I scratch the bottom of the tub with my other hand when I present the f/t rat. The feeling of the vibrations from the scratching is similar to if the rat was trying to burrow of dig at the wall. This gives the snake an indicator of it being alive. It has made a _major_ difference for me, whenever I've needed to switch a stubborn BP. It often works for jumpstarting feeding when they go off feed, too.
I’m so thankful my snake switched pretty fast. I was worried cause i took him from my cousin who has been feeding him live and i thought the snake wasn’t gonna take it but after a couple of sniffs he went right for it 😂
Dude great video love how you can get years of knowledge from someone like yourself in these videos I'm just getting back,into it after 11 years I kept snakes for years prior, but by no means do I consider myself as experienced as someone like you or others I follow I really appreciate the videos all of you offer they are giving me more confidence I'm very careful who I take advice from I know enough to be able to tell who knows what they are talking about and I can tell you know your stuff and again man I appreciate people like yourself thankyou for offering your time to help me and others.
I am going to try some of these tips. I have two babies that will not eat frozen for the life of me. Definitely not used to it as I have never had this problem. Odd thing is they each ate a frozen once, and haven't since. Trying to mimick whatever it was I did and still no dice. Think I have some larger quails for my adults, so I will try scenting a mouse for the babies with one. Another much needed and much appreciate video from you, and thank you.
I’ve had a ball python for about 10 years. I “tried” to feed f/t when it was young when I first got it. Didn’t work but I’ll be honest, I only tried a few times and then got worried it was going to starve so I tried a live pinky and it ate right when it saw the prey. So for 10 years I fed live, I actually kind of trained it to hunt prey from above (I have a shelf inside the enclosure) and it’s worked well without my snake getting injured. All that being said, I’m dead set on switching it over now. I’m so tired of traveling to the only store near me to get a live rat and hope Paul is hungry. I’m going to try every one of your tricks and do my best to get it switched over.
Thank you for the informative video. I am a very novice snake keeper, with only having my first snake, a ball python, for 5 months now. My co-worker approached me and said she is trying to get rid of her daughter's two snakes, a corn snake and a milk snake, and asked if I would take them. I was leaning towards no but she said they would go up for free on craig's list or be released. Obviously I can't say no to that. I am picking them up Wednesday and the daughter told me they eat live and my python only eats frozen. Trying to learn as much as I can before I get them. Hope they just take frozen and its easy. Your video helped a lot to make me feel prepared.
@@JasonsExoticReptiles Thanks!! I took your advice and just tried frozen thawed without anything special or extra and they took it right away! Come to find out they had not eaten in weeks :( I guess that helps the transition but poor babes. I have them a humidity hide and now they are in blue a few days later! Good signs so far.
1 year ago my 8 year old ball python for the first time in his life went off feed for 1 month. Fast forward to today 1 year later he has gone off feed for 2 months now. I reasoned with myself that it's winter time and his temperatures are a little bit cooler and that this could be a normal situation in the wild and finally after 9 weeks of not eating he finally snagged a f\t small rat and hoping everything gets back to normal.
One thing i did that helped my pick cornsnake (i know not common but she had a scar on her that looked like a bite) i used some dirty mouse bedding the get the sent on it a bit heavier and that worked for her. I wasn't holing her or moving her at all had her temps at 85 on the warm 76 on the cold humidity was 55 on the cold and 50 on the warm. I after senting the mouse fuzzies a few times she is eating like a pro now.
@@JasonsExoticReptiles I had tried almost everything you had mentioned in the video before and it just wasn't happening and after 5 weeks with a corn that is still on weekly feeding she was getting skinny it was my last resort before just giving her live. Started breeding mice just so i could give her a live if i needed too because no place else would sell me a live once the right size because.
This is a great video. A couple weeks ago my brother asked me if I would take a young ball python from him because it wasn't eating and he just didnt have time for it. He told me the ball python would occasionally eat a live mouse. He said it was really picky the mouse had to be all white, it didn't like colored or fancy mice. But my brother also had some shitty set up for it in an aquarium with only a lamp for heat. I got the ball and put him in my quarantine snake rack, on heat tape and thermostat. For a week after I got it and basically just left it only checking to see if it needed water. One day I was culling mice from my colony and offered a fresh killed brown mouse and he took no problems. A little over a week later I determined it could eat a fuzzy rat, maybe even a rat pup at the largest(I've never had a ball python but am going off recommendation of my friend that has 3). I thawed a fuzzy out and bam he grabbed it faster then I thought he would, and it was a black and white fancy rat. For this ball python it was a bad setup and just bad husbandry in general from my brother.
On the other end my dumeril boa has such a feeding response that I have to open the opposite end of the enclosure, throw rat in, and hurry up to get the door closed cause she is already coming your way and will bite anything that moves, including you. Just have to back away slowly and let her figure out by smell where the rat is. Not what I expected of a dumeril when I said 'Dumerils are really cool I want one'. I love her though and she is really sweet as long as there is no smell of food in the air.
Jason good job my friend. I'm new to channel. Maybe a week or so now and I got to say... Very refreshing way of receiving the info. Keep it up in really enjoying the channel. Love the collection as well.
