Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello!

I have a BP that was supposedly only given live mice from his previous caretaker, but, for many reasons, I'd like to wean him onto thawed mice. Any tricks or tips?

When I had boas, I could hold the food in a gloved hand and wiggle it in front of them, and they'd gently take it from my hand. (Because the BP is eating mice and not rats, I'd probably use tongs.) Though, since BPs have heat pits, I'm guessing I'd need to warm the mouse up as well to make it seem more "alive".

Can you think of anything else that might help him make the transition?

I too just got a BP about 6 days ago. The day I picked him up he had been fed a live hopper mouse, and had supposedly been fed live mice all his life. (he's only 3 months). I really wanted to get him over to f/t. So, today was my first try. I picked up a frozen hopper at the pet store, and put it in slightly warmer that luke warm water for about 5 minutes. I put it in his aquarium with tongs. He looked at it, and took the strike pose but didn't go for it. I took the tongs and moved it a little bit in front of his nose. That either got him angry, or he was hungry because he snatched it right up at that point. From everything I've been reading about how hard it is to convert to f/t after they've been fed live... I was a little surprised he took it that quick. The whole episode took about 5 minutes.

Robyn at Pro Exotics wrote a great article on making the switch in the FAQ section.

Check it out.
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2.1.0 Kidletts
0.0.1 Ball Pyhton (Rex)
0.0.1 Okeetee Corn (Maizey)
0.1.0 BCI (Ruby)
0.1.0 Cat (Ginger)
1.0.0 Pughuahua (Ranger)

Thanks for the word of encouragement, racerjay. My BP has been eating live for 2-1/2 years, so I hope it is not too late to break him of the habit.

maizeysdad- thanks for the tip, there's some useful stuff in there:

www.proexotics.com/FAQ2.html#3

Since I just got him to start eating, I want to wait until I get some needed bulk on him, then I will try out that technique. I'm surprised they don't mention anything about heating the mouse up at all.