Safest way to feed live??

best thing i ever did was buy pots and enlarge the whole in the top, if they are tall enough the mouse can't get in. Moe comes out when he's ready and sits on top of the pot when the mouse walks by on the ground BAM from above there is no risk at all to your snake. if he is not intrested he will stay in his hide and it is imposible for the mouse to climb up the tall pot.

hah..dont ever say impossible when you are talking about mice :) .... but I am sure you method works well. I have seen hide boxes w/ the access hole at the top of the side to prevent the mouse/rat from getting in several times....and it sets up a pretty cool airborne attack also :)

I dont know if theres any good way besides just removing all of the cage furnature and let the mouse and the snake battle it out. Remove it immediately if your snake doesn't appear interested in it. (feeding frozen or p/k, sometimes, you can leave it in longer if you have a lazy or slow eater). Your snake will let you know in the first 60 seconds whether or not its going to want to eat, and if you can't identify the snakes body language of when it is going to have a feeding respone, you need be much more observant of snake behavior.

Do not remove anything from the cage! ... The snake needs a place to find cover and protect it's body from the rodent. Hide boxes will give him/her the perfect security for hunting and killing a live rodent. Also, leaving the water dish in will give the rodent access to water while it's in there.

Do not use tongs. Tongs will stress the rodent and make it much more aggressive. It will lash out in a panic at anything it comes near while being restrained.

Pre-scenting the room is an excellent idea. Leave the mouse in a container near the snakes cage for 15-30 minutues.

As long as the snake is in it's hide, just drop the rodent into the cage.

Wait about an hour, if the snake hasn't eaten the rodent remove it and try again later. Do not leave the rodent in with the snake for more than an hour or so.

If you're using a glass tank for your snake, you don't want to sit in the room while you are feeding unless you can sit very still. Distractions outside of the tank (movement, noise, etc) will make your snake insecure and less likely to eat unless it is well conditioned.

Hope this helps.

-adam

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Do not remove anything from the cage! ... The snake needs a place to find cover

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great point - we have a couple that just plain won't eat without that cover to strike from (lol and not even a moving target!)

I would make sure you know what's going on in the enclosure if a live rodent is in there - I would not recommend leaving a live mouse or rat in there unsupervised. I agree that hovering over a glass enclosure may not be the most conducive way to ensure a feed - but I can't recommend leaving them together unsupervised.

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Originally Posted by Smulkin

I would make sure you know what's going on in the enclosure if a live rodent is in there - I would not recommend leaving a live mouse or rat in there unsupervised. I agree that hovering over a glass enclosure may not be the most conducive way to ensure a feed - but I can't recommend leaving them together unsupervised.

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Well, I certainly respect the opinions of everyone that posts on this site, especially when they come from a member of our most awesome admin council! I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers, I was just trying to help.

I was just explaining how I do it with the 200+ live rodents I feed my snakes each week. And as it turns out, yesterday I was helping a buddy of mine feed his 1000+ ball pythons and he does the same thing. But, I think it is fair to agree that with different levels of experience working with these animals there are certainly going to be different levels of comfort with what can and cannot be done successfully. The one thing that I know for sure after 25 years of keeping ball pythons is that no one can tell you how to care for your snake, each keeper has to figure out what works for them and their snake themselves.

IMO, one of the coolest things about keeping ball pythons is that there are so many ways to feed and care for them and still be successful!

ROCK ON!

-adam

No feathers ruffled at all! I fully recognize very few of us will have to deal with that volume of BP's.

Still one can dream . . . :P

I always feel compelled to tell folks not to leave them in there together unattended hehe - it's just a generic kneejerk sort of reaction without any intended target or subtext.

And I fully agree - there are many sucessful roads to BP husbandry.

"Getcher motor runnin' / head out to the highway"

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Originally Posted by Smulkin

I always feel compelled to tell folks not to leave them in there together unattended hehe - it's just a generic kneejerk sort of reaction without any intended target or subtext.

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I know EXACTLY what you mean!! Same thing happens to me everytime I see a myth about live feeding (or any aspect of ball python husbandry) stated as if it were fact! ;) :P :D

I really do so much better when rational people can sit down and share their opinions and experiences on a great site like ball-pythons.net! :D


-adam

Thanx again everyone well i'm going to the pet store now to but dinner and when i come back well see what happens. T.V. and light will be turned off i'll pre-scent then introduce watch carefully from afar and see what happens i'll let you guys know what happens.

Well um after I did every thing that I said he didnt take the mouse in fact he stayed in his hide balled up looking quite stressed so I removed the mouse and proceeded to examine Ol' Osiris and guess what his eyes are turning BLUE......Whoops no wonder he looked so stressed now I feel terrible becuause I probably just stressed my snake out..Only thing to do know is boost humidity a little and keep the excitment down (no handling) the crazy thing is that when I handled him yester day I noticed that he was a little pale I should have realized it could have been time but after only having him a week I wasnt expecting a shed for at least a month and now I have an unwanted mouse that I have to get rid of.......But hey You live and you learn