Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When i bought my new 2.5 foot albino burm i asked the guy at the pet store what hes feeding him. He said mice. I said what kind. He said white ones. I asked if they were adults. He said yes. I asked if they were frozen or alive. He said alive. He said "I dont reccommend you feed him frozen mice, we tried it once here and it never worked so we always feed all our snakes live." I was like okkkkkkkk. I also noticed that near the end of my snakes tail there was a little hole, a little skinner than the width of a pencil, looked to me like a rodent bite. So anyway i was just wondering if any1 had any tips on getting baby burms switched to frozen mice. Thanks

I use various methods for reluctant feeders and to switch snakes from live to F/T. One method is to tease feed using a pair of hemostats or tongs. Go to www.venomousreptiles.org and look up the article: "The Treatise on tease feeding" for good info on this. While this article is not geared specifically for Burmese pythons many of these methods will work with great success. Another method is to confine the snake in a container overnight with nothing but the f/t mouse with it. If these methods fail, try again and again. Make sure that you are not stressing the snake out too much with your attempts. Scenting the mouse by rubbing it on chicks, dipping the mouse in chicken soup and cutting open the mouse to expose the brain also work. Most of all be patient in your attempts!

Well there are many ways you can do it. I got mine to eat frozen ones finally by these steps. First I made sure she was eating consitently. Then I pre killed the mice and and fed them with the tongs. After she ate those for a couple weeks, I then took a frozen one, she still did not eat it so Brian and Tango gave me great advice, Take the mouse or rat and put it in a zip lock bag, and put it in warm water so the mouse/rat warms up a little, I did this and she nailed it right away, I aways use tongs, I am not so lucky to have one of those snakes you just drop the dead one in and they eat it. She is growing like a weed now. Every three days, I needed to get away from live those rats start to get big and so do the theeth, plus its a pain to keep buying live. The best advice I can give you is be patient and dont offer her food so often, I learned the hard way. Let me know if you have problems I have been there.

Before you start getting all frantic about how to get your snake to eat f/t you should just go ahead and try it. I have had about ten different Burms in my life and not one of them have ever been a reluctant feeder. Go ahead and try a f/t and warm it up with hot water once it gets completely thowed. This will give your snake something to focus on. The extra heat might trick the snake into thinking that it is alive. I doubt you will have any trouble with the switch. Good Luck, Todd