Thanks for a really good video. I always use a temperature gun to check after defrosting/warming: 110F is good, as by the time I am presenting the prey to the snake, it will have cooled to about 95, which is the body temperature of a live rodent. Some snakes go off feed in the breeding season, so that’s worth bearing in mind. And some just won’t eat certain animals: jungle carpet pythons are well known for refusing rats - mine hates them - my fault for not getting him on rats early on. With a nervous snake it can be good to keep onself low down so one doesn’t look like a great huge animal. With most of my snakes, I feed them rodents and birds at alternate feeds; the rodents we buy have a high fat content, and it’s all too easy to end up with obese snakes.
Definitely good to know especially for future references! Mine usually is keen sometimes a little too keen xD If she isn't I'll put the defrosted rodent on a coco mat, lift this up with a stick thus rolling it towards her. And boom! The slight movement triggers her natural instincts...
Great information, and exactly what I was looking for. I think I may be handling her too much, for the reason of socializing her to not be aggressive. Just as you mentioned. I am going to take your advice in this video starting now. I want her to eat and be healthy, first and foremost. I need to, and am doing the best thing for HER. I absolutely love watching your video's, they're very informative. Without all the bull**it beating around the bush too lol. Thanks again Jason!
Update on my baby boa: I stopped handling her completely for 3 day's, and decided to see if I could get her to eat. She still refused the frozen thawed, but took a live baby mouse just fine. She won't eat in a separate tub, so I decided to see what she would do eating inside her terrarium. I will also add, I stayed near by to watch the mouse so my snake didn't get bitten. Which she did not! I'm also not going to handle her when it's close to feeding time. Thanks again Jason for all the advice and educational video's!!!
Thank for watching and really happy to hear it helped. Good to heat the update as well! She will eat. Just need to get her going and resist the urge to handle until she does
I think I’m making the same mistake! I have 3 juvenile cali kings 1 juvenile sand boa and a brand new yesterday baby ball python I got from a expo. The python didn’t eat the frothed thawed but that’s expected I guess I shouldn’t have a handled him so much… I also have I guess it’s a albino banded orange milk snake for about a week and hasn’t ate yet
Corn snakes eat like boas. I have just gotten off from attempting to switch one of my corn snakes from live to frozen. It only ate 1 time in the 2 months I was trying. I had to give up and go back to feeding live today. I never tried prekilled, but I tried everything ells. I will be trying again next year after hibernation. I was watching a video where the girl was saying if a snake goes off of frozen thawed and will only take live, and won't take frozen thawed after you tried everything, try to feed it frozen thawed after you bring it out of hibernation for the winter.
This was so helpful! My baby kenyan sand boa has been eating f/t but recently only wanted live. I’m not really comfortable feeding live so I wanna get it to take f/t again. I’ve been considering rehoming my snake but then I get sad and don’t want to because it’s my first reptile and I wanna keep it for as long as it can live for. I’m willing to keep my snake and feed live for a small period of time until I get it back to f/t and this info really helps so thanks! 😊
I'm in the same boat. Except I have a male baby hognose. I will feed him live for now. I don't like it though...so hopefully he will go back. I don't wanna rehome him. It's crossed my mind but I don't think I could. So hopefully it won't take too long... I realized that your comment is a year old soooo update?
Ya know thinking about it, if I had any one snake species that was the most difficult it was boas. Not that I couldn’t get them to switch over but for some reason the red tails I had were most difficult (compared to Burmese and even retics)
Yall probably live in different climates or have different setups Air pressure is something that we just don't have much control over you can do everything right but if the air pressure is off it could lead to more difficulties (I'm guessing about air pressure but literally anything outside of our control that impacts their behaviors can be inserted in its place)
Well, for me with breeding my own food for my retics they are all under 2 years old. So, they were all on live so went fresh culled prey with co2. Then, following week throw in a vacuum sealed item with water. They all will swap over to f/t with no issue. Then, can do f/t whenever I have to.
Love this video - needed this brada ! I just made a video on my channel talking about how I’m done feeding live after losing a few rats in my house and my snakes being bit!
Why didn’t I look it up earlier 😭🤦🏽♀️ My other two are on frozen thawed never which I like better because I never had an issue the new ball python who’s 3 months old last he ate was the 10th refuses the frozen thawed as much as I tried nothing worked he was hungry though would strike have it in his mouth then leave it be this has happened this week and next I warmed up them up again thinking it wasn’t warmed up enough and nothing 😭 kind of upset because I had to go the live route but I’m glad he snatched it up and ate it thankfully today no issues as I and my boyfriend were there watching to the side closely to make sure all was well. Hoping to switch to frozen thawed 🙏🏽 any advice how or should I do a couple feedings of live then switch? Thank you for this!?
