Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This girl is just stunning in person. SHe is about 500g, and for the life of me i cant get her to take rats. I have tried everything (rat in the mouse cage, mouse urine on the rat, rubbing mouse on the rat). She wont budge for a rat, a mouse enters the cage and she goes crazy. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Ryan

Some are like that, just keep trying, and hopefully she will take a liking to rats someday.

Very nice pastel BTW. I love the blushing.
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Chad Bachman

Have you tried braining??

Use this in conjuction with ALL the other tricks ... get some mouse brain all over a rat, then try everything over ... from a plain old feeding to the paperbag overnight trick to whatever else you can think of.

I have have some success with braining ... never with BP's (cuz I didn't try), but it certainly can't hurt (unless you are the mouse!).

Joel
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2.5.1 Leopard Geckos
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Blair's Phase Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.0.2 Crested Geckos

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Signature file edited; oversized banner removed. Please update/correct to an acceptable size. [phw 9/13/04]

Two of my babies did the same thing for a bit. Ate The He!! out of mice but would not even think about rat pups. What worked for me was to let them miss two feedings then when the 3rd feeding came they hit the rats with force!! Now I only have one left(I'm keeping her) but she will take rats every time now.

One other thing I have herd(I'v not had to do it but I'v heard it works great) Is to give it a small mouse then as the snakes about done eating it put rat hopper in right behind the mouse so the snake thinks it's still eating. I had a friend do this and he said after a few weeks of it his ball started to eat rats.

Some times it takes time, just stay with it.

......try mouse blood all over the head of the thawed or live rat....small enough rat...maybe the size is scarring ball??...

.....just cut the live mouse's nose with scissors....and drip/whipe fresh blood all over the rat

actually..as time goes on...it should eat just about anything.....but yes..some prefer mice or rats or one specific item and will not ever switch.......

......I use alot of different items..........

......JY
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.....wow....you people....really.....you are exactly like I thought.........

............right?

......................................................

.....just cut the live mouse's nose with scissors....and drip/whipe fresh blood all over the rat

Did you actually mean "alive"???

yes alive...let me say it works better with fuzzy mouse..they won't jump around and bite you like a full sized mouse.........
yes.....live mice will bleed...dead mice will not....ever watch CSI?.........anyways........

OK...you don't want to cut a live mouse...?.....use a frozen one.....cut it open......rub pre-thawed pre-frozen rat into the inside of the cut open mouse.....cut the liver ? or something to make it bloodier.......even do as mentioned here above(below?)....cut the dead mouse's head open and use brain of mouse to whipe all over rat's head.....

.....you squeemish to cut a live mouse? don't want to get bit or
you don't want it to suffer?........ just wondering. ......?????????

.............

a kid at the last show wouldn't buy a baby corn from me (probably wouldn't anyways.just a looker like they all are).....anyways....he asked if they "ate frozen thawed"..I said..I feed live...easier to do with 300 snakes and all..he said this and that as I talked to him....finally says "but it's cruel"...I hope he heard what I told him as he walked away..(no I cannot write it here..)...(let's say part was ""get away from my table""....plus other delightfully highlighted ""I'm at a show and not in the mood to put up with little whiners""' ideas......

anyways...........

it's cruel.......yep.....cruel to have a snake kill a mouse...have to use pre-killed frozen.........

???????????????

how were they frozen>?.......they were once all alive......

I have put food in the freezer with the adult frozen mice..and to this day..they have not bred and had any baby frozen pinkies yet....and it's been over a decade........

............rant done.....sorry if it didn't apply to you...you shouldn't have read it this long.......?...right.....

have fun.......JY

see you all tomorrow at MARS..............
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.....wow....you people....really.....you are exactly like I thought.........

............right?

......................................................

You could easily just kill a mouse, then cut it open to allow for a bleed out onto the rat.. That would get the same result without the cruelty to the mouse.. And an open forum isn't a great place to discuss hurting an animal for PETA etc to be able to see.
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

I'm certainly no expert but I've read of people having success by first feeding a small mouse and then offering the rat while the snake is still in feeding mode.

Good luck!

And I just started doing this.

Not sure what your situation is, but I was feeding live mice (3 per feeding) and I wanted to switch him over to F/T rats. So I thaw the rat out, and I do it in really warm water so the rat is not only thawed but warm to the touch. Then I put the rat in a box with a live mouse for a minute or two. Then, I drop the live mouse in and let him eat that. In the meantime, I put the rat back in the warm water (in a bag) to stay warm. As soon as he's done swallowing the mouse, I dangle the rat down in to the container near him and WHACK, he's hit it hard both times. Not sure if the temperature, the mouse smell, or the fact that I dangle it down there near his head is the key, but this has worked like a charm twice in a row now. (Knock on wood)

I believe this is from Ralph Davis (not an exact quote, but paraphrased). I've never tried it myself personally.

Drop a mouse into cage while holding a sm rat pup with tongs above the cage...when the snake goes to strike, intercept it with the rat. Takes time and lots of patience.

matt

First about your question, I have learned that patience is the biggest key to getting a problem feeder to feed, or a mouse eater to switch to rats. Just keep trying different things and eventually it will happen.

ALSO, that is one SWEET pastel! Where did you get it? What line is it? Very nice. That is the look for a pastel that I like! What is the future looking like for her? Supers? Good luck with her!
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Ben

I agree 110% with everything bhmorrill said. Patience is the key. There really isn't anything wrong with feeding her mice (in my experience) I think it is more of a preference of the owner. So, if you really want to switch her over it will just take patience. She'll be able to go a fair length of time without eating so you could try skipping a few meals to get her good and hungry. Sometimes this works.

One other thing no one has mentioned so far. Besides for scent and size of the prey you are offering her what color are the mice you are feeding her and the rats you are attempting to feed her?

A couple of my balls will not touch ANYTHING that is all white. If you are feeding her live colored mice the best thing I can think of for you to do is to scent a similarly sized rat that also has some color/pattern to it. This way the rat will most resemble the mice she is currently feeding on.

First switch her to either frozen thawed mice and then try switching to FT rats. Or switch to live rats and then frozen thawed. Trying to switch both at the same time is a big change. Try doing it in steps instead. I've had the most success this way.

Good luck.

And by the way, that IS one of the best Pastels I've seen in while.
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It's actually not that I love or even like snakes. I just hate rodents.