Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got my BP about 1 year ago and he was a few weeks old when I got him. The breeder told me he's ate live fuzzies so far without a problem. Well he looked good so I gave him a new home. After I got him set up in his new home and gave him some time to adjust to the new area I tried to feed him a F/T with no luck. So far I have tried to leaveing it in his tank overnight in different locations, sumulating movement, left the mouse at room temp, heating it to a hotter temp. my last try was to feed a live then toss in a F/T right after he finished that hopeing he was still in feeding mode, but no luck. When I toss a live neer him he is a great feeder but he has no intrest in dead.

any ideas on how I can get him to F/T before he starts to get into a larger food source that may hurt him in time is greatly appericated

Thanks in advance to all who respond

Eric

Hello.
I feel your pain... I have a female BP that would eat nothing but live, up until her last shed...
The day of her last shed, I tried a f/t... made it VERY warm - almost hot. She took it like a champ!
Since then, she's eaten 2 more f/t... but won't TOUCH them if they are not very very warm. So, I put HOT water from the TAP (not boiling) in a bowl, put the already thawed mouse in it for about 30 seconds, and dangle it in front of her with hemostats. WHACK! She's been taking them like that regularly now. I'm so happy.
It will happen... be patient, and maybe try to give your BP a very warm f/t right after the next shed... when it's most hungry.
Hope it works for you,
Mindy

If that doesn't work you could always use P/K.
Jeremy

Try thawing in a sealed plastic baggie to keep the scent that the snake is used to on the food item. If that dont work try thawing in water to wash off some of the scent of the food item. As already said, make sure it is warm. I have found that alot of snakes prefer a rodent that has some of the scent washed off from thawing in water.

If your snake is a good feeder on live I wouldn't worry about the rodent hurting the snake, as long as you don't feed too large of a prey item or leave it in with them too long unsupervised. These snakes are more than capable of killing their food, and an injury is almost always a mistake on the keepers part (although some "experts" on here will dissagree).

Hope this helps,
Chad

all of these are good ideas and just one more to add to the list. the way I normally change mine over (and has even worked on wild caught) is to get them on a real strict rutine. feed them on exact entervals of every 4,5,or 6 days what ever you chose but use the same one if your going to feed them every five days do it every five days and try to stay with the same time of day either mornings or night. then get them use to eating two at a time even if you have to use a slightly smaller food make him expect to get two. then give him a live one and wait until he is done with it and looking for the other one to put the F/T one in they will normally grab it perty quickly. Do this two or three times then try a F/T for the first one. Hope it works out for F/T is much eaiser to dill with.