Great video. My '18 retic WILL NOT eat f/t. I feed her a live adult rat, and while she's getting that down I shove a thawed 3xl rat in her mouth and she takes it fine. Sometimes it's a little tricky and she wraps my hand up, and sometimes she spits it out, but I think she's getting better at it. She's always ready to eat the next time. Hoping for the day she'll just take the f/t before I have to use a live one. She really needs rabbits, hope that goes as easy
Just got in a sand boa. Did not eat for 5 weeks. Did all the tricks with the Frozen and finally tried a live pinky which was huge it was bigger than what I wanted it to be but he down that very well. I'm going to try alternating and maybe the rubbing effect of a live mouse with the pinky because it's a very tiny sand boa right now about 5 in Long. Any other tips are well suggested love the video
Mine is a tiny one rn as well iv fed him twice only way each time I got him to eat was in a separate container with a towel over the mouse and snake and leave it alone for 45 mins usually mine eats in that time. My juvenile ball python im working on trying to get a method for him to eat frozen I didn’t want to feed him in his enclosure. Maybe I should?
Total I have three baby California kings the little sand boa and not the python. One California snake hasn’t ate eaither. Heat pads under and a 60 watt lamp on top for day shut off at night hot and humid hides for all so the ones not eating should be comfortable!
Hello Jason! I have a small question. My snake needs a bath. When I say need, I say NEED. He has stuck shed, and just plain stinks. Plus, I don’t think he’s pooped in a while. While I understand I should give him a bath, he also is new and isn’t accepting any frozen food. I’m yet to give him live, as my local store is only open on Monday and Thursdays. Do you have any advice for me? Should I give him a bath a couple days after Monday, or give him one now? Thanks!
it sounds weird but if you don’t have a spare lamp or mat, set the guy on top of the fridge or freezer, maybe the microwave. the warmth from the equipment will thaw it quickly
Hoping I can apply some of these tips to a stubborn burm. He is about a year and 4 months and will only take f/t jumbo mice and quail I have been trying to switch to rats since April with no luck.
@@JasonsExoticReptiles Got his first rat down with scenting last week months of trying now to keep it up. Seems to be an albino burm thing being picky that is looking forward to the switch to rabbits.
Currently dealing with a young burm that's super weird when it comes to eating... Each time she reacts a little bit different. She generally acts super interested in it nosing it like crazy, and then nothing lol Just can't seem to figure out a sure fire way to get her to smash it everytime without fail. What do you think about scenting with chicks? I've heard that can work well for picky eaters. Edit* Spoke to soon... I just finished the video 🤦🏻♂️ Sorry about that
The live/frozen integration has worked for me with picky snakes. I just started using separate feeding bins because my wife panics when they get the substrate in their mouth. I also feed around 10:30pm because I don't get off work until 10. What is your opinion on multiple smaller items vs 1 larger? For instance feeding 2 hopper mice as opposed to 1 adult mouse? Great work bro.
@@the_lost_pharoah752 that's exactly what I do. Lol. My Guyana started expecting 2 after I switched to 1 larger. Baby Pucallpa is getting 1 hopper today then switching to 2 before she is large enough for a full size.
In the middle of trying to switch my well established female ocer to frozen thaw now that she is getting to much bigger sized prey. Nervous about who to use though, have you used Rodent Pro?
Great video. Snakes eat bizarre things sometimes. When I moved into my new house I kept my anaconda in my master bathroom for a night since I didn’t have it’s cage set up while moving. A week later I was cleaning the poop out of the enclosure in the new house and found one of my wife’s used tampons in my snakes poop. Looks like it raided the garbage can while it was locked in the bathroom.
I have a young rosy boa and I’m worried I’ve inadvertently put her off feeding f/t. I was advised by her breeder to tease feed her with f/t, and I think it may have scared her. What can I do to start over?
I know Palumbo does. Just trying to see how many others are keeping or breeding them. I think it’s a great project and direction to go since they stay relatively small.
I have issue in my area finding anything but the small frozen rat and i think its a bit big for my smallest snake still, i was feeding her the fuzzy smalls. She is pretty crazy on the 6th day after eating so i cant imagine how she would be waiting another week if its to big.
I have to transition a 9 year old ball python from pre-killed to f/t. I'm not going to try for a week, so it'll be his usual two-week cycle. No handling at all. Temps and humidity are all good, but it's his first time in a bioactive. He seems very comfortable so far. I could see his age go both ways: 1. He's used to dead and knows the smell enough that f/t doesn't give him pause, or, 2. The smell is distinct enough with the f/t that he's too used to a different smell and won't take it. I thought the video was very good. Any new tips for this situation?
So it doesn't was off the scent. As I mentioned in the video I defrost in water for the first try then will just do room temp and heat up with a lamp. Bags in water leak 90% of the time.
@@JasonsExoticReptiles Sorry, I had just assumed the bag. I should have been explicit. I know what you mean about ziplock bags, but what I've found works 100% of the time is one of those 1 gallon bread bags, clipped to the rim of the bucket so that the top is out of water and the mouse is just floating on top. (A small adjustment of putting something heavy on top of the mouse in the bag works if complete immersion is required, but I don't find it necessary, as an extra minute or two ensures uniform mouse temp.) Since moving to that I've had zero leakage into the bag (since the entire top of the bag is out of water).
