. Have you tried to offer frozen yet?


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[monks98]

Mice? He's four and hes not on rats?

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[dylan815]

Mice? He's four and hes not on rats?

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you never know monks98, i have a 4 year old ball that just recently made his way to rats. :-/ He has been a bad feeder since he was just a little guy. Now he'd doing better and accepting one small/medium rat every 5-7 weeks.

[monks98]

you never know monks98, i have a 4 year old ball that just recently made his way to rats. :-/ He has been a bad feeder since he was just a little guy. Now he'd doing better and accepting one small/medium rat every 5-7 weeks.

We do have one mouser. So I know it happens. But our guy is stunted and prone to illness because he has never eaten what he should or in correct quantities. Where I live F/T is the only legal way to obtain rats so I have done a fair bit of switching from live to F/T. Only snakes on mice right now is our mouser and our 2 month old hatchlings.

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[ebbanflo]

No not yet. I've heard many different techniques of trying to switch them over but it seems like the major commitment is patience. I havent had him for too long so Ive wanted to feed him the way hes used to before trying to make a swtich.

[RickyNY]

I have read/watched many different sources explaining how one may get a snake to switch over. Just looking for more information or if anyone has had past experience with something like this! Thank you!

O' Zinc!!!

[ebbanflo]

No hes not, but i only feed him adult mice because thats what his previous owners have done. Ive researched and also considered switching him to rats.

I read that the food should only be an inch larger than the largest part of the BPs body. is that not true?

also thank you all for the responses so helpful so far!

[dylan815]

I think %15 is a good number to go by. so nothing bigger than %15 of the snakes body weight, I'm sure someone on here can verify that number. Maybe try switching him up to rats depending on his weight. If he's used to being fed live and hes never had a problem with it for the last 4 years, keep feeding live. I guess you won't really know for sure if he'll even take f/t unless you give it a shot.

[ebbanflo]

We do have one mouser. So I know it happens. But our guy is stunted and prone to illness because he has never eaten what he should or in correct quantities. Where I live F/T is the only legal way to obtain rats so I have done a fair bit of switching from live to F/T. Only snakes on mice right now is our mouser and our 2 month old hatchlings.

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How long did it take for them to switch over? Also how would you recommend beginning the switch process?

and aww 2 month olds!