Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 8 month old ball python will only eat live mice. I've bought frozen pinky's and frozen fuzzies from Petco he's only eaten 1 in the last 2 months then i bought a live one he that one fine also he he will only eat live how prone are they to getting a disease from the live one's?

my ball around the same age eats small rats and has switched over to frozen the last two feedings. have you tried something bigger than mice maybe he is holding out for a bigger meal?

by the way I might have gotten lucky but he ate the first frozen one with no problem I didn't have to even try any tricks to get him to eat it. have you read this info, it has great suggestions on switching to frozen
http://www.proexotics.com/FAQ_answers_switch_from_mice_to_rats.html

I have a bunch that only eat live mice, I've tried every trick in the book to get them switched over to f/t and rats with no lucky. I haven't seen any ill effects from live mice - just takes more mice to fill them up.
BT

When it comes to FT - temp is important. It's sometimes not enough to just thaw it, but it needs to be warm enough to illicit attention from your BP. With my little guy, after thawing in warm water I sit the mouse on top of his light fixture to warm it up. Sometimes he took it and sometimes he didn't. Then through experimenting, I realized he was so picky that the mouse had to be at least 108 degrees on the outside (measured with a temp gun) in order to get him interested. I then had to 'make it dance' a bit, once he showed great attention to the mouse I dropped it - as soon as it hits the ground he strikes. Recently, I've discovered another aspect of this - he will only strike from the tongs if the mouse is at least 114 degrees. Picky little guy.
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Most BP should be able to eat an adult mouse from birth. Definitely try something bigger. It can take time to switch them over so be patient. Feed live for a while then try freshly killed mice. You may have to wiggle it to get a response. If that works you can then go to f/t. After a while they can just take it off the tongs without even striking. That said, I still have one that refuses everything but live. Some are just picky. And most still strike at the f/t also. Good luck. EP
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Occupants not paying rent:
7 balls
2 corns(normal, candy cane)
1 pueblan milk
1 everglades rat
1 cal. king
1 gray band king
1 w. hognose
1 bearded dragon
2 fish
1 rat
5 cats

you know mine will only eat in a card board box, he won't even look at the rat when I put him in a rubber maid (I was trying to switch feeding boxes). so they sure can be picky!