Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got new pastel male and a normal female both late 05's. They have been fed mice by the previous owner and I am having trouble switching them to rat pups. I have attempted feeding live and neither of them show any interest. Is the best thing to do feed mice for now, or should I just hold out until they are ready to eat rats. BTW they are in the same enclosure and all the conditions are correct.

I'm new at this, but I think I've heard that ball pythons don't like living in the same enclosure. Maybe if you could separate them they would both eat anything you offered.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

I Have 3 of them in the same place and they seem to "love" each other. as far as feeding i do not feed them where they live anyway..i have a seperate tank i put them in to eat. You might want to try that if you are not already... But they can live just fine together.
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Greg

There could be many reasons why they are not taking to the rat pups. It may be scent related - try scenting your rat pups with mouse to see if that helps. It could be color related - if your snakes are used to seeing little white mice and your throwing in black rats they might be a bit confused. If they are used to mice darting around in front of them and the rats are just crawling across the tub then that could also be a factor. Although balls can live on an all mouse diet - it's a pain to have to feed six or seven mice to an adult snake than one rat - so try to get them converted before the habit really sticks. How are they eating otherwise to they eat their mice on a good schedule? Do they eat right away or is the mouse running around the cage for 20 minutes before the snake takes notice? Separating them could be beneficial also - but I won't harp on that unless you want me too.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

11.42.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

I have one that only ate mice and refused rat pups as well so what I did was give him a smaller mouse than normal and as he was finishing I placed the nose of a rat pup into the back of his mouth and applied slight pressure to keep it there. His swallowing reflex kicked in and he took it down as well. After doing this for a few feedings he comes to accept the rat pup. It helps to if you dont have a shy or nervous snake also.