food

[kira1123]

I have been feeding my two bp's live mice for almost a year now, but I can no longer keep live mice and it is too far for me to drive to the pet store to get live mice once a week so I guess one of my questions is how hard is it to switch from live mice to frozen/thawed mice?
Also how much should they be eating in relation to their weight? One weighs 660g and the other weighs 530g. I've been feeding them each one mouse from 22g-29g a week.

[Inknsteel]

As far as switching from live to f/t, some snakes will switch over with no problems, some may take a little time and patience to get converted, and there are some that will not take f/t, no matter what. It's impossible to tell what your snakes will do without trying...

As for feeder weight, I follow the 10-15% rule. I feed my growing girl 10-15% of her body weight weekly... So, she's around 500g now, she eats two 25g mice a week, and I will probably be switching her to small rats very soon.

[Argentra]

It is ALL up to the snake, sad to say.

I have one girl who had always eaten pre-killed rats, and never touched the FT that her prior (incompetent) owner tried to give her (I think he didn't thaw them right). After a month or two on PK here, she switched to FT in ONE feeding and has never looked back.

On the other side, my Het albino girl just will not take FT no matter what. A popular method is 'tough love' where you offer nothing but FT and if they don't take it you wait again until next feeding. Eventually they're supposed to get so hungry they'll accept the FT...not this girl. Since I want to breed her this winter, I gave up (For Now) and gave her a PK rat as usual and she nailed it so hard it pulled the tongs from my hand!

So... it's all up to the snake on whether they'll take the frozen/thawed prey or not. Just be consistent and make the attempt when they already have good weight on them...just in case it takes a while. Good luck!

[addsdad]

Just give it a try. I recently bought a 2200 gram normal female who supposedly had never eaten anything but live. I didn't have high hopes, but she took the first FT rat offered and hasn't missed a meal since. As Argentra said, the snake will decide. Good luck.

... and yeah, get some more food in them. I also follow the 10 - 15% rule.

[kira1123]

wow... I didn't realize how badly I have been under feeding them. Thankfully feeding is tomorrow night. As for f/t I'll try that from now on. Thanks for the advice

[Gloryhound]

Actually it is kinda funny as our biggest girl will not touch live. She does a defensive strike and hisses at them. She has no problem with F/T though, so that is what she gets. For us live is the easiest since we breed our own rats, so we would have to have one trouble maker.

Yea thanks Heather!