Switching to F/T

[MissMowgli]

Hi,

I've had my adult BP for about 3 weeks now, and the people who had him before were only feeding him 1 live adult mouse per week. I'd like to switch him over to F/T rats, but I wasn't sure how to best go about it. Do I need to try him on F/T mice first, or can I just go ahead and offer F/T rats, and see if he'll take them?

Also, he's been spending all of his time in his warm-side hide, without even his head sticking out. He only comes out at feeding time, after we pre-scent the room. I want to make sure he stays tame, at least taking him out once a week, but I don't like disturbing him when he obviously isn't interested in coming out of his hide. Should I just take the hide off of him every once in a while and take him out, or should I wait until he's more comfortable coming out? (In his previous home, he only had one hide, no heat, and little kids that would play with him all the time.)

Thanks for all your help; I'm still getting the hang of this.

[Purrrfect9]

Normally the only times that any of my bp's come out of their hides is late at night when they're cruising around. its completely fine to take them out of their hides to handle them a few times a week to keep him tame. one thing that i would pay attention to is his eating habits though. if you notice that he starts going off feed, reduce your handling until he's back to eating regularly again. hope this helps.

-edit-

as far as switching from f/t mice to f/t rats, i suppose that you could do somethings that's similar to conditioning training. start feeding him two ft mice a week ( if he's big enough so it wouldn't be over feeding) so that way he will start to expect a second prey item. then you could start giving one ft mouse and scent the ft rat with the mouse for a couple of weeks, then try two smaller rats, and then finally end up with unscented, good size rat for your bp.
I feed all 4 of my snakes live, so switching from mice to rats wasn't too terribly hard for me. that and the fact that my guys dont seem to be picky eaters. good luck getting him to switch!

[scales owner]

Normally the only times that any of my bp's come out of their hides is late at night when they're cruising around. its completely fine to take them out of their hides to handle them a few times a week to keep him tame. one thing that i would pay attention to is his eating habits though. if you notice that he starts going off feed, reduce your handling until he's back to eating regularly again. hope this helps.

-edit-

as far as switching from f/t mice to f/t rats, i suppose that you could do somethings that's similar to conditioning training. start feeding him two ft mice a week ( if he's big enough so it wouldn't be over feeding) so that way he will start to expect a second prey item. then you could start giving one ft mouse and scent the ft rat with the mouse for a couple of weeks, then try two smaller rats, and then finally end up with unscented, good size rat for your bp.
I feed all 4 of my snakes live, so switching from mice to rats wasn't too terribly hard for me. that and the fact that my guys dont seem to be picky eaters. good luck getting him to switch!

Can't agree anymore than this!I handle mine at least 4 times a week and he also usally only comes out when hungry or at night. I did switch mine over to f/t cause it was getting a litlle dangorous. Mine eats a healthy large-jumbo rats once a week unless in shed...mine is NOT picky. I let the rat thaw on top of the tank so that helps to "pre-sent" so he can get in the mood so to speak.