Hello everyone. I recently acquired a juvenile ball python who has never eaten frozen thawed. I tried every trick in the book to no avail. With my last order of f/t rats and mice for the rest of the collection, I ordered a couple of gerbils. Low and behold, she took it without hesitation when thawed and heated. My question is, do you think scenting rat pups with gerbil will help to eventually get her onto rats alone, or have I opened a Pandora’s box?
Thanks much!
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I’ve sucessfully used scenting to switch snakes from mice to rats, so it would probably work from gerbil to rats
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A very merry welcome to you @james1965 James ! So glad you found us! Ya gotta love these ball pythons don’t cha! 
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Gotta agree with @chesterhf Hilary on the scenting technique! 
Just be thankful you’re not having to switch from live to FT! 
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And btw we require pictures and the more the merrier! 
Keep us updated on your progress! 
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Probably won’t even have to scent them. For snakes less than 1 year old I think the jump to f/t is the hard part, and then switching to rats comes easier once they’re used to the idea the floating fur balls are food
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Oh yeah, I used scenting to move my boy smoothly from mice to weaned rats. It barely took him two times before he understood that this was also food.
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Senting should work for anything. Or you can try the bait and switch. Use the one to get attention but have it grab the other.
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Try what @d_y_python mentioned. Dangle a live, and when the snake perks up to strike switch it with a FT.
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