@@JasonsExoticReptiles Thanks. It was born of frustration at ziplock bags leaking and annoyance at having to towel off wet rodents so they wouldn't pick up tons of coconut substrate (my ball python had been eating F/T for years when I figured it out). The great thing about hot water is that it comes out of the faucet at, basically, mammalian temperatures, since it's designed to be comfortable for mammals. :)
My Ball python was fed live since we got it, is it harder for it to switch?? Another thing is i don’t buy her food, usually my brother does or my dad does (because i’m 14 and i’m not making much money.) and it’s really expensive to buy frozen/thawed. any tips? so far she hasn’t gotten any bites.
Thanks Jason, this is a good topic, I have been feeding f/t with all of my snakes. I get their food from a local shop & I take the food out of the freezer and let them thaw out ( in a baggie) and then put the prey in warm water, so far I have been lucky only once have I had a bag that leaked. Could you please do a video on assist feeding? Thanks again for your time!
I can try but in all honesty I've only assist fed maybe 5-10 snakes ever. Usually if you are at the point of assist feeding there are so many other things that are off specifically with more common stuff. Things like dominican mountain boas as babies and stuff are a different story, but I purposely haven't done an assist feed video because 99% of the people who want to assist feed haven't fixed the original problems causing the snake not to eat.
So, I have 5 or 6 year old BCI that's previous owner stated she had to force feed frozen, when we got him we tried frozen, feeding bin, for about 5 weeks. We put in live and he strike right away. His feeding cycle is 1 mouse 1 week on, 2 weeks off. (2 mice per month) We handle him on 3 day a week with 1 hour. He seems to live for the hunt. With COVD, our breeding mouse (fancy) / (rats) have been exsausted and there are no live available, it's been 3 months. We haven't been able to handle him since he's been in hunter mode every time we go to check on him. Any suggestions?
Reason for not being able to handle him, is generally he doesn't mind the cat if he's been feed, but at about 2month mark, he was posing to strike at the cat. So we decided for both thier safety, keep him up till we can get a meal in him.
Buddy taught me to not handle em at all til they're slamming frozens then you can start handling lightly. It's new overzealous keepers who handle their animals way too much. I leave my snakes alone for a good month and just give em food and let them settle in to their new enclosure. It works very well
I'm not the best with technology.. But I tried sending a picture of my central american boa to see if you could tell if she is a blood or not. My name is Alexandrea Persohn. I sent it to your email.. I hope it sent through
Haha that could just be a timing thing, but also a reason I got out of ball pythons. The trouble feeding too so much enjoyment out of it. Ball pythons in general dont want rats and mice. They want gerbils and stuff Haha. It's strange that it will eat weaned rats and not smells since they will both smell the same being the same type of animal. You can try to scent a small rat with an African soft fur to make it more appealing if you haven't tried that already
Yeah don’t ever want to over cook your meal lol , I used one of those seedling heat pads and wrapped it around about 6 or 7 bigger rats , but it ended up cooking them and making their skin too soft and when they wrapped them up, let’s just say it wasn’t good 😐🤢, the smell of their guts exploding all over was not good , and after the 2nd one I had to throw the rest away , gross , so the Mat can cook a rat nasty 🤢
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I scratch the bottom of the tub with my other hand when I present the f/t rat. The feeling of the vibrations from the scratching is similar to if the rat was trying to burrow of dig at the wall. This gives the snake an indicator of it being alive. It has made a _major_ difference for me, whenever I've needed to switch a stubborn BP. It often works for jumpstarting feeding when they go off feed, too.
I’m so thankful my snake switched pretty fast. I was worried cause i took him from my cousin who has been feeding him live and i thought the snake wasn’t gonna take it but after a couple of sniffs he went right for it 😂
Dude great video love how you can get years of knowledge from someone like yourself in these videos I'm just getting back,into it after 11 years I kept snakes for years prior, but by no means do I consider myself as experienced as someone like you or others I follow I really appreciate the videos all of you offer they are giving me more confidence I'm very careful who I take advice from I know enough to be able to tell who knows what they are talking about and I can tell you know your stuff and again man I appreciate people like yourself thankyou for offering your time to help me and others.
Thank you!!
I can’t believe someone would put a rat in the microwave. That’s why you can’t eat everybody’s cooking.😂 Great information Jason keep it up.
Thank you!
I am going to try some of these tips. I have two babies that will not eat frozen for the life of me. Definitely not used to it as I have never had this problem. Odd thing is they each ate a frozen once, and haven't since. Trying to mimick whatever it was I did and still no dice. Think I have some larger quails for my adults, so I will try scenting a mouse for the babies with one. Another much needed and much appreciate video from you, and thank you.
I’ve had a ball python for about 10 years. I “tried” to feed f/t when it was young when I first got it. Didn’t work but I’ll be honest, I only tried a few times and then got worried it was going to starve so I tried a live pinky and it ate right when it saw the prey. So for 10 years I fed live, I actually kind of trained it to hunt prey from above (I have a shelf inside the enclosure) and it’s worked well without my snake getting injured. All that being said, I’m dead set on switching it over now. I’m so tired of traveling to the only store near me to get a live rat and hope Paul is hungry. I’m going to try every one of your tricks and do my best to get it switched over.
