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  1. #1
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    First ball pythons, need advice on feeding?

    Hello, I am new to ball pythons and just picked up a pair of 2014 hatchlings last week. I was wondering if someone on the forum could please help answer a few of my questions. I am an experienced reptile keeper but new to BP's. I have read several caresheets and researched BP's prior to purchasing the two I now have.

    I have a male mystic potion and a female blue-eyed super mystic. Both were flown by plane to an airport where I picked them up. I don't live in a big city so I had to stay overnight (keeping them in their shipping containers) before driving 8 hours back home the next day. I asked the breeder what he fed them and he said F/T rat pups once every 5-7 days. He kept them in a 4.24" high, 7 wide and 13 deep enclosure with a water bowl (no hide) on paper towel.

    Since bringing them home, I put them in their respective bins and left them alone because I didn't want to stress them out.

    Currently my set up is as follows:

    - 4"x12" (shoebox size) bins with holes drilled around the top and locking lids
    - Paper towel substrate
    - 1 small black snake hide that is just big enough for each BP to hide in and secure on all sides
    - plastic water dish
    - 1 Heat cable (15 Watt) used to heat both bins only on one side so there is a temperature gradient
    - I use a digital thermometer to monitor my temperatures as well as an infrared temperature gun. The hot side for each bin is currently sitting at 96 and the cool side is sitting at 80. I asked the breeder about the temperature he kept the hot side at for his snakes and he said 95 was where he liked it to be so I am within that range
    - I plan on getting a thermostat soon (Spyder Robotics brand) since many BP keepers recommend having a thermostat

    Yesterday evening I tried to feed my new ball pythons 1 thawed rat pup each but neither of them would accept food. Videos I watched suggested moving the bp's to a "feeding bin" separate from the bin they live in. I moved each to a feeding bin and tried to give each a F/T rat pup on tongs. Prior to giving them the rat pup, I boiled some water, put each rat pup in a plastic ziplock bag, and let the rat pups sit in the water to thaw out for 30 minutes. The pythons looked at the rat pups but made no attempt to strike at them. I tried gently shaking the rat pup using the tongs, putting the rat pup in the bin and closing the lid (in case my presence was stressing them out) but nothing seemed to work.

    Am I doing something wrong? I know BP's are notorious for refusing food but the breeder had no trouble feeding them. Is it a good idea to move the snakes to a "feeding bin" or is that just causing unnecessary stress?

    Do they need more time to adjust to their new environment? I don't want to sound impatient but if there is something different I could try next time I feed them that might help I would love to hear your thoughts. When should I try feeding them again?

    Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

  2. #2
    Registered User Sammiebob's Avatar
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    Re: First ball pythons, need advice on feeding?

    What temp were the rats at? It could be possible that they were either too hot or too cold. Also, are you 100% sure that they were eating rats? They could have been mice and that's a totally different smell
    1.2 Ball Python
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  3. #3
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    Re: First ball pythons, need advice on feeding?

    Quote Originally Posted by Sammiebob View Post
    What temp were the rats at? It could be possible that they were either too hot or too cold. Also, are you 100% sure that they were eating rats? They could have been mice and that's a totally different smell

    I double-checked the breeder's email message to me and he said he fed them: "hot, wet f/t rats dangle fed on a pair of haemostats"

    Come to think of it, I did not check the temperature of the rat pups prior to feeding them...I boiled the water and let the rat pups thaw in plastic bags in a cup. The water was still warm (not hot) when I removed the rat pups. They didn't feel hot when I touched them to check if they were fully thawed out so I thought they were okay. Is there a better way I can prep the food? Should I just run hot tap water instead of boiling it or let the rats defrost at room temp and just warm them up in warm tap water?

    What concerns me is the snakes didn't even try to go for the rat pups or anything, yet the breeder had no trouble giving them F/T rat pups. I'm confused if they are not eating because they are still new or because I did something wrong.

  4. #4
    BPnet Lifer Sauzo's Avatar
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    Maybe try a live fuzzy mouse to kick start them eating. My 6 week old high white pied girl was classified as a "problem feeder" at the pet shop but after I got her set up and all nice and warm she ate 3 live fuzzy mice after 2 days. They were small for her but it got her "jump started" to eating and now i'll bump her up to hopper mice or I might try a rat pinkie as I'd like to get her on rats early.

  5. #5
    Registered User Spikeanoid's Avatar
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    Another thing to keep in mind is that boiling water has the potential to cook the rats - something you want to avoid. I generally let my rats thaw out and then place them in hot water (just hot enough that I can stick my finger in it without getting burned) in a zip lock bag.

    You can also try lightly dangling or nudging the rats with feeder tongs to simulate a live rat. This has always worked for me when I get a stubborn eater. Using feeder tongs to keep your smell away from them helps too. I've also found it helps to keep yourself "hidden" from the snake's view. If possible, make sure the snake has some sort of covering over it (as in stick your tongs in through an opening in the cage, not take the lid and his hide out and wave the rat around).

