how do you feed live?

How do you guys/girls feed your ball pythons live? Do you throw the rodent in the enclosure? Do you hold the rodent by it tail and let your ball strike? Do you use tongs to hold the rodent and let your ball strike? And other methods?

Thanks
Alex

I feed all of my snakes in their enclosure. I take out their hides and water bowls so the rats/mice don't hide behind them, then I prescent the room for 15 minutes. Then I drop the rats/mice in the corner farthest away from my snakes and they all strike and eat like champs! After they've eaten I wait 20 minutes until their 'post-food fest yawn' to re-align their jaws, then place all of their furniture back into their tubs (after I was my hands to get rid of the rat/mice smell). This is how feeding day goes every thursday at 3 pm at the house, and everyone eats like little pigs =)

I feed live.

My room is already pre-scented because the rats and snakes share a room.

I open tub...toss rat in..snake eats.

repeat.

I do not recommend holding the rat by the tail because you will likely stress out the rat to where it is in a strong defensive mode and could get aggressive with your snake.

the key to feeding live is to be patient..feed proper size prey and always...monitor live feedings.

:gj:

I have a snake who eats live mice. I pre-scent the tub (it is divided in half due to the weight of the snake) for 30 minutes and then I put the mouse into the snake's side of the tub. My snakes ambush from their hides and so I do not take the hides out. In less time than it takes for me to close the tub (in a rack system) there is an audible "squeek" and I know that the snake has done what it has evolved to do :gj:

My boa I tong feed, because she is the only one to do it consistently. My others I prescent then drop them in.

I pre-scent the room, by putting the rats in the room about 30 - 45 min prior to feeding. I then put the rat into their enclosures. I come back about 45 min later, and take all of the uneaten rats out.

Hope this helps.

Pre-scent the room for 30 minutes to 1 hour - Open the enclosure – drop the rodent – close the enclosure – Move to the next snake.

All rodents are removed if not eaten within 15-20 minutes.

Step 1: Buy mouse
Step 2: Open cover
Step 3: Toss mouse inside
Step 4: Watch
Step 5: Once done, leave

I don't need to prescent because my ball KNOWS when it's feeding day - Tuesday - and he is always waiting on top of his hide at around 6 PM which is when I feed him.

He's a good boy and has never resisted feeding:gj:

Check out 8ballpythons on youtube adam has a great feeding video if your going to feed live. hope this helps

I have read the pros and cons of feeding in the snake's enclosure versus feeding in a seperate tub. I choose to feed in the enclosure. This way, I don't have to handle the snake after it has eaten. Also, there is less chance for it to bite you...I was just recently talking to my husbands friend's friend....his girlfriend has a ball python and he told me it bit him. I asked him why and he replied that he was putting it back into its tank after feeding.

But, some people prefer to remove them from their enclosure to feed.

I breed african soft furred rats and they share the room with the snake so I don't even think about prescenting. I open the lid and drop the rat in. I used to remove the hides as well but now I leave them in there because my snake was on a hunger strike and I didn't want to take away his hiding spot and possibly stress him.

I monitor and if he doesn't eat after a certain amount of time I take the rat and offer it again days later. The only time I use tongs is on dead rats to make them do the zombie rat dance.

Hope this helped.