The strike of the python......

[EyeLashViper]

:shock: Hey everybody,
Well, although I am probably going to incur some wrath I must admit that I am still feeding live to my pythons...last night I had an extremely successful feeding session with my three Ball Pythons - Apok, Trinity and Cypher. They all took two really plump mice and it was during the feeding of my big male Apok that I was able to witness his strike and capture of prey in a sort of slow motion - I have this flourescent light that I turn on over my pythons when I work on them and if you move your hand rapidly in front of it it will have a strobe effect..well, I placed the mouse in the tank and Apok immediately began to flick his tongue and become aware that prey had been introduced to his enviroment - he determined the location and homed in and then he lashed forward and struck !!!! his motion was slowed down and strobed where I could see him almost in a slow-mo kind of way...I saw his jaws deploy in full striking position and then I saw him hit this mouse like a mack truck...he then coiled over and began the process of constriction...it was something to really see... :shock: 8)

Anyhow my three big BPs are all disgustingly healthy and feed like starving orphans...I have their husbandry nailed down (temps, humidity, feeding, handling....) and they are thriving.....if there were shows where you could display your snakes I would love to show off my Ball Pythons...they may not be real expensive morphs like albinos or what have you but they are beautiful examples of the basic wild Ball Python...and totally docile and handleable....I think the reason I have been so successful with my snakes is that I love them to death....I strive for perfect conditions for them....

EyeLashViper

[beaglegod]

Good to hear they are healthy and eating good eyelash.
Do you plan on switching them to F/T before they are eating rats?

[EyeLashViper]

Yes...I must admit that it is my dream to get them on F/T before they take rats....the mice succumb pretty easily at this point but I am aware that rats are quite a bit more dangerous..I HAVE managed to get Apok to take pre-killed mice ( he is darn eating machine...he will take two or three plump mice one right after the other....) but Trinity and Cypher are being difficult...I havent been able to coax them into taking F/T yet....so for the time being I supervise the feeding sessions extremely closely....right now they are all fat and sassy and sleeping off their meal....this is what I love most about snakes...they eat and sleep and dont trip...just like me...LOL....I get along good with snakes....feed them and let them sleep and when the urge hits play with them some...hee hee hee....the perfect animal as far as I am concerned...

EyeLashViper

[iceman25]

Mice as well as rats can do serious damage to your snake. Make sure that you supervise closely at all times! And good luck getting to F/T.

[Ginevive]

I would just make sure to completely supervise the entire feeding process to make sure no mouse bites your snake. Make sure the mouth of the strangled mouse is always in your view, or it could be biting the inside of your snake's mouth. Try to get the snake to bite down on the mouse's neck or side, rather than onto its face, whereby the mouse could injure the insides of the snake's mouth. You should really "whack" the mice first; my picky eater who would "only" eat live mice when I got her, took readily to freshly-killed mice and now rat pups. I just move it around in front of her (using tongs) and she thinks it's live, and snap!

[elevatethis]

its not too hard to bash rodents right before they go in with the snake. They are usually still twitching enough on their own that its not necessary to simulate movement with tongs.

[The_Godfather]

I actually feed live gerbils to Monty, all he'll take. He's big enough so the risk is minimal.

[Soul_Of_Fire]

I also feed live to my ball python except its under supervised conditions. I once seen a dead snake that had its throat bit by a live rat that was just left in with it. The snake wasn't hungry and the rat came up chomped on the snakes neck and killed the snake.

DAMN PET STORES!!!

sometimes people can be unbelieveably stupid.

[Dragons91RS]

I also feed live to my ball python except its under supervised conditions. I once seen a dead snake that had its throat bit by a live rat that was just left in with it. The snake wasn't hungry and the rat came up chomped on the snakes neck and killed the snake.

the snake not being hungry, and some numb nut just leaving the rodent with him seems to be a major factor in a snake getting bit by food.
we always closly monitor sirius when feeding live(standing next to the tank with the lid open) and the one time he missed his strike he came back with the next one befor the rat had time to think.
he seems to have a strong drive to kill Ive noticed, almost like it's fun for him.