Re: Tips & tricks for switching a ball python to out-of-enclosure feeding
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Raven01
Try not to use feeding tongs for anything but feeding time.
I guess you can use whatever you want. I've used a towel and newspaper before. My snakes do not associate the feeding tongs with feeding time. I have 7 snakes that I've been doing this way for 4 years and I've never had a problem. You could also say, "try not to open the cage unless it's feeding time." I want my snakes to associate the rat I offer them with feeding time. It works quite well.
Re: Tips & tricks for switching a ball python to out-of-enclosure feeding
Quote:
Originally Posted by
runeasgar
As a follow up to some of the responses I hadn't seen yet:
* I think the husbandry is there - he's in a Animal Plastics T8 with a Pro-Heat RHP and Herpstat shows all the temps correct, and my humidity gauge is spot on.
* He does seem awfully big to just be having one mouse a week, but he recently already had a major food increase, so I guess he's just growing fast!
* Never knew about the head tap thing.. but he's never struck at me. He's hissed a couple of times (when I've startled him, I think), but even then once he realizes it's just me, I can usually pick him up with no issue. Just wanting to make sure it stays that way!
T8 may be slightly big, but if he's been in there a while and has historically eaten well for you I doubt that's an issue. I have one male who is a die-hard mouser, actually not too much bigger than yours in length (he's around 30 inches long, 1,000g) and he usually does 4-5 f/t mice a week. I just leave them all in his tub in a little pile and he does the rest (zombie dance scares him). Sometimes the hissing thing isn't aggression (although it's hard to judge whiteout actually seeing it), sometimes it can mean 'I'm scared and trying to look smaller by breathing out.' It's good that you're keeping track of these changes though, keep us updated on how he changes with more food.
