How to? Kill?

If your girl is getting lazy about eating she may also not be all that hungry, so you may want to extend her schedule. If you're offering every seven days now, push it out to 10 or 14 days, and see if there's a difference in her behavior.

I have a male doing that, though he's on f/t - he hits the rat, holds it a while, eventually he'll throw one lazy coil around it, "kills" it, and then leaves it.

A few answer to questions posed in response.
the rats size this time was a medium close to large because the large rats that they had were the size of a chihuahua.
She had to be hungry as she skipped a week while she shed. She also was very interested in eating and was on the rat in no time. I know what you ment about the stitches in this scenario but the rats whole body was free not just its mouth so I had to stop clawing arms as well as biting teeth both at the same time.i had no options in my eyes and just reacted. I tried the fresh dead because when putting feeders in their keeper one bolted as I closed the door and snapped its neck but my girl acts like its sick or something and goes in her feeding hide as to say "you should know better then to offer me this nasty dead thing."
(just weighed her 3434 w/rat inside and about 5yrs old) like I said I must have been lucky so far because when it come to feeding my snakes I haven't had any of the common headaches the other 3 eat like champs and I guess she does as well just getting sloppy about her kills and its gonna hurt her.

When I was experimenting with feeding my snakes freshly killed, I was using dry ice (which is a solid form of CO2).

Just put a rat in a plastic container, put a little plastic cup with dry ice in the container and give it 5 minutes. Worked for me very well.

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Originally Posted by Joe balls

I tried the fresh dead because when putting feeders in their keeper one bolted as I closed the door and snapped its neck but my girl acts like its sick or something and goes in her feeding hide as to say "you should know better then to offer me this nasty dead thing."

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Are you just laying the dead rat in there? Have you tried moving a fresh killed one around with tongs? None of my herps will take food just laid into their enclosure. I was actually surprised when I saw on here that people can sometimes just leave the prey in the tank with their snakes and come back to find it eaten!
(I feel like you probably tried that, but it doesn't hurt to ask ;))

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Originally Posted by DVirginiana

Are you just laying the dead rat in there? Have you tried moving a fresh killed one around with tongs? None of my herps will take food just laid into their enclosure. I was actually surprised when I saw on here that people can sometimes just leave the prey in the tank with their snakes and come back to find it eaten!
(I feel like you probably tried that, but it doesn't hurt to ask ;))

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No I do the dangle tease dance like that for all my snakes too so they strike it and coil up on it. I was wondering who people got there snakes to take food easily off the floor. It seems to me if I have to dangle it too long and it cools down alittle I need to blow dry it and heat it up to make them think it's still alive.

Sweetie, at her size, going a year without eating isn't going to hurt her any. Trust me, I had an import fast for 18 months and only loose about 300 grams. If you are sincerely worried about her lazy feeding response, then you can do one of two things. Do not feed her for about 4 or 5 weeks. Long enough to make her darn good and hungry, and then see if she behaves the same way again. If she does, or if you just don't want to take a chance on live again, then move on to choice number 2. Don't feed her anything for a solid 8 to 12 weeks. I mean it. You think you are being cruel, but trust me she'll be just fine. After that time, offer her an f/t or p/k rat, no more than about 150-200 grams. If she doesn't take it, and even after all that time there is a chance she won't, then let her go another 4 - 6 weeks and try again. When she gets hungry enough, she'll get down off her high horse and eat whatever you offer. I've done it repeatedly with adult snakes, and I've only ever had one that held out on me until my nerve broke and I gave her live again.

There is a persistent myth that adult ball pythons must eat weekly or something terrible will happen. But in reality an adult ball python, by which I mean over about 2 years old an 1200-1500 grams, can easily go for weeks and months without food and they do it on a regular basis. It is MUCH harder on us as keeper's than it is on them, and I speak from personal experience. Most people like at least their females to eat weekly because this puts them at breeding weight faster, but it isn't necessary. My adult females in fact eat better and more consistently if I offer only every 10 - 14 days.

I know this is easy for me to say, but believe me I know how much harder it is to put into practice. Watching your snake go week after week and then month after month and not eat is enough to put you in a room with padded walls, but as long as she isn't loosing a lot of weight, nothing terrible will happen to her. You on the other hand may need the nice young men in the clean white coats before it's over. I know I came close a few times with my import. By the way, the secret to getting her to feed I discovered through much trial and error is she wants small food. And by that I mean no more than about 50 grams, even though she weighs 3400 grams and could eat much larger prey. So as difficult as it will be for you, do consider what I've suggested. A hungry ball is much less likely to be a picky ball.

Gale