That's by far the best and most reasonable feeding video I have seen on YT. Many tips I have tried myself before and can certainly recommend too.
Thank you!
Your the best guy for boa info on RUclips and there are a lot of reptile pet tubers now ....so well done
Thank you!
Thanks for your videos! They give a lot of practical information that Im finding very helpful with my first pet ball python.
thank you so much for this video. im going to try to feed small live with a frozen thawed next
Thank you for the informative video. I am a very novice snake keeper, with only having my first snake, a ball python, for 5 months now. My co-worker approached me and said she is trying to get rid of her daughter's two snakes, a corn snake and a milk snake, and asked if I would take them. I was leaning towards no but she said they would go up for free on craig's list or be released. Obviously I can't say no to that. I am picking them up Wednesday and the daughter told me they eat live and my python only eats frozen. Trying to learn as much as I can before I get them. Hope they just take frozen and its easy. Your video helped a lot to make me feel prepared.
Thank you! Good luck with them! I'm always here if you have any questions
@@JasonsExoticReptiles Thanks!! I took your advice and just tried frozen thawed without anything special or extra and they took it right away! Come to find out they had not eaten in weeks :( I guess that helps the transition but poor babes. I have them a humidity hide and now they are in blue a few days later! Good signs so far.
You're awesome man
I've been watching this video several times, Jason, and l'm always thankful for your great advice Jason, keep up the great work 😉👍🏼🙋♂️
Thank you!
1 year ago my 8 year old ball python for the first time in his life went off feed for 1 month. Fast forward to today 1 year later he has gone off feed for 2 months now. I reasoned with myself that it's winter time and his temperatures are a little bit cooler and that this could be a normal situation in the wild and finally after 9 weeks of not eating he finally snagged a f\t small rat and hoping everything gets back to normal.
One thing i did that helped my pick cornsnake (i know not common but she had a scar on her that looked like a bite) i used some dirty mouse bedding the get the sent on it a bit heavier and that worked for her. I wasn't holing her or moving her at all had her temps at 85 on the warm 76 on the cold humidity was 55 on the cold and 50 on the warm. I after senting the mouse fuzzies a few times she is eating like a pro now.
Yes I've heard good success with that but never personal success myself.
@@JasonsExoticReptiles I had tried almost everything you had mentioned in the video before and it just wasn't happening and after 5 weeks with a corn that is still on weekly feeding she was getting skinny it was my last resort before just giving her live. Started breeding mice just so i could give her a live if i needed too because no place else would sell me a live once the right size because.
This is a great video. A couple weeks ago my brother asked me if I would take a young ball python from him because it wasn't eating and he just didnt have time for it. He told me the ball python would occasionally eat a live mouse. He said it was really picky the mouse had to be all white, it didn't like colored or fancy mice. But my brother also had some shitty set up for it in an aquarium with only a lamp for heat. I got the ball and put him in my quarantine snake rack, on heat tape and thermostat. For a week after I got it and basically just left it only checking to see if it needed water. One day I was culling mice from my colony and offered a fresh killed brown mouse and he took no problems. A little over a week later I determined it could eat a fuzzy rat, maybe even a rat pup at the largest(I've never had a ball python but am going off recommendation of my friend that has 3). I thawed a fuzzy out and bam he grabbed it faster then I thought he would, and it was a black and white fancy rat. For this ball python it was a bad setup and just bad husbandry in general from my brother.
On the other end my dumeril boa has such a feeding response that I have to open the opposite end of the enclosure, throw rat in, and hurry up to get the door closed cause she is already coming your way and will bite anything that moves, including you. Just have to back away slowly and let her figure out by smell where the rat is. Not what I expected of a dumeril when I said 'Dumerils are really cool I want one'. I love her though and she is really sweet as long as there is no smell of food in the air.
I used a pin to poke a hole in pinky mouse skulls, that seemed to help quite a bit.
Jason good job my friend. I'm new to channel. Maybe a week or so now and I got to say... Very refreshing way of receiving the info. Keep it up in really enjoying the channel. Love the collection as well.
Thank you!!
Great vid bro,thx for helping the community!
You're welcome. Thanks for watching
AWESOME
Thanks Jason great 👍 video
Thanks for watching!
Thanks! This was VERY helpful!
Great topic an fantastic professional info. KEEP THE VIDS COMING BROTHA!!!
Thanks man!
Thanks for a really good video. I always use a temperature gun to check after defrosting/warming: 110F is good, as by the time I am presenting the prey to the snake, it will have cooled to about 95, which is the body temperature of a live rodent. Some snakes go off feed in the breeding season, so that’s worth bearing in mind. And some just won’t eat certain animals: jungle carpet pythons are well known for refusing rats - mine hates them - my fault for not getting him on rats early on. With a nervous snake it can be good to keep onself low down so one doesn’t look like a great huge animal. With most of my snakes, I feed them rodents and birds at alternate feeds; the rodents we buy have a high fat content, and it’s all too easy to end up with obese snakes.
Good tips and thank you!
Great tips!
Definitely good to know especially for future references! Mine usually is keen sometimes a little too keen xD If she isn't I'll put the defrosted rodent on a coco mat, lift this up with a stick thus rolling it towards her. And boom! The slight movement triggers her natural instincts...
