BP behavior with live feeds?

[Johar]

here's what happened. my BP is 8 Months old.
it always seemed hungry after one small "adult" white mouse. however, its always waiting for the prey. well, it missed the mouse in the 1st strike.
the mouse found out and never got close . so i had to throw it infront of her.

well, i offer her the 2nd mouse, she was highly interested in it. it got close to it and tasted it. then the mouse snapped and ran away!! ..

then i held the mouse in the air with "dunno what they call it in english"
she striked. but missed once, then i put the mouse infront of her. after that she tasted it alittle bit, but she crawled away and decided not to eat the mouse.

now, is there anything i have done wrong? if the snake hungry shouldn't it go after the prey? maybe BP is different though. just curious.

when do u know that your snake is still hungry ;/

[daniel1983]

The proper way to feed live is by setting the rodent on the side of the enclosure the snake is not on.....then watch until the rodent is constricted.

By "throwing it infront of her", you are probably just causing the snake to become scared and intimidated by its food. Ball pythons are ambush preditors....put the food in and let it go toward the snake.

Using hemostats, tongs or any other object to hold any live rodent in the air for feeding is inhumane and unsafe. By doing this, you are creating alot of stress in the rodent. If you feed like this you will have a much greater chance of the rodent attacking your snake. I would suggest only feeding this way with p/k or f/t rodents.

[kavmon]

here's what i do when i feed, let the rodent stay in the same room/area with the snake for about 20-30 min. this will get the snake "in the mood" for food that is. when you see the snake "awake" or searching for food, then it's a good time to drop the rodent in. i don't dangle or shove the rodent in front of the snake. if a snake wants to eat it will find the rodent in a cage/tank period! some like to eat at night better or when all is quiet in the house. if they don't eat in an hour or so and it's dark and quiet, then pull the rodent out. try again next week same time, same thing.


vaughn

daniel you beat me it to it! replay, replay! lol

[daniel1983]

I forgot to mention the 'warm-up' to get the snake in the mood to eat.....I think that is the key to feeding live successfully and safely.

ha ha....I am always quick to post....but usually forget something...good thing I have you guys to pick up the slack

[Johar]

thanx for clearing this out. well, i do warm her up before eating. and its always dark/ quiet room . but i never saw her actually chasing the food. frankly she never backed up when i threw the mouse infront of her . she never skipped a meal, however like i said. when she missed her 1st strike the mouse stayed away and never got close so i thought she'd never move.
but i'll try your advice. cuz i think i really made it stressed about the 2nd mouse.
however, what about the 2nd mouse? should i leave both mice in the viv? and wait for an hour? while , ofcourse keeping eye on them!?

[iceman25]

thanx for clearing this out. well, i do warm her up before eating. and its always dark/ quiet room . but i never saw her actually chasing the food. frankly she never backed up when i threw the mouse infront of her . she never skipped a meal, however like i said. when she missed her 1st strike the mouse stayed away and never got close so i thought she'd never move.
but i'll try your advice. cuz i think i really made it stressed about the 2nd mouse.
however, what about the 2nd mouse? should i leave both mice in the viv? and wait for an hour? while , ofcourse keeping eye on them!?

If I were you, I would only leave one feeder inside the viv at a time. Make sure the mouse is fed before you give it to the snake. Don't handle the snake on feeding day. Feed in the evening hours when the snake is active. Feed on the same day, same time. Keep the mouse in the same room for about 15 minutes or so before feeding. The scent will get the the snake into "feeding mode." Finally give the snake privacy to make the kill. I have found that some of them are shy, and tend to miss when a human is looming above them. Give this a shot and see if it works. Good luck.

[Johar]

i have done 90% of the things u've told me about except i like to see it when it eats
the only thing i haven't done is "waiting for 15 mnts" ... i just put the mouse inside and BAM she eats it, she doesn't seem very shy so far, i even recorded her on a digi cam with some lights on, she didn't care about me "must had been really hungry".

anyways i'll try again with two mice next time using the same try
and dont worry, i never handle it on feeding day and never before 48 hours after feeding . all my attempts for feeding her 1 mouse were successful gonna go again for 2 next week. thanx.

[recycling goddess]

why can't you handle your snake before you feed it? we held dexter yesterday while we waited for my hubby to bring home his dinner... and about 15 minutes before he came home, i put dex back in his viv and he ate like a champ...

curious,
aleesha

[daniel1983]

Handling = stress ..... stress = not eating .....

For my picky eaters, I try not to handle 24 hours before I feed. The other day I cleaned an enclosure of one of my young females about 1 hour before feeding.....she did not eat.

Sometimes that effects them.....sometimes it doesn't.......I have had a ball python take a f/t mouse off the bottom of an enclosure as I was setting it in the enclosure.

dexter sounds like he is really comfortable around you.....

[Boarder4l154]

why can't you handle your snake before you feed it? we held dexter yesterday while we waited for my hubby to bring home his dinner... and about 15 minutes before he came home, i put dex back in his viv and he ate like a champ...

curious,
aleesha

Alot of times, if BP's are on a regular feeding schedual they will come to expect food on a certain day. This is usually when you see them out "hunting" People dont reccomend you handle before they eat on feeding day because there is a greater chance that the snake will think of your hand coming to pick it up as food and strike. Basicly, if you handle on feeding day before they eat, theres more a chance of getting bit.



or stressing out the snake... thanks daniel!