live to dead food

[crysrod]

I read that I should train my BP to eat dead food rather than live, due to the possibility of being hurt by live. My question is: how would ​I go about doing this? Please help.

[hvactechgreen]

I was lucky and mine went from eating Live to FT without issue. He also went from mice to rats without issue. I thaw it out in a Ziploc bag submerged in hot water for about 30 minutes and ill give it a slight squeeze with my fingers to make sure its completely thawed and warm. I grab it with tongs, and kinda mimic the rat walking up to Neo. Once he grabs ill tug and pull lightly for a few seconds.

[SnakeBrat]

I'm not too familiar with this topic since I never had to switch my snake over from live to frozen thawed (my girl was feeding on frozen thawed when I bought her) but I did find this thread/article that has some helpful tips to switching over your snake. So this could possibly be helpful to you?
My Fool Proof Method of Switching From Live to Frozen Thawed
Hopefully this helps!

[crysrod]

Thank you both very much! I appreciate it. I certainly don't want her to get hurt while eating so I really hope she will adjust without much trouble.

[motorcyclecowboy]

i love rats so that will be a hard day for me for years i walked around with rats on my shoulder. but a course even a dog eats meat that is now dead a course

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It's a BP both can be done without issue, it's about knowing your animal, and educating yourself on how properly and responsibly feeding it and ultimately feed what works for your animal and than for you (not the opposite way around)

I have fed well over 25000 preys without issue (I am sure I am past double that too but at some point you stop counting)

Now as far as how to the key are

For your animal to be well established and of good body weight.

Thaw the prey at room temp, heat up with a hair dryer and offer the prey in the enclosure holding it from behind the neck and moving it as if it was alive. If the animal is over 250 grams and does not eat at first it might take time which mean you will have to use tough love, of course you need to know when to give up if you have to and resume live.

[Bogertophis]

...So this could possibly be helpful to you? My Fool Proof Method of Switching From Live to Frozen Thawed Hopefully this helps!

I only skimmed it & one thing that article has wrong (for BPs especially) is that they say to offer food when your snake is cruising the cage. I say ...BPs are ambush-
predators that prefer to lie in wait...when you see them peeking out of their hide box in the evening/night hours, that's the best time. Also, don't approach your snake
with the prey as that undermines the confidence of many a snake...wild rodents don't "volunteer" to be dinner. When using tongs to offer a f/t rodent (that is thawed
& properly warmed briefly) just give it a little motion (not too much) & make it appear to pass BY the snake within reach or just a little out of reach, & never approach it
directly. You want your snake to feel like it's chasing the prey & has the upper 'hand' with a surprise pounce. OK? Many here also use a blow-dryer on the rodents head,
right before offering, because BPs use their heat-sensing pits to find their acceptable target, not just vision.

When I kept BPs in the past, I converted them to f/t by feeding 2 smaller items that together were approximately the size of the one item they'd normally had. The first
was a live "appetizer" & I offered the f/t item as soon as they finished the first, & while they were still "pumped up". Usually this worked for me, but another way is to
'chain-feed' the f/t rodent, meaning you are right there (stealth helps so you don't distract the snake) and you feed the f/t into the snake's still-open mouth as he swallows the once he killed, nose to tail. If you do this right, they just keep swallowing the second (f/t) one. Either way, the idea is that they learn to accept the taste difference of f/t & after a few feedings this way, you can just offer f/t alone when they are hungry & usually they take it.

Another technique is to get some rodent droppings (some pet stores will give you some dirty bedding if you ask) & roll the f/t rodent in that prior to offering for a fresher
scent. Combined with the right temperature (blow-dried ) this may also work.

BPs & all snakes have their own personalities & hang-ups. Your success in getting them to accept (much safer!) dead prey will depend on paying close attention for what
works best for your pet. Keep in mind that mice or rats with eyes closed do NOT bite back, but all those with eyes open DO bite in self-defense, & pose risk to your pet.

[Shayne]

I was lucky and mine went from eating Live to FT without issue. He also went from mice to rats without issue. I thaw it out in a Ziploc bag submerged in hot water for about 30 minutes and ill give it a slight squeeze with my fingers to make sure its completely thawed and warm. I grab it with tongs, and kinda mimic the rat walking up to Neo. Once he grabs ill tug and pull lightly for a few seconds.

This is exactly how I do it. Also, my Monty had never eaten a f/t (dead) mouse until I got him last month. I tried the above tactic and it worked perfectly the 1st time.

[Jellybeans]

This is exactly how I do it. Also, my Monty had never eaten a f/t (dead) mouse until I got him last month. I tried the above tactic and it worked perfectly the 1st time.

Thats how I do it and had no issues switching over .
At first I would dangle right at the entrance to his hide but now I make him come and get it


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[hvactechgreen]

This is exactly how I do it. Also, my Monty had never eaten a f/t (dead) mouse until I got him last month. I tried the above tactic and it worked perfectly the 1st time.

When I got Neo there was a dead mouse that had dried up in the corner of his tank. All I was able to get was a medium frozen mouse from Petsmart. He took it. He ate FT a few times and then I was at my feed store and they were out of frozen, so I got live. He had no issue with that at all. Did it once more and he got bit pretty good. I then moved him to FT Weaned Rats. Now he’s on FT Small Rats and I’m going to have to bump him up again after the month.


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