Good idea for sure
Great job on the video, brother, appreciate it!
Thanks for watching!
Great information, and exactly what I was looking for. I think I may be handling her too much, for the reason of socializing her to not be aggressive. Just as you mentioned. I am going to take your advice in this video starting now. I want her to eat and be healthy, first and foremost. I need to, and am doing the best thing for HER. I absolutely love watching your video's, they're very informative. Without all the bull**it beating around the bush too lol.
Thanks again Jason!
Update on my baby boa: I stopped handling her completely for 3 day's, and decided to see if I could get her to eat. She still refused the frozen thawed, but took a live baby mouse just fine. She won't eat in a separate tub, so I decided to see what she would do eating inside her terrarium. I will also add, I stayed near by to watch the mouse so my snake didn't get bitten. Which she did not! I'm also not going to handle her when it's close to feeding time.
Thanks again Jason for all the advice and educational video's!!!
Thank for watching and really happy to hear it helped. Good to heat the update as well! She will eat. Just need to get her going and resist the urge to handle until she does
Never handle them the day of feeding, just like the 2 days after a shed.
I think I’m making the same mistake! I have 3 juvenile cali kings 1 juvenile sand boa and a brand new yesterday baby ball python I got from a expo. The python didn’t eat the frothed thawed but that’s expected I guess I shouldn’t have a handled him so much… I also have I guess it’s a albino banded orange milk snake for about a week and hasn’t ate yet
Corn snakes eat like boas. I have just gotten off from attempting to switch one of my corn snakes from live to frozen. It only ate 1 time in the 2 months I was trying. I had to give up and go back to feeding live today. I never tried prekilled, but I tried everything ells. I will be trying again next year after hibernation. I was watching a video where the girl was saying if a snake goes off of frozen thawed and will only take live, and won't take frozen thawed after you tried everything, try to feed it frozen thawed after you bring it out of hibernation for the winter.
This was so helpful! My baby kenyan sand boa has been eating f/t but recently only wanted live. I’m not really comfortable feeding live so I wanna get it to take f/t again. I’ve been considering rehoming my snake but then I get sad and don’t want to because it’s my first reptile and I wanna keep it for as long as it can live for. I’m willing to keep my snake and feed live for a small period of time until I get it back to f/t and this info really helps so thanks! 😊
Thats awesome to hear! Hope it works out for you!
Jason's Exotic Reptiles Thanks :)
I'm in the same boat. Except I have a male baby hognose. I will feed him live for now. I don't like it though...so hopefully he will go back. I don't wanna rehome him. It's crossed my mind but I don't think I could. So hopefully it won't take too long...
I realized that your comment is a year old soooo update?
Ya know thinking about it, if I had any one snake species that was the most difficult it was boas. Not that I couldn’t get them to switch over but for some reason the red tails I had were most difficult (compared to Burmese and even retics)
Really??? Boas in my experience are about as easy as it gets
Yall probably live in different climates or have different setups
Air pressure is something that we just don't have much control over you can do everything right but if the air pressure is off it could lead to more difficulties
(I'm guessing about air pressure but literally anything outside of our control that impacts their behaviors can be inserted in its place)
Well, for me with breeding my own food for my retics they are all under 2 years old. So, they were all on live so went fresh culled prey with co2. Then, following week throw in a vacuum sealed item with water. They all will swap over to f/t with no issue. Then, can do f/t whenever I have to.
Great video Jason 🤘🏻
Thank you!
Love this video - needed this brada ! I just made a video on my channel talking about how I’m done feeding live after losing a few rats in my house and my snakes being bit!
Thank you!
Why didn’t I look it up earlier 😭🤦🏽♀️
My other two are on frozen thawed never which I like better because I never had an issue the new ball python who’s 3 months old last he ate was the 10th refuses the frozen thawed as much as I tried nothing worked he was hungry though would strike have it in his mouth then leave it be this has happened this week and next I warmed up them up again thinking it wasn’t warmed up enough and nothing 😭 kind of upset because I had to go the live route but I’m glad he snatched it up and ate it thankfully today no issues as I and my boyfriend were there watching to the side closely to make sure all was well. Hoping to switch to frozen thawed 🙏🏽 any advice how or should I do a couple feedings of live then switch?
Thank you for this!?
Great video. My '18 retic WILL NOT eat f/t. I feed her a live adult rat, and while she's getting that down I shove a thawed 3xl rat in her mouth and she takes it fine. Sometimes it's a little tricky and she wraps my hand up, and sometimes she spits it out, but I think she's getting better at it. She's always ready to eat the next time. Hoping for the day she'll just take the f/t before I have to use a live one. She really needs rabbits, hope that goes as easy
Yeah that can be a good trick as well. Kind of like the last thing I touched on with feeding two prey. I'm sure she will get it sooner than later
Just got in a sand boa. Did not eat for 5 weeks. Did all the tricks with the Frozen and finally tried a live pinky which was huge it was bigger than what I wanted it to be but he down that very well. I'm going to try alternating and maybe the rubbing effect of a live mouse with the pinky because it's a very tiny sand boa right now about 5 in Long. Any other tips are well suggested love the video
Mine is a tiny one rn as well iv fed him twice only way each time I got him to eat was in a separate container with a towel over the mouse and snake and leave it alone for 45 mins usually mine eats in that time. My juvenile ball python im working on trying to get a method for him to eat frozen I didn’t want to feed him in his enclosure. Maybe I should?
