Eating question

[Persnickity]

I ask the reptile shop and they say I might be over feeding just making sure Last Saturday she ate 2 hoppers, Today 11/18/11 she ate 3 and did not regurgatate anything, Do Ball Pythons go on eating binges? because she will start to get hungry about wenesday or thursday of this week and will probably eat another 3 hoppers. she is only 3 months and about 2 ft long so she can not eat anything bigger then hoppers says the pet shop.
Thank you
Persnickity

[TheWinWizard]

What does she weigh? Those hoppers sound too small for a 2ft ball.

[notmyfault]

My ball is a little over 2ft long and eating rat weanlings, I would definately try upping the prey size.

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[Persnickity]

when I got her she was eating fuzzies so I have gradually been going to the next larger size and thought Hoppers looked big enough so I am going to try small adult mice when she is hungry again

[RestlessRobie]

You relly need the weight to feed the best but a good rule of thumb is feed prey the same size or slightly larger that the wides section of your snake. Best way to feed is feed prey 10-15% of body weight every 5-7 days for a hatchling/juvenile PB

[Persnickity]

I just wanna know do they go on a feeding frenzie? because she at Friday night and is acting a little hungry already And it is just Sunday night this is my first snake ever, She has gotten me over my fear of snakes. And she is spending alot of time in her water bowl now.

[zeion97]

I just wanna know do they go on a feeding frenzie? because she at Friday night and is acting a little hungry already And it is just Sunday night this is my first snake ever, She has gotten me over my fear of snakes. And she is spending alot of time in her water bowl now.

You mean your snake searches for food like a day after eating? I'll give you a personal experience. It's cold out, and some balls have a "biological clock" that when it's the tinme of year they stop eating, I've personally taken care of a male ball who was about the size of yours and on his first winter He was eating 2 meals every 5 days. (I forgot the exact size sorry. ) but after I'd say Maybe 5-7 weeks he stoped eating for a little over 6 months. He got fat, but went down to a healthy weight after his "cold strike" like I said, this is a personal experience and was not my snake but a stores that I helped take care of. Remember also, every snake Is different, some strike, while others eat non-stop. Did I answer your question though..? I think I did..

[Persnickity]

yes you did answer my question and thank you she did not eat for the 1st month and a half I had her so now I think she is making up for it lol. Thank you all so much I am learning so much about my lil girl Persnickity on here.

[ktint]

My male albino (18") long is eating 2 fuzzies rats every 2 days. Is that too much? He was eating 2 pinkies rats every two days before and I upgreat the rat size.

[royal mike]

When your snake stops feeding this is what you should do -

So to Start with the first and most important thing to do is to Relax and stop worrying.

When your snake stops eating you need to take into account the following,

1. Is your Snake going into Shed
2. Has your snake been moved recently
3. Are your Temps correct
4. Is the Husbandry correct for you snake (size of viv, hides, greenary)
5. Is it winter time or breeding season
6. Is your snake showing any signs of illness/stress, Just to enhance one of the reasons that your snake will stop feeding is because of stress, but all of the reasons i mentioned are factors that cause stress,


So after asking yourself all of these questions, this is what you do,

1. Weigh you snake and monitor for any weight loss,
2. Change the time period that you offer, do not offer every day or every couple of days,
3. Reduce food size that is offered

Ok so now we have the basics covered, when offering there are a few things that you can do to intice your snake to take the food, it does not matter which order you try these methods in but try them all over a period of time before going on to the next step below.

1. Warm up the food (hair dryer, hot water, etc)
2. Brain the food (slit head)
3. Leave food in viv, cover up and leave for 24hrs without looking,
4. Place snake into a tub and take it for a 15- 20 minute drive. this method is like a roller coaster effect, you place the snake into a tub and put tub on seat of car, the movement of the car gently rocks the snake around and disturbs gut flora in its stomach and hopefully causes the snake to feed,
5. Scenting food (with other foods, suppliments)
6. Placing on a jacket (place skin of a chick over food)
7. Offer different food types (gerbils, rats, multis, chicks etc)
8. Rub the defrosted food with some of the bedding to give it a fresh smell and you could also place some of the bedding inside the viv to excite the snake 10 or 15 minutes prior to feeding.
9. Try pre-killed food, to use this method you have to kill the rodent and place n viv whilst it is still twitching.
10. Put them into a pillow case with the food.

Another tip i was given and have started to use is, as we know Oct - Apr is winter them breeding season, if during this period you snakes refuses and is not in shed,

dont panic and instead of offering as usual offer on a monthly basis,

if after 2-3 months they still refusing, just stop offering until april,

all you have to do is weigh once or twice a month and keep an eye for any serious loss, if it a few grams here and there its nothing to worry about, what you are looking for is larger amounts (100g+)

Once the season is over down size you snakes home (if in 3ft move into a 2ft), place in a food item smaller then they usually take and leave, once taken you can slowly build them back upto the original size food, they may not start taking straight away, therefore try using the basic methods (brainin, death wiggle,warming etc etc)

Ok once all these methods have been tried, and you snake is still not eating then it may be time for a visit to the vets to give you snake the once over (this may only be necessary if it shows signs of illness or has stopped eating from one of the obvious reasons.

There are 3 other methods you can use to try to gety your snake to feed, but these are only to be done as last resorts and usually after being advised to from a vet.

1. Live food
2. Assist feeding
3. Force feeding

Of these methods live food would be the prefered and less stressful method,

As for the legallity of this method, this is how it stands,

Live feeding is Legal, but only as a last resort before assist/force feeding, But if frowned upon by AR and RSPCA,(these will try to prosecute you)

But you are at a bit of a dilema, as they will try to prosecute for 2 reasons,

1. cruelty to live rodent - when feeding live
2. cruelty to snake - if left to starve and die

therefore if you are going to feed live, you must do it in the privacy of you own home, without an audience and do not go advetising that you are doing it, Also DO NOT leave unattended, and only leave live food in fo 15 - 30 minute period, and remove sooner if you see the food attacking the snake

If this still does not work, then it may mean you have to assist/force feed you snake, but this MUST be at the last resort stage, once you snake hasnt been eating for over 6 - 12 months, and would be advisable to get some one who knows what they are doing to assist you, as it can be very daunting for you to do it, But i must warn you this will be very stressful for the snake as well.

I will just state these are tried and tested methods of various members and keepers,
hope this helps