Picky Feeder Gerbils

So lets talk picky feeders, picked up a gerbil eater this past weekend. Came with some gerbils and I know I get them on Rodent Pro. I know these things are like crack to ball pythons. Has anyone actually converted them? I dont mind going the gerbil route for this girl. Also thinking about trying hamsters since rodent pro has a smoking deal on them. All my snakes eat frozen thawed rats so I will deal with one PITA cause she was worth it :joy:

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A ball pythons metabolism and people’s patience have nothing in common. Switching picky feeders over is about making them truly hungry. Since their metabolism is so efficient it takes a lot to put them in a position where they’ll willingly take another prey item. If they’re captive bred adults, I just don’t feed them until they switch. Never takes more than a couple months. In the past I’ve had a ball python refuse food for 12.5 months from the date I brought her home (edit; her hunger strike was unrelated to prey type, she just doesn’t like being moved). She only lost 8% of her bodyweight in that time. Most of them will take a month or two off feed every year so when people say they can’t switch a picky feeder over, my question is always, how long did you wait before you gave in and fed it what it wanted?

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I just picked her up this past weekend. She fit in my breeding plans for this season possibly, I havent bugged her yet. This weekend I was going to feed her, or attempt to. I was thinking get her eating gerbils in my possession and then slowly try to switch her over?

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I would start with a rat or mouse. When you move a ball python to a new snake room with different husbandry sometimes their behavior will change entirely. Might get away with switching it with no effort at all if that’s the case.