Help on switching from live to FT

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Hi everyone, I have a FT conversion question. I have 4 healthy juvenile ball pythons. One is totally converted to FT rat pinkies, but the other 3 are very hesitant. Part of the problem is that the only small live food I have access to is small adult mice (I can't get rat pinkies/pups live). So the other 3 are on live mice.

Now, I have been trying to get the three BP's onto FT rat pinkies, but I think part of the problem is that I am trying to jump from mice to rats and from live to FT all at the same time. On a previous post someone mentioned skipping a meal as well as not letting the BP's even have a sniff of a mouse in order to help them switch.

Should I try and not let them smell mice and keep doing the zombie rat dance? Or should I maybe try and get some live mice, kill & freeze them, and then thaw them out so the snakes get used to eating FT before switching species?

I guess overall I'm very happy they are good eaters, but having to feed live is a pain my bum and expensive.

Thanks,

JonV

[dr del]

Hi,


I would probably try and change them over to F/T first then worry about changing to rats later.

Its a little easier that way I htink as you can scent the rats easier than switching them to f/t.


dr del

[Stewart_Reptiles]

You need to do it one step at the time.

Try offering a live rat have 3 to 4 successful feeding than attempt to switch to F/T, or switch to F/T mice have 3 to 4 successful feeding and than attempt to switch to F/T rat.

[bigballs]

ya i would probably try a live rat pink then switch to frozen rat pinks after a couple live feedings.

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Hi, thank you for your responses. The only problem is that I don't have access to live pinky rats :-( I only have one pet store within 20 miles and they are clueless. Unless anyone knows of any rat breeders near Iowa City, Iowa?

I will try some FT mice and then some FT rat pups.

Please let me know about any rat breeders in Iowa area. Thank you,

JonV