Feeding wild caught females

I have four WC females that were purchased this past winter/spring. Two laid eggs for me and two were purchased about 2 months after they had laid eggs. I was told the last two had not eaten anything since laying.

I bought the ASF rats and had minimal luck getting them to eat. They would eat about once a month maybe. More often than not I ended up taking the ASF back out of the tote and putting it back with the others.

Well this week-end my rodent supplier told me he had about 40 dwarf hamster babies that he needed to get rid of. I looked at them and thought they were cute so I brought 6 of them home, they were going to be pets. On a whim I put one in each of the WC totes just to see what would happen. They gobbled them up and started looking for more. I had to go back and get another 20, they were really small. The one girl took 4 in one sitting. I figure they averaged out to the size of a mouse so I stopped there.

Now I am unsure how long to wait to feed them again. I know many people on here have WC's that they have had success with. Could someone please give me some suggestions on what a feeding schedule should be for them when they first start eating? At this time of year my CBB big girls (2000+ grams) eat a med/large rat on Sat. and again on Wed. I don't want to over feed the WC girls but I am so happy that I found something they seem to really want to eat.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

If I were you I'd probably feed them every 4-5 days and really try to get the weight back on the girls that laid.

You may notice once you get them in a feeding routine they'll switch to rats with ease.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I had given them the hamsters on Friday night so I tried again tonight. They all ate at least one and the girl that ate 4 on Friday ate three tonight. It is funny seeing her eat them cause she just gulps them like they are a piece of candy. I have some baby rats that I am keeping in with the hamsters so hopefully I can get them to switch over easily once they get used to eating again.

yea thats how I switched most of my stuff over to rats. I'd put the rat in with the mice the day before feeding so the scent was really strong and just shorten the time the rat was in with the mice every feeding until it was just a plain ol unscented RAT.

Something you might want to try is feeding a rat after they have just eaten a Hamster. As Larry said often they just get into the eating mood and will be easy to switch. Might be an idea if you plan on switching them to FT later on, to start with FT Hamsters, I hate to think of how many times I've tied some critter to a Rats head to get them switched over lol..Randy

I don't know if I just have dumb luck or what, but every wc bp I've owned was offered a meal after a couple of days. If the snake does eat, I take note of the type and color of the prey. After 2 weeks offer another meal. If the snake had previously eaten, prey of the same type and color are offered. If the snake did not previously eat, offer prey of a different color. Take note of the amount of interest shown, and keep records of every attempted feeding. Most of all, get to know your snake (hands off of course!), and you will notice behaviorial changes that will que you on when to offer a meal. Your snake will let you know. WC BPs are like a picky 3 year old. choose your battles, and take what is offered. If that means the snake will only feed on black bear hamsters, it might get expensive, but well worth it for a healthy happy feeding snake.
Melissa