Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am looking at purchasing a 08 pied female, problem is she's a mouse feeder and refuses rats, that bothers me, I don't breed mice and never will.

I've always started my hatchlings on rats and can't understand those that start them on mice??

What are the chances she would never convert to rats?

Your chances are 50/50 if the pied will eat rats, either she will or she won't.

Joking aside, most will switch, some are tougher than others. Many breeders start with mice since they are easier and cheaper.

pied is even feeding - LOL. Mine ate nothing but a small rat once a month. Nothing more. Until I switched to ASFs. Now they feed much more consistently, although still not as well as I'd like.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I start on mice but I don't have a choice. I'm very allergic to rodents and the place I buy my feeders from (when I need live for starting hatchlings, etc) doesn't sell rats any smaller than small adults, while mice are sold in all sizes. I'm sure I'm not the only one that doesn't want to breed their own rats but can't buy them small enough for a baby ball. Anyway, it's not like mice are bad for them or anything. They are the perfect size for young balls. Personally, I'm more concerned with whether they are eating f/t. Getting them to switch between mice and rats has never been a problem for me.

I start my hatchlings on mice because they start eating sooner, but they almost always switch to rats later and stay on rats. Even if she ends up being stubborn you can get jumbo mice. I've got an adult male that eats jumbo mice...also raised a female on mice that never ate a rat until she started breeding...Balls do fine on mice.
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Dale....dgoins222@yahoo.com
www.LibertyReptiles.com

When I was buying feeders at full retail, I fed mice because they were much cheaper. I buy from a breeder now, so I give them all rats and had no problem with the switch. I have heard you can put the rat in the same tub you keep the mice in for awhile to get the scent on him and then try feeding him.
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0.1 Pied
0.2 possible het pied
1.0 Albino
0.1 Albino het female
1.0 Spider
1.0 cinnamon
1.1 Pastel
1.0 Het genetic stripes
0.17 normal females

i start mine on mice (hoppers) and switch them to rats as they get older. so far haven't had any problem doing so...if they refuse the rats at first, i try to get the mouse scent on them by keeping them together in a container for a while. that seems to do the trick for me.
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Neutiquam erro. Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt.

That works for switching to f/t as well. I drag the f/t mouse/rat in the used bedding and I've switched half my stubborn live feeders to frozen that way....

My pied was/is a mouser and has been the hardest convert I've ever had to deal with. Most mousers will convert with a little work, a little starvation, a littler persistence. My pied girl was just a pain in the butt to convert to rats but she did (knock on wood) and sometimes she'll back slide but I can always trick her into taking a rat instead of a mouse.

In the long run you feed them what they will eat be it mouse, rat, live or f.t. If you aren't prepared for the possibility that she might never eat a rat or at least not consistently then you might want to try to find one that will. If you don't want to raise mice (and I don't blame you) then maybe you can get some f.t. mice for her to feed on.

Good luck!
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

I have 4 adult pieds and 3 adult het females. The pieds have eaten as good as any ball python I've ever owned. Only 1 het female has been somewhat of a problem. They all eat frozen thawed rats whenever offered.

In addition to everything every one else said (which was all completely accurate)... I would be more concerned about attempting to switch her over if she was an older snake.

Since she is an '08 you shouldn't have too many issues. Of course, there are always those stubborn few, but I've found that you have about 8-11 months after hatching where you can easily switch them between mice or rats and live, fresh killed, or frozen thawed.

Most of my hatchlings start out with live rat pups. Depending on when I plan on ordering my next batch of frozen feeders they may get live rats for the first 2-8 meals. I've never had a problem getting them to switch to frozen thawed. I've had a few young "mousers" in the past and the only ones that I had any real difficulty switching over were those that were roughly 11 months in age.

If you like the snake but aren't sure about it eating mice you could ask the breeder to start feeding her rats instead. Most breeders don't have a problem attempting the switch before they ship - especially if you are spending that type of money and you have already paid (or are making payments). The weather is pretty nasty right now (at least it is in Minnesota) and most breeders won't ship for another few months which should be plenty of time for her to be switched over to rats (live, f/t, f/k... whatever you prefer or the breeder has access to).