What are your tricks?

[Syfaio]

What do you guys do when you want one of your balls too eat frozen? I usually let it thaw too room temp and right before i present it throw them under a heat lamp I still have 2 that aren't too interested lol

[T_Sauer]

I use the exact method that you are using and is about the best way I've found .... If it is the first time offering a f/t to these particular snakes sometimes it can be tricky ... I use a temp gun and check the feeder ... Get the best results when the head of the feeder rodent is at or around 100℉ ..good luck

[ajmreptiles]

i warm the up with warm tap water til the head is warm. and then for some I have to make it dance as though it was alive to get a food response from the snake. though I do have a big 10 year old wc girl who is stubborn and will only take live. ball pythons can be picky eaters and while you can get them on f/t when they are young don't be surprised if they change their mind down the road.

[Sonny1318]

I've been keeping snakes since the early nineties. Mostly boas, a couple of rainbows and a few dumerils. Just in the last year or so have I started a small collection of balls. I think I've been very lucky, because in all that time I just had one baby guayana that I had to assist feed. I have six balls ranging from a year and a half, to a couple of months. All but one switched to frozen thawed no problem. But one little guy only wants fresh killed. What I'm thinking is the ones I get from big cheese rodent factory, don't smell enough. They come really clean. So I've been keeping the live ones I buy on shavings for a bit, and hoping to use them to scent the frozen. And hopefully that will assist in making the switch. He's little so I don't want him to skip feeding. I know that probably wasn't much help. But I can relate to your situation. Good luck.

[goddessbaby]

I thawed it and then let it sit in a little bit hotter water about 10 minutes before feeding. I waited until he was already out and about and took the lid off his tank. I then grabbed a hairdryer and started warming the rat up and he got super interested then i zombie danced it across the tank and around his body a little until he attacked lol.

[SRMD]

What do you guys do when you want one of your balls too eat frozen? I usually let it thaw too room temp and right before i present it throw them under a heat lamp I still have 2 that aren't too interested lol

Same method.. But I instead blast the rats head with a hair dryer till it reaches 110f then offer. If refused I will crack the skull expose blood.. This is rarely rejected.

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

Thawing at room temps, warming up with the hairdryer, not dangling by the tail but holding the prey from behind the neck and make it move like if it was alive.

With some that are very shy just dropping the rat in the enclosure in the evening and leaving it overnight.

And most importantly tough love, if the animal has a good body weight than if the F/T is not eaten nothing else is offered.

[Zincubus]

Thawing at room temps, warming up with the hairdryer, not dangling by the tail but holding the prey from behind the neck and make it move like if it was alive.

With some that are very shy just dropping the rat in the enclosure in the evening and leaving it overnight.

And most importantly tough love, if the animal has a good body weight than if the F/T is not eaten nothing else is offered.

Does it matter where the mouse / rat is held ? I read that they don't have great eyesight and that relied on their infrared heat pits and they just saw the orange glow ...

[DVirginiana]

Does it matter where the mouse / rat is held ? I read that they don't have great eyesight and that relied on their infrared heat pits and they just saw the orange glow ...

Not that my BP will take a f/t rat regardless of where I hold it, but... Holding it by the back of the neck will make the heat signature look more like a live mouse than the weird vertical posture it'd have being dangled upside down.
You wouldn't think that'd make a huge difference, but I have a couple snakes (non-BP) that have to have food offered held behind the neck. If they can't figure out where the head is supposed to be, they just freak out and refuse to eat.

[Zincubus]

Not that my BP will take a f/t rat regardless of where I hold it, but... Holding it by the back of the neck will make the heat signature look more like a live mouse than the weird vertical posture it'd have being dangled upside down.
You wouldn't think that'd make a huge difference, but I have a couple snakes (non-BP) that have to have food offered held behind the neck. If they can't figure out where the head is supposed to be, they just freak out and refuse to eat.

That's interesting , I use tongs and hold by the end of the tail just so they don't bite onto the tongs ..