BP Feeding Enclosure?

My baby ball python is very excitable when it comes to sensing food. After feeding her in her seperate box, she will strike at anything that moves slowly into it, so usually I try and scoop her up quickly but gently and move her back to her tank. Recently I've heard that it's best to feed a ball in their own tank, but I'm worried that she'll start to mistake my fingers for food the way she has with the feeding box.

Do not feed in a separate box. Okay people say feeding in its enclosure will make it associate you with food but this will not happen if you regularly go in to spot clean or handle your snake once in a while. By feeding in a separate box its associating the box with food because its only there to eat, but in its enclosure it doesn't just eat, it also sleeps and drinks water and feels safe.

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You are much more likely to get bit moving a snake in feeding mode than offering food in the cage and leaving them to eat in peace. I always pre scent the room and feed on a schedule so there's no confusion about when it's feeding day vs normal days. For snakes looking like they are hungry during handling time I do a little tap to alert them what's up and then take them out although it's rarely an issue as I am in the cages daily changing water, checking on them.

Okay! How should I pre-scent the room if I use pinkies? I feed her three or four every two weeks because she's big enough around the middle for fuzzies but not quite big enough around the neck.

First off try next time feeding a fuzzy, if youve been doing this for a few weeks it's definitely time for a fuzzy, don't worry about her, she can handle it. Some eat fuzzies by their third and fourth meals. To scent the room you leave the mouse thawing in the same room for a while or if you feed live leave them in that room for a while then feed. Same technique no matter what size if mice, they have really keen noses.

Don't forget to keep your hands free of the mouse's scent and using tongs to lower the mice to your BP.

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Pinkies and Fuzzies (mentioned bove) are not suitable food for BP, the average hatchling is started on hopper and quickly move to adult.

How big is your BP (weight?)

You should feed a prey equal the girth size to your BP until it reaches 500 grams.

I feed on Mondays, tomorrow I'll post a video of my baby responding to food. They have excellent senses. The first time I fed I pre-scented the room, warmed the mouse and everything to get her going, now I can't take the mouse of the bag while thawing because she goes mad about it, once thawed I don't even need to warm it. It's hilarious how she's sleeping and the second I put the mouse in her cage a head pops right off LOL! By the way all that just to say, she has never tagged me or anything, they're smart and know what's food and what's not.


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It's not so much that I don't think she's ready for them, it's more of the fact that when I attempt to feed one to her she generally rejects it and instead just sits her head on top of it and doesn't move at all.

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Originally Posted by manacakes

It's not so much that I don't think she's ready for them, it's more of the fact that when I attempt to feed one to her she generally rejects it and instead just sits her head on top of it and doesn't move at all.

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What you need is to have proper husbandry if it is off your snake may not eat and you need to feed the right prey size, neither mentioned are the right size not even for an hatching straight out of the egg. If you do not feed the right size your BP will have issue recognizing what you feed as a prey item and will refuse it.

Again what is the weight of your BP?

Tank aggression isn't much of a thing on any ball python I have ever seen. For the most part a ball python will take a moment to assess the situation when their enclosure is opened. And the only way they will ever be strike ready when opening an enclosure is if they smell food first.

As for feeding in a different tub, I can't think of a better way to get bitten by a hungry ball python than prescenting the room, then shoving your hand in there to move them. Not to mention the stress the snake undergoes being moved.