Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What can I do to switch the snakes over to frozen/thawed food? Any suggestions?

I obtained a pair of baby ball pythons born in December. They fed on live rat pinkies and pups for me several times. I was very pleased that they took rats so I ordered a bunch of frozen rat pups. (Be careful when taking the frozen dumplings out of the freezer!) Anyways, I've offered warmed up rat pups to the snakes and they won't eat them. I tried feeding them on 3 separate occasions over a 2 1/2 week period.

I spoke with the breeder and he said he had no experience with frozen/thawed and suggested I stick to live rats. He said it would be more profitable.

Yesterday I went to the local pet store and paid $4 for a pair of live rat fuzzies. The snakes devoured them immediately.

What can I do to make the frozen/thawed rats more appealing? Any suggestions?

FYI: the snakes are housed individually in shoebox-sized containers. The hot end is 90 degrees and the cool end is room temp about 75-80. A water dish is on the cool end and sits on the screened sawdust.

Thanks ahead of time.

Ken

When switching mine I've always tried first feeding them live (what they are used to) straight off a pair of tongs. This gets them used to the tongs. Then I move to prekilled off the tongs, then on to frozen. If you don't already have one, get a temp gun so you know that you're rats are at a good temperature (about 98 degrees). Hope this helps.
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Tosha

8.10.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
7.9.5 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

Thanks for the good suggestions. I like your idea of gradually acclimating them to tongs to prekilled then to frozen/thawed. I do have a temp gun but never thought to see how warm the food was. It's just "warm". I'll try it out. Thanks.

What has worked for me with BP that never had any F/T before is to just warm the F/T to a little warmer than the live rat or mouse.
Not sure about the exact temperature, but a little bit warmer to the touch than a live one. To warm the frozen rat I have been using an exoterra undertank heater taped on top of a board of plywood with the frozen rat in a closed mason jar on top of that. Moving the F/T rat in a natural way like a live one helps as well.

Rob Reiding.

This is what I have been using to thaw and warm frozen rats.

Rob Reiding.

Thanks for the info and the picture. Everything helps.

You're welcome. It may not work for you, but then again it may.

Rob Reiding.