    Of course, they could just be adjusting to their new habitats.
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  7. #6
    BPnet Lifer Sauzo's Avatar
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    Little rat pups should thaw out pretty fast. My red tail boa was fed frozen hopper mice as a baby so that's what I started on and it only took about 20 mins in a bowl of hot water in a bag. Since then I have changed to live prekill rats since I personally look at it as F/T as a frozen tv dinner and live prekilled as a home cooked meal But regardless they should have been thawed out. Did you feel them and try and kind of bend them to see if they felt frozen inside? And yes putting little frozen guys in boiling water can actually cause them to rupture which will leave you with a mess.
    Last edited by Sauzo; 12-01-2014 at 09:47 PM.

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    Re: First ball pythons, need advice on feeding?

    Quote Originally Posted by Spikeanoid View Post
    Another thing to keep in mind is that boiling water has the potential to cook the rats - something you want to avoid. I generally let my rats thaw out and then place them in hot water (just hot enough that I can stick my finger in it without getting burned) in a zip lock bag.

    You can also try lightly dangling or nudging the rats with feeder tongs to simulate a live rat. This has always worked for me when I get a stubborn eater. Using feeder tongs to keep your smell away from them helps too. I've also found it helps to keep yourself "hidden" from the snake's view. If possible, make sure the snake has some sort of covering over it (as in stick your tongs in through an opening in the cage, not take the lid and his hide out and wave the rat around).

    Of course, they could just be adjusting to their new habitats.

    Well, that makes a lot of sense! I watched a video to learn how to feed BP's and the guy in the video boiled the water and thawed the rats that way. No wonder I had trouble feeding them - there is so much information out there that it's hard to know what is "best" when you are a newcomer. I will try letting the rat pups thaw out at room temperature and put them in warm (not boiling) water. I feed my corn snake by heating its mice in a cup of warm tap water - my corn snake eats every time.

    Also, I watched the guy in the video dangle/shake the rat on a pair of tongs in front of the BP with no lid on the container or anything.

    The BP's did not have a hide when the breeder had them but I gave each one its own snug hide. If I try to feed them, will they know food is there if they are in such a small space (their hide) and come out?

    I am going to try slipping the feeding tongs through a small crack between the container and the lid and see if that helps like you suggested.

    When should I try feeding them again? I tried last night and still have 8 F/T rat pups stocked in my freezer. I want to avoid feeding them live mice, if possible.

  9. #8
    Registered User Sammiebob's Avatar
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    Re: First ball pythons, need advice on feeding?

    Quote Originally Posted by mysticpython View Post
    I double-checked the breeder's email message to me and he said he fed them: "hot, wet f/t rats dangle fed on a pair of haemostats"

    Come to think of it, I did not check the temperature of the rat pups prior to feeding them...I boiled the water and let the rat pups thaw in plastic bags in a cup. The water was still warm (not hot) when I removed the rat pups. They didn't feel hot when I touched them to check if they were fully thawed out so I thought they were okay. Is there a better way I can prep the food? Should I just run hot tap water instead of boiling it or let the rats defrost at room temp and just warm them up in warm tap water?

    What concerns me is the snakes didn't even try to go for the rat pups or anything, yet the breeder had no trouble giving them F/T rat pups. I'm confused if they are not eating because they are still new or because I did something wrong.
    Take the rats out of the freezer in the morning, and let them thaw near the snake's cage. At night, put the thawed rats in hot tap water. NOT boiling water. Snakes do not have the stomach power to digest cooked food, and it can hurt them. So boiling water is not good. If the breeder said the rats are "hot, wet f/t rats" then that means he didn't bother to dry them off and that's what your snakes are used to. Maybe give that a shot.
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  11. #9
    Registered User calmolly1's Avatar
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    Re: First ball pythons, need advice on feeding?

    I have found thawing them for a couple of hours (the mice or rat pups) on the counter covered with paper towel works best. Then heating it up with a hair dryer until it is warm though, with the head slightly warmer than body works best. My girls were live fed prior and it took experimenting to find what worked best.


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  13. #10
    Registered User Spikeanoid's Avatar
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    Re: First ball pythons, need advice on feeding?

    Quote Originally Posted by mysticpython View Post
    The BP's did not have a hide when the breeder had them but I gave each one its own snug hide. If I try to feed them, will they know food is there if they are in such a small space (their hide) and come out?
    Generally they do. Occasionally I'll have to lift up their hide to get their attention. See what works best for you. If they don't seem to know food is there, go ahead and take out their hide. The only reason I suggest keeping them covered is because I had a problem feeder who it was obvious felt insecure when I took the lid off to feed her. I stuck the food in with tongs while keeping her lid on and she gobbled it right up (I did have to remove her hide to get her to come out, though).

    Quote Originally Posted by mysticpython View Post
    Also, I watched the guy in the video dangle/shake the rat on a pair of tongs in front of the BP with no lid on the container or anything.
    After the first couple of feeds, my snakes no longer felt insecure when I removed their lid. Keeping the lid on is, at least in my experience, only necessary the first few times for tricky eaters.

    While dangling is very helpful, too forceful of dangling can scare the snake off. Just a tiny bit of wiggling, or even laying the rat down and nudging it with tongs, works best to simulate movement of the rat.

    Its to a lot to digest (get it?) but it's extremely rewarding so keep at it!
    Last edited by Spikeanoid; 12-01-2014 at 10:09 PM.
    "If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under." -RR


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