Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone i'm a happy guy. I got this normal 06 female (1250G) on April and she didn't eat for me anything. I tried p/k and live rats and mices but nothing. Yesterday i gave her a live girbe not having any hope and guess what she jump at it in about 15 sec. know i don't know what to do next, when can i try to give her a rat? When do i try to feed her? now she is (1075G) is that ok?

Put a rat in a dirty gerbil cage for a day (or at least for overnight to give it enough time to smell like a gerbil), that . Try feeding that rat next to see if she would take it.. Give the snake a good week to digest the gerbil she just ate and also to give her time to build up an appetite.. DON'T handle or mess with her if possible , that may be why she kicked off feed , often times people handle new snakes WAY to much, that stresses a new snake out as it hasn't acclimated to your setup yet.. If she won't eat a small scented rat that smells like a Gerbil then wait another 3-5 days and give her another Gerbil .. Keep trying all of the above until she does kill something other than a Gerbil. NOTE you may also try mice as she may take one of them that smells like a gerbil too... Once she has had a couple rats or mice that are scented , try an unscented one to see if she is switched over.. Hope this helps. Anthony McCain...

Gerbils are viciously evil creatures (I'm pretty sure Lucifer keeps a few as pets at any given time). Watch her closely when she feeds to make sure she isn't counter-attacked.

One way to switch her over to rats is to use her sense of smell to your advantage.

The next few times that you go to the pet store (I assume that is where you are purchasing your prey items) pick out a gerbil but ask the employee to put some bedding from the rat cages into the box (or carrier) instead of gerbil bedding.

Hopefully, she will still feed on these gerbils.

Give her a few feedings using this method and then switch it up on her by purchasing a rat with gerbil bedding. Hopefully, she will take the rat. If she does then do this for a few feedings before offering her a rat without gerbil bedding. Either way, don't rush her - it may help to keep her a little hungry by only offering her food every 2-3 weeks - this way she may be more apt to accept prey that she normally doesn't prefer.

No matter what, if and when you get her to convert, never go back to the gerbils. Not even once.

Look at this as a process that takes times and needs to be approached in stages. Each stage will require patience on your part and not every stop along the way will take the same amount of time.

There are other ways to convert your ball from one species of prey to another and hopefully some other people will chime in with techniques that have worked for them.

That's a great looking female. Do you have a belly shot? Good luck switching her over.
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John Vandegrift

Thanks everyone for all the help. Here are two belly pics that i have of her, i know that the pics are bad but i'll see if i post some new ones this week.

I might be wrong but by the blushing, head, flames, and belly that looks like a cinnamon pastel to me.
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BPs are B-E-A-UTIFUL!!!!! www.daveypythons.com

I was thinking the same thing. Bred her to a Cinny male or a Pastel once she's about twice her current size and it won't be hard to figure out what she is. Anthony McCain.

He posted a couple of pics of her about a month ago and I thought the same thing. Looks like a cinny.

I guess I'll third that -- the belly pic aint that good but the others she does look like she's got something going on!
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Tosha
JET Pythons

Hey everyone. Sorry for the bad pic, does were taken with my cell. like i say i'll get some better ones this week to see what you all think about it. The only reason i call her a normal is because thats the way they sold it to me at the show i got her. And the only reason i got her is because i don't think that she is that normal. If she have something going on good but if not i still like her and i only pay $75 for her so there is nothing to loss. I'm thinking of getting a pastel and see what happend but for now i'm just happy that she eat something.

Yeah, I'd say you have your own line of Cinny there. Looks nice, too. She's obviously an import that someone let slide through the cracks, and will take some work and time to get completely established, but that's a great find. Putting in the effort will be well worth it when you can get her to breed.

Those were exactly my thoughts. I think getting a pastel and seeing if you get pewters is a great idea.
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The Voices have won!

jeff pfeifer

She looks a LOT like a Cinnamon. Nice find!