Got to love it

Just offered food for the first time to my second clutch. They just finished shedding this morning. So far 3 out of 5 have eaten rat fuzzies. The other two are still thinking about it. I will take three out of five every first feeding. The fact that they took rats is even better.

Good work. I've got mouse hoppers thawing out for my clutches in the racks. So far, out of 35 babies, I only have two converted over to f/t. I've tried going with rats this year, but I think going with mouse hoppers works to get them over to f/t.

I have never messed with f/t. Normally I get about 30-40% start on rats. The rest hold out for mice. This year so far all that have eaten have been rats. I only breed rats so I always have them. I have to buy my mice. Plus when they start on rats I never have to convert them later. How do you know how many to thaw when you are trying to convert them? Can you refreeze any that do not get eaten?

When I was feeding FT, I would refreeze feeders without a problem. It seemed like they liked them better the second time around.

With as small as they are I would thaw one for everyone and give them about an hour before coming around and grabbing the unbeaten ones. I find that its really easy to convert from live to frozen when they're small. How much moving does a pinky really do after all? So long as the pinky is warm I haven't had problems. It's the 1000+ g female het albinos that only eat female colored mice that are the problem.


If the pinky isn't eaten refreeze and try again. If you refreeze you cut off the possibility for spreading parasites from snake to snake. If its not eaten the second go round is prolly throw it out. (so I tend to favor strong eaters for a twice defrosted rat)