Total I have three baby California kings the little sand boa and not the python. One California snake hasn’t ate eaither. Heat pads under and a 60 watt lamp on top for day shut off at night hot and humid hides for all so the ones not eating should be comfortable!
Great video. And you have beautiful snakes. I dont have an issue going from live to F/T i have an issue going from mice to rats with my Ball Python
Thank you! Same stuff can apply especially the stuff toward the end
@@JasonsExoticReptiles i will give them a try thank you
Love the shirt "J"
Keep going brother!
Thank you!
Hello Jason! I have a small question. My snake needs a bath. When I say need, I say NEED. He has stuck shed, and just plain stinks. Plus, I don’t think he’s pooped in a while. While I understand I should give him a bath, he also is new and isn’t accepting any frozen food. I’m yet to give him live, as my local store is only open on Monday and Thursdays. Do you have any advice for me? Should I give him a bath a couple days after Monday, or give him one now? Thanks!
Jason good video! ✌🏼
Thank you!
it sounds weird but if you don’t have a spare lamp or mat, set the guy on top of the fridge or freezer, maybe the microwave. the warmth from the equipment will thaw it quickly
Hoping I can apply some of these tips to a stubborn burm. He is about a year and 4 months and will only take f/t jumbo mice and quail I have been trying to switch to rats since April with no luck.
Definitely try sending. Or use a small prey item that they like next to one that you want them to eat and eventually they will usually take over time
@@JasonsExoticReptiles Got his first rat down with scenting last week months of trying now to keep it up. Seems to be an albino burm thing being picky that is looking forward to the switch to rabbits.
Currently dealing with a young burm that's super weird when it comes to eating... Each time she reacts a little bit different. She generally acts super interested in it nosing it like crazy, and then nothing lol Just can't seem to figure out a sure fire way to get her to smash it everytime without fail. What do you think about scenting with chicks? I've heard that can work well for picky eaters.
Edit* Spoke to soon... I just finished the video 🤦🏻♂️ Sorry about that
First view 🐍🤘
Thank you!
The live/frozen integration has worked for me with picky snakes. I just started using separate feeding bins because my wife panics when they get the substrate in their mouth. I also feed around 10:30pm because I don't get off work until 10. What is your opinion on multiple smaller items vs 1 larger? For instance feeding 2 hopper mice as opposed to 1 adult mouse? Great work bro.
I see no problems with feeding 2 smaller over 1 larger.
I used to have to do that with my corn snake because he was in between sizes. Then when he got big enough i went back to 1
@@the_lost_pharoah752 that's exactly what I do. Lol. My Guyana started expecting 2 after I switched to 1 larger. Baby Pucallpa is getting 1 hopper today then switching to 2 before she is large enough for a full size.
In the middle of trying to switch my well established female ocer to frozen thaw now that she is getting to much bigger sized prey.
Nervous about who to use though, have you used Rodent Pro?
I use them quite a bit. Never had an issues in probably 20 years
Great video. Snakes eat bizarre things sometimes. When I moved into my new house I kept my anaconda in my master bathroom for a night since I didn’t have it’s cage set up while moving. A week later I was cleaning the poop out of the enclosure in the new house and found one of my wife’s used tampons in my snakes poop. Looks like it raided the garbage can while it was locked in the bathroom.
I have a young rosy boa and I’m worried I’ve inadvertently put her off feeding f/t. I was advised by her breeder to tease feed her with f/t, and I think it may have scared her. What can I do to start over?
I wouldn’t over think it. They will almost always take to frozen over time once they settle in.
i am currently trying to get my baby ball python on frozen thawed he took his first one yesterday and i am so excited
Others write that their snakes easily switch to frozen. My boa, which came to me a week ago, did not even want to eat a live rat😅
Off topic question: do you keep or breed the Honduran dwarf boas?
I dont honestly not sure who would be breeding them
I know Palumbo does. Just trying to see how many others are keeping or breeding them. I think it’s a great project and direction to go since they stay relatively small.
I have issue in my area finding anything but the small frozen rat and i think its a bit big for my smallest snake still, i was feeding her the fuzzy smalls. She is pretty crazy on the 6th day after eating so i cant imagine how she would be waiting another week if its to big.
Need to order online. Much cheaper as well
@@JasonsExoticReptiles I dont know i get them for about 3 bucks now and anything online always adds shipping.
I have to transition a 9 year old ball python from pre-killed to f/t. I'm not going to try for a week, so it'll be his usual two-week cycle. No handling at all. Temps and humidity are all good, but it's his first time in a bioactive. He seems very comfortable so far. I could see his age go both ways: 1. He's used to dead and knows the smell enough that f/t doesn't give him pause, or, 2. The smell is distinct enough with the f/t that he's too used to a different smell and won't take it. I thought the video was very good. Any new tips for this situation?
