Reptile & Amphibian Forums

"I have three snakes and I decided to switch them all over to frozen/Thawed my male Honduran and my Female Desert King ate them with no problem but my female Honduran won't eat the frozen pinks for anything...I haven't tried braining yet but I will next time if it's necessary...I am going to try to feed her a frozen pink again in 4 days, if she doesn't take it then I will give her a live one..any tips/tricks for getting snakes to eat f/t over live?

Thank you for your time,
Ralph

Any help is GREATLY appreciated!
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1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.1 Honduran Milksnake
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.0 Bull Mastiff

You can try a few things or a combination of any below..

1. Wash the thawed pinky in water before offering.
2. Warm up the pinky in warm water before offering. This helps alot. More like live if it is warm. Just use a plastic bag in warm water, no microwaves.
3. Poke a hole in the thawed pink's head.
4. Leave it in with the snake in a deli cup or tight place overnight.

Most colubrids eat thawed without any problem, but there are always those individuals that hold out for live or fresh-killed. Perhaps when the snake gets a little hungry it won't be so fussy. Keep trying for awhile before you go back to live.

Usually "braining" is used to get a snake that wants lizards or snakes to eat pinkies. Same with scenting.

The most reliable thing I've found to get snakes to switch from live to F/T is to give them a live pinkie first, then immediately offer a F/T pinkie while they are still in "feeding mode". If you hold it in forceps and wiggle it around a little in front of them, they will usually take it with no problems. It does help to warm it up to about 100 degrees F. Then after a couple of times doing it like that, just skip the live pinkie and offer the F/T with the forceps. Then you can skip the forceps part and they are switched over.