The truth about feeding BPs. Help!

It depends on the snake. For example, I have read a few of topics about people having trouble switching to f/t, and looking for tips on how to.

I recently added two new juvenile ball pythons to my collection. The breeder told me both were eating live and hadnt missed a meal, after feeding on a 5 day schedule and still feeding them live, they still hadnt missed a meal. I recently just tried f/t with them, and they both took them right away. For their last 3 meals they have had an awesome response to f/t, and still havent missed a meal. And actually one of them was and still is very shy and jumpy at times, and that is the one thats cruising and hanging halfway out of his tub by the time he smells the rat.

My suggestion is if you can talk to the breeder/store, and see which are feeding really well, it will be a bit easier to swith to f/t.
Good luck!

My two little one are totally different. Huggie will take a f/t however presented but Lynn will only take if I hold it between the shoulders and have it facing her. Either way, all 4 of our snakes switched with no problem.

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Originally Posted by Dragon Queen

Thanks for the help everyone. It is reassuring to hear so many people confirm what most of my research has told me. I have decided to get the snake, and he is staying at the reptile store for about a week to see what success they can get with feeding him. I had called a few hours earlier to check in, and ended up having to call back, and got the news that he accepted a frozen mouse that had been warmed. I think that is a really good sign, and it certainly increases the chances that I will have success at home.


rabernet: Don't worry. I would not get a snake if I weren't willing to feed live. I really would prefer not too, since it is dangerous for the snake, more work, and generally tough on me (I would feel sorry for the mouse.) I would never starve my snake though, so if at any point it wouldn't eat frozen/thawed despite my best efforts, I would go with the live mice.

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Feeding live has very low risks of injury. I feed live, well over 15K live feedings and have never had a problem. Just to clear that mis-conception up! :)

Thanks for the info. That is good to know. Finding things out online can be quite confusing, especially if it is something that is often debated! For me the snake getting bit by the mouse is a smaller concern just because it seems so.... unlikely. I know a lot of people feed live. :)

I've got an odd story for ya...

My little pinstripe used to be one of my best eaters. He started out rough but got going quickly. He decided to switch to F/T without me even trying (I had been offering, but he wasn't consistently taking it). He used to feed live with all the other snakes. But now he will not take live and will only take frozen. My little pinstripe has been the black sheep of the family!

my snake ate f,t first time just buy one from a breeder that fed him f,t from the start! =D