a couple of new owner feeding questions

I have a couple of new ball python owner feeding questions. We just got 2 ball pythons about a week and a half ago. They are in the neighborhood of 8 weeks and 15 weeks old and were being fed live Rat pups.

We have gotten the oldest to eat 2 frozen/thawed hopper mice (one a few days after getting him, following the breeders instructions, and one a week later) so all is good on that front. However, we fed him in his cage. I’ve been assuming we will have to stop this but after reading a few posts it sounds like you all regularly feed them in their cages. I like simplicity so I am happy to continue this but want to make sure there is not a contingent out there that thinks it is a big mistake.

The second snake refused all attempts at frozen so today we fed her a live mouse. After removing her from the cage to feed her we realized she had shed over night. Had we known she was in shed we would not have been worried about her lack of eating and not have resorted to the live mouse. Although I will confess it was not nearly as bad as I had imagined. So, would you continue feeding live for a couple of weeks and then try frozen again or just immediately go back to trying frozen.

Thanks for reading the rather long winded post.

Welcome to the site!

Feeding in the snakes cage is the way to go. There aren't any negative effects associated with feeding in the snakes cage.

Either way is fine, I would give frozen another shot.

Checkout these threads if you haven't already

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

Thanks for the advice! At the next feeding I will try frozen in the cage for both of them. This site definitely seems to have better/more complete information compared to elsewhere. I am feeling particularly foolish about the shedding because when buying the snake I commented on the pink belly thinking it was how it normally looked. Had I read the info here about shedding I would have known right away.

Unfortunately most pet stores don't have staff that know anything about reptiles so many people start out with bad information. I really can't think of a better resource than this site when it comes to BP's.

If you ever have any questions/concerns don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks! I am confidant that I will be having more questions. We were lucky a reptile show was happening the weekend we were all set up to get the snakes. The person who initially showed us them was helping out so I don't think she was up on all the finer points. The snake is a cinnamon so at the time it made sense that the belly might be pink. I was imagining a red hot in my mind.