Feeding strategy help

He may not eat a f/t even if it is warm if you just drop it in the cage, especially if he is used to eating live. Atleast that is what I have read and been my own short experience.

Get a pair of tongs and use them to scoot/bounce/drag the mouse around so it gets smell/movement/heat as it would with live prey.

Again, this is only my very brief and limited experience.

As for tongs, I found what for me works very well at walmart. I bought a corn scraper (takes the kernels off the corn). It is like a big pair of tongs with a metal ring in the middle of the tongs. The end of the tongs are rubber coated and about 1/2 wide. I removed the metal ring with a pair of plyers and now have perfect tongs. $2.39.

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Originally Posted by Ray_in_Texas

I'm also somewhat new to this, but here's my experience so far:
My BP is very heat sensitive at feeding also, if the F/T mouse is very warm, he'll strike within a few seconds, if not may not strike at all until I re-warm it for him. I started using a feed box (Xlarge Sterlite shoe box) after switching from repti-carpet to aspen, just for piece of mind. After he takes the food I leave him be till the mouse is fully consumed and he starts exploring the box before putting him back in enclosure. Have had no issues with refusing to eat (once properly warmed) or re-gurge. Just experiment till find what works best for you and your snake.

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Thats cause they have heat pits:gj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ray_in_Texas

I'm also somewhat new to this, but here's my experience so far:
My BP is very heat sensitive at feeding also, if the F/T mouse is very warm, he'll strike within a few seconds, if not may not strike at all until I re-warm it for him. I started using a feed box (Xlarge Sterlite shoe box) after switching from repti-carpet to aspen, just for piece of mind. After he takes the food I leave him be till the mouse is fully consumed and he starts exploring the box before putting him back in enclosure. Have had no issues with refusing to eat (once properly warmed) or re-gurge. Just experiment till find what works best for you and your snake.

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Just so your aware, aspen is harmless unless your giving him mouthfuls at a time. My snakes have all had bits of aspen ingested without an issue.

Make sure the mouse is really warm to the touch, using a blowdryer works very well for this.

You might want to wait longer than that before putting him in his enclosure. I advise at least a half hour or so after the mouse has disappeared to avoid regurgitation.
I'm off to feed right now actually! All in their enclosures! :]

I used feed my red tail boa in a separate "feeding cage" in order to avoid an association with the cage opening or my hands and feeding time. But, the only time I ever got bit (and he tagged me many times) was when I was putting him into or getting him out of his "feeding cage."

I now feed my BP's in their cage using some 14" forceps I picked up for cleaning the cages of some of my aggressive tarantulas. They work great! The snakes never even see my hand when it's feeding time and I haven't had them come close to even appearing aggressive when my hands are in the cage. If you're interested, I picked the forceps up on Ebay for like $7.

Aside from the strategy itself here are some things that need to be addressed since they can also result in feeding issues in the long term.

You need to provide your BP with two identical hides. Security is essential for Ball Pythons.

If your BP is stressed due to the lack of security he will refuse to eat down the road.

Address other issues you might have such as humidity problems (if your BP has shedding issues there is most likely a humidity problem)

Now as far as strategy here are something that can help.

Pre-scent the room 1 hour or more prior to feeding.

Feed the same day each week to establish a routine.

Feed him in his enclosure where he can ambush the prey from the comfort of his hide.

When feeding F/T make sure that the prey is warm enough.