I used to have 2 ball pythons, now I only have one, but I had tried to switch the male over to F/T for the longest time without any luck. I tried every trick that I have heard of and he would still not eat it... although, he would strike and constrict, just wouldn't eat it, but did get with live. I don't believe my experience is uncommon, I have heard many others having a hard time switching BP to F/T when they are used to live.

Forgive me if I am about to echo other people's answers. I would, like others have said, let the snake be for about a week... don't handle it, just leave it alone. Personally, I would feed live for the first feeding, only b/c that's what the snake is used to and everything else around her is already different. Don't want to stress the snake. When you do offer the F/T, make sure the mouse/rat is at a warm body temperature, just as a live rodent would be. I use feeding tongs and grasp the tail of the rodent and offer it to the snake. Sometimes, if you move it around, you can trick them into thinking it's alive.

Again, I'm sure I have echoed, but that is my 2 cents worth
Good luck with your new BP! They're great!!

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Ball Python
Great Basin Gopher snake
California Kingsnake
Corn Snake
Western Hognose

[ Hide Replies ]

• Switching from live to F/T - LN2, Wed Feb 6 15:11:11 2008
• RE: Switching from live to F/T - jpman78, Wed Feb 6 16:15:10 2008
• RE: Switching from live to F/T - jpman78, Thu Feb 7 06:54:49 2008
• RE: Switching from live to F/T - jpman78, Thu Feb 7 06:56:50 2008
• RE: Switching from live to F/T - LN2, Thu Feb 7 09:39:37 2008
• RE: Switching from live to F/T - j3nnay, Wed Feb 6 17:07:23 2008
• RE: Switching from live to F/T - DAve79, Wed Feb 6 19:57:07 2008
• RE: Switching from live to F/T - wh00h0069, Wed Feb 6 23:40:50 2008
• RE: Switching from live to F/T - doutriponair, Thu Feb 7 09:17:25 2008
• RE: Switching from live to F/T - HerbieThePython, Thu Feb 7 10:25:42 2008
• RE: Switching from live to F/T - ROC, Fri Feb 8 21:38:32 2008