Feeding Frozen/thawed?

I agree. I don't personally think that a Ball Python would be able to remember what day it eats each week.

I think they remember some sort of schedule... i.e. - prescenting the room, opening the tub, a mouse/rat hanging from the tongs, etc. That kind of stuff yeah, i'm sure they remember. But not a specific day in the week. I mean i'm sure if you fed every week on Tuesday and then randomly fed them on Wednesday.. they would prolly all still eat and everything would be hunky dory.

I do however like your idea's for feeding frozen thawed Connie. Heating a the head more than the body... I've never heard that before. I like the idea of a hair dryer too so that it helps "fluff" them. I'm really considering switching all mine over to frozen thawed shortly, simply because I don't like keeping rats.... it seems to be more of a hassle than anything.

The only problem for me getting my snakes on a routine is that I base my feeding schedule upon them deficating. Adults I usually feed every 7-10 days and yearlings/sub-adults I feed about every 4-7 days. It all just depends on how quickly they process the food. But most of the little ones deficate in about 3-4 days, and my adults can take up to 2 weeks sometimes, but most in about 6-7 days. Then I give them one or two days of rest and relaxation and start again.

Not sure if you guys have seen this yet, and I know that we aren't really supposed to post other websites, but this website has really helped me with my feeding, deficating and shedding schedules. It's www.iherp.com it's free and the database for your "schedule" is really cool... makes things alot easier for those of us who spend alot of time on the computer.

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Originally Posted by chavhing

i hearrd that its better to feed outside its home. should i be taking the snake out of its viv?

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If I am not mistaken my husband feeds all the snakes with the exception of one outside of their viv. We don't want the snake associating the opening of their viv with food and striking. On the other hand we try to handle them as much as possible so they continue to allow us to hold them.

You may want to try outside the viv to avoid ingestion of substrate (if any).

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Originally Posted by starmom

Hi Connie!~ How long did it take for your snakes to associate food with that specific day of the week? Mine associate food with the pre-scenting I do, but I don't think it has to do with a day of the week, per se. :)

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Mine did well within a few weeks. About a month.

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Originally Posted by elusivereptiles

I agree. I don't personally think that a Ball Python would be able to remember what day it eats each week.

I think they remember some sort of schedule... i.e. - prescenting the room, opening the tub, a mouse/rat hanging from the tongs, etc. That kind of stuff yeah, i'm sure they remember. But not a specific day in the week.

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Have you ever tried to feed them on the same day everyweek?

How do I know they know it's feeding day? Saturday morning I walk into the room, and instantly their little heads poke out of the tub. I can open the tub, and they immediately go into strike mode, some even do take a hit at me (my sumatran stp). These animals are on a hair trigger on saturday and aren't to be handled. THIS IS WITHOUT PRESCENTING.

You can't even imagine the energy these animals give off on feeding day after the prescenting. It's eery, but it's more than proof to me that they know exactly what day it is, and that they are being fed.

The young ones on 5 days are pigs, they want to eat all the time, but they to can be seen perched on top of their hides on feeding day. I never did prescent before I moved in February of this year because my rats were all being raised in the same room as the snakes. LOL, 24.7 prescenting.

My snakes know feeding day, and they can learn those simple schedules in my experience. Maybe it's just a severe coincidence, but I'm rather doubtful of that. ;)

I'm sure they can't tell what day of the week you're going to feed them, but if you feed them a consistent number of days apart (5, 7, 10, 14, whatever...) then it wouldn't be too surprising for them to pick up on how long it had been since the last meal, and how long they normally have between meals

so I realize the way I said that sounds weird...but all I mean is that if you always wait the same number of days between meals, and you feed them often enough, that they may pick up on it. yeah.

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Originally Posted by chavhing

hi i am planing on feeding my ball python for the first time on friday and i am planing to feed him a frozen hopper mice. i was just wondering of some tips and a step by step on how to thaw and prepare the mice.

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use live rats/mice to pre-sent the room:snake::snake::snake::snake::snake:

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Originally Posted by soy.lor.n

I'm sure they can't tell what day of the week you're going to feed them, but if you feed them a consistent number of days apart (5, 7, 10, 14, whatever...) then it wouldn't be too surprising for them to pick up on how long it had been since the last meal, and how long they normally have between meals

so I realize the way I said that sounds weird...but all I mean is that if you always wait the same number of days between meals, and you feed them often enough, that they may pick up on it. yeah.

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That makes sense to me, since after several years of consistently feeding on the same day, all of my snakes picked up on it.


With four racks I found out is if I go into the room and just open drawers for a short period of time, slide them back, and continue opening drawers (as if I were feeding a few), some of my snakes will go into feeding position.

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Originally Posted by soy.lor.n

I'm sure they can't tell what day of the week you're going to feed them, but if you feed them a consistent number of days apart (5, 7, 10, 14, whatever...) then it wouldn't be too surprising for them to pick up on how long it had been since the last meal, and how long they normally have between meals

so I realize the way I said that sounds weird...but all I mean is that if you always wait the same number of days between meals, and you feed them often enough, that they may pick up on it. yeah.

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I THINK WE HAVE A WINNER FOLKS! Well put!

Well sure any snake is going to pick up on things like that... but knowing whether or not it's Saturday I HIGHLY DOUBT!

I COMPLETELY disagree! My snake has every feeding day scheduled in his PDA....... :D

Haha, o my. Obviously we know our snakes don't know what day of the week it is right? But they do pick up on how long it has been since their last meal, and if this is consistent, well golly gee I bet the snake knows that more food is coming! (right on the money soy.lor.n)

Anyway, I also believe that because I feed my snake the size of prey that will keep him full for about 7 days, well he is hungry when that 7 days is up. I was feeding 30 gram rats to him but that had him hunting every 5 days, so at 40 gram rats, he starts hunting every 6-7.