Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 4 foot ball python and she will not eat prekilled rats. I have tried everything. I leave it in there for a few minutes, I dangle it in front of her and still nothing. As soon as i get a live rat and hang it up in front of her BOOM!!! she strikes it. I have also heated the dead rat up in a hair dryer untill it is warm. I dont know what else it can be? Hope you all have some ideas. Thanks Thomas

try a different method of thawing. place the rat in a glass of warm /hot water. this method will hydrate the rat, making it more liflike and soft. I have a feeling the hairdryer may be drying out the rat, snakes dont like dehydrated foods.
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-Ball Python
-Tangerine Corn Snake
-Het for Snow Corn
-Ghost Corn

try putting the F/T rat in at night and leaving it in their all night, dont bother the BP keep it dark, check it in the morning.. works like a charm for me.. good luck
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"I am not an expert."

1.0 Albino Het BP
0.1 Albino BP
1.0 Caramel Albino Het BP
0.2 Normal BP

getting the temp of the rat right is the hard part too hot or too cold and they don't know it is food sometimes, get one of those temp guns it has helped me alot with using frozen.

Also have you tried the methods of switching to frozen? or are you just trying to get him to go to frozen "cold turkey"?
http://www.proexotics.com/FAQ_answers_Why_do_you_suggest_feeding_thawed.html

Froxen cold turkey is what im trying. She is a healthy eater just doesnt strike at frozen rats. My Boa is the same way so it has to be something im doing.

Could it be the quality of the F/T rats? Do you get them from the same supplier as your live prey?
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Nic
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I raise my own food for them. I fed them live untill the young rats started to get big then i froze them untill it was time for her to eat again. She ate the rats from the same litter but just not the prekilled frozen ones.

i've been working on this transition from live to dead as well. i will give you the best advice i think i've gotten. first give him a small live baby. he will eat it and still be hungry and in kill mode and then offer him the dead one. good luck to both of us.

Just my .02......

Tried thawing at room temp..warm water..tapping snake on nose and/or head with f/t prey..making f/t prey sway, twitch, sing and dance..leaving f/t prey in enclosure over night..starving snake for a few weeks/letting hunger sink in (so to speak)..fed small live prey first then offered f/t prey...etc.etc.etc.etc..........been there..done that..the t-shirt I bought is now a warn out rag!

If one method doesn't work.....give it up.

Feed live......and be glad it's feeding.

>>I have a 4 foot ball python and she will not eat prekilled rats. I have tried everything. I leave it in there for a few minutes, I dangle it in front of her and still nothing. As soon as i get a live rat and hang it up in front of her BOOM!!! she strikes it. I have also heated the dead rat up in a hair dryer untill it is warm. I dont know what else it can be? Hope you all have some ideas. Thanks Thomas

I make the change over by 'teaching' them to take the live from tongs...hanging. Then I prekill and feed IMMEDIATELY, while it is still twitching etc. Once they are taking prekilled twitching I start waiting till the rodent is 'deader' and stiller before offering it. After a couple months they will usually take stone cold dead. Then I go to f/t.
With the ball pythons I have had to switch (3 wcs) I found they go for f/t left overnight before they will go for anything else. So I guess I got freaks, since so many folks seem to have trouble. I have a thing too.....I never offer live except to picky baby snakes (not BPs) that need live pinky mice or something. By the time they are up to anything with teeth they are 'trained' to take what I offer.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

If you have a hide in your cage, wait until the snake is in the hide. Take p/k hold it by the tail and slide it in and out of the hide. If that don't work push it all the way in the hide and leave it over night.