Why do you find a heat lamp more convenient than using warm water?
So it doesn't was off the scent. As I mentioned in the video I defrost in water for the first try then will just do room temp and heat up with a lamp. Bags in water leak 90% of the time.
@@JasonsExoticReptiles Sorry, I had just assumed the bag. I should have been explicit. I know what you mean about ziplock bags, but what I've found works 100% of the time is one of those 1 gallon bread bags, clipped to the rim of the bucket so that the top is out of water and the mouse is just floating on top. (A small adjustment of putting something heavy on top of the mouse in the bag works if complete immersion is required, but I don't find it necessary, as an extra minute or two ensures uniform mouse temp.) Since moving to that I've had zero leakage into the bag (since the entire top of the bag is out of water).
Yeah that can definitely work. Great idea.
@@JasonsExoticReptiles Thanks. It was born of frustration at ziplock bags leaking and annoyance at having to towel off wet rodents so they wouldn't pick up tons of coconut substrate (my ball python had been eating F/T for years when I figured it out). The great thing about hot water is that it comes out of the faucet at, basically, mammalian temperatures, since it's designed to be comfortable for mammals. :)
My Ball python was fed live since we got it, is it harder for it to switch??
Another thing is i don’t buy her food, usually my brother does or my dad does (because i’m 14 and i’m not making much money.) and it’s really expensive to buy frozen/thawed. any tips? so far she hasn’t gotten any bites.
Should be fairly easy to find. Frozen is usually much cheaper than live. Best bet is to buy frozen from some of the online suppliers like rodent pro
Thanks Jason, this is a good topic, I have been feeding f/t with all of my snakes. I get their food from a local shop & I take the food out of the freezer and let them thaw out ( in a baggie) and then put the prey in warm water, so far I have been lucky only once have I had a bag that leaked. Could you please do a video on assist feeding? Thanks again for your time!
I can try but in all honesty I've only assist fed maybe 5-10 snakes ever. Usually if you are at the point of assist feeding there are so many other things that are off specifically with more common stuff. Things like dominican mountain boas as babies and stuff are a different story, but I purposely haven't done an assist feed video because 99% of the people who want to assist feed haven't fixed the original problems causing the snake not to eat.
My ball is extremely interested when food comes out, but will not touch the food if its in tongs
Sounds like a ball python
I've had my ball python for 28 years. She's only wanted live. By this time, it's almost impossible. I tried and tried.
So, I have 5 or 6 year old BCI that's previous owner stated she had to force feed frozen, when we got him we tried frozen, feeding bin, for about 5 weeks.
We put in live and he strike right away. His feeding cycle is 1 mouse 1 week on, 2 weeks off. (2 mice per month)
We handle him on 3 day a week with 1 hour. He seems to live for the hunt.
With COVD, our breeding mouse (fancy) / (rats) have been exsausted and there are no live available, it's been 3 months. We haven't been able to handle him since he's been in hunter mode every time we go to check on him.
Any suggestions?
Reason for not being able to handle him, is generally he doesn't mind the cat if he's been feed, but at about 2month mark, he was posing to strike at the cat. So we decided for both thier safety, keep him up till we can get a meal in him.
👍👌
Thank you
I defrost in cool water, not warm
I've heard arguments for those side. I've done warm water for 20+ years with no issues. Not likely changing how Haha.
Buddy taught me to not handle em at all til they're slamming frozens then you can start handling lightly.
It's new overzealous keepers who handle their animals way too much.
I leave my snakes alone for a good month and just give em food and let them settle in to their new enclosure. It works very well
HELP SUPPORT THE CAUSE AN DONT SKIP ADS!!!!!
100% appreciate that bro
"Don't mess with the snake, and whatever you do, dont jerk the snake around like it's on a willow limb in a hurricane, like I'm doing right now"
Jason.. such a cutie
I'm not the best with technology.. But I tried sending a picture of my central american boa to see if you could tell if she is a blood or not. My name is Alexandrea Persohn. I sent it to your email.. I hope it sent through
Haha I just got the email... I'm sorry my phone sucks. I need a better camera
Or you have a Ball Python who is stuck on rat pups. Refuses to move up to a weanling even though she's big enough to eat small rats. 😵
Haha that could just be a timing thing, but also a reason I got out of ball pythons. The trouble feeding too so much enjoyment out of it. Ball pythons in general dont want rats and mice. They want gerbils and stuff Haha.
It's strange that it will eat weaned rats and not smells since they will both smell the same being the same type of animal.
You can try to scent a small rat with an African soft fur to make it more appealing if you haven't tried that already
Yeah don’t ever want to over cook your meal lol , I used one of those seedling heat pads and wrapped it around about 6 or 7 bigger rats , but it ended up cooking them and making their skin too soft and when they wrapped them up, let’s just say it wasn’t good 😐🤢, the smell of their guts exploding all over was not good , and after the 2nd one I had to throw the rest away , gross , so the Mat can cook a rat nasty 🤢
Haha yeah. Exploding rats are no fun