Feeding BP

[bajeboy]

was just wondering how many of you knock out the mice first before placing them in the cage with the snake .. would also like to hear your feeding strategies

[lps2]

I knock them out and then quickly and as humanely as possible snap their necks. I plan on eventually building a setup with the CO2 tank to kill them but at the moment I do the neck.

Just knocking them out could be dangerous, they could come-to and then go after your snake, or so I have heard.

As far as strategies go I feed in a separate enclosure because thats just what Aldous is used to, I sit the mice just outside the enclosure so he can smell it and it gets him all excited, of course he pretty much knows what coming when I put him in the feeding tank.

[seeya205]

You can feed the mouse live but rats bigger than a pup should be killed first! I feed him in his tank and I just throw it in after prescenting for an hour. He graps it right away!

[toddmbecker1234]

I am gonna go on one of my personal rants here and I hope no one minds to much. Why feed in a seperate enclosure. This baffles me and confuses me on why people still do this. Ball Pythons are very finicky eaters to begin with. If you have a single snake or two and they eat great, good for you, but as your collection grows, or your one or two snakes mature, they will go off feed for any number of reasons. Why add to this possibility by inducing another situation to mix by picking up and handling the snake before it eats and after it eats. Whether you see it or not handling is a stressor to your snake. Many of you do not want to accept that but it is true, they are solitary animals that prefer to be left alone.
Also, even though there are some people who devote their lives to ball pythons, in a lot of ways they are gatewat animals. They are often purchased as a first snake and they are a great choice. People learn about husbandry and how to care and handle them and then move onto other species. When one steps up to the big boys, burms, tics, condas etc... you have to follow different protocal then when dealing with the lil guys. Feeding outside of the enclosure with the giants is simply a stressfull situation for both the snake and the keeper. All Snakes tend to stay in feeding mode after they have consumed their prey. Some of the bigger snakes can stay in this mode for hours. When the keeper comes back in to relocate the snake back to its primary enlosure and that snake is still in feeding mode, you have a situation that is tricky, hair raising and potentially dangerous.
I totally understand that these are ball pythons and not potentially dangerous to anyone but why get yourself into bad habits that might transcribe themselves when and if you move into larger animals. Find a system that is safe and non stressfull to your animal and use this same protocal for all your animals in all situations and you and your animals will have a nice and more rewarding time. Please think about this all you seperate container feeders. Todd