BABY ball python what should it eat?

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Originally Posted by Rarist

Actualy I have held my snake three times, but yesterday he try to strike at me two times! So I kinda got scared. Also I feed frozen. He use to eat live now frozen.

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Leave the warmed up prey just outside of the hide....he'll probably take it when you leave...check back in a half hour or so....leave him alone for a few days if he does not take it, then try again

Okay, here's what I do:
I always pre-scent the room with the prey. Since you have one snake, put the prey right by it's enclosure so he can smell it and get the hunt mode going on.
I wait until dark since these snakes are nocturnal and seem to do their hunting at night.
I use a hair dryer to get the prey all warmed up, concentrating mostly on the head area (wit a fuzzy, just zap it!)
After about a minute I offer it to the snake.
WHAM!! The snake tags it, coils it, and eats it.

It truly sounds like your snake is freaked out. Please try the above suggestions and wait until dark to feed; it might help.

If the snake refuses, wait for a week and try again, with a larger prey size. In the meantime, get a gram scale ;)

Yea my snake just tried to strike at me again and all I did was take the basking light off the cage top!!! What should I do? I also want to feed it in a separate container so it won't bite me when I try to pick it up. Please help!

BPs strike for one of 2 reasons. Either they are hungry and think the thing they are striking at is food, or they are scared and are striking defensively. When you get to know your BP better, you will learn the difference.

Since earlier in the thread you were talking about the BP being balled up, it sounds to me like it is scared and defensive. However, if you've had the prey item in the room and it has been able to smell it, it might be in hunting mode, so it is pretty much impossible to know for sure what is going on.

One thing you need to realize is that if a baby ball python does bite you, it isn't going to hurt. Someone compared it to a paper cut. Actually, in my experience, a baby BP bite hurts much LESS than a paper cut.

You do not need to feed it in a separate container. You should be doing things in your BPs cage on at least close to a daily basis (giving fresh water, etc), so there will be more times that you open the enclosure when you aren't feeding than when you are. So the myth that feeding them in the caqe makes them associate it with food and become more aggressive just isn't true.

As far as feeding, once it is defrosted, just warm up the prey item to a suitable temperature (slightly warmer than human body temperature), and offer it to the snake. Some will take it off the floor of their enclosure, others need the movement to stimulate them, so you can dance the mouse around a little bit. When I first switched my BP to f/t, there was a fine line between moving the mouse enough to catch her attention, and moving it too much and scaring her. You'll learn what works for your BP.

Also, as has been mentioned, pre-scenting helps a lot to let the snake know it is feeding time and get into hunting mode.

So my snake ate the fuzzy mouse. He didn't even contrict it. I think he knew it was dead. I guess yesterday when he striked at me because he was defensive. Anyways, he is in den but he peeking out like moving around. Is he still hungry?

Yes, he probably is still hungry. A fuzzy mouse is a small meal for most BPs even when they have just hatched. If you have another fuzzy you could offer it to him. But, as long as he isn't skinny, it won't hurt him to wait 5-7 days until next feeding day and give him a larger meal then.

Glad that he ate for you!

PS - He might have not constricted because he knew the mouse was dead. It is also possible that he just knew it was small enough he didn't need to, even if it was alive. Snakes will sometimes eat something that is still alive if they know it is so small it can't hurt them.

He isn't skinny. I think he is still hungry since he is out of den and looking for food. I just give him a hooper prekilled mouse in 7 days. A hopper mouse should be good enough, right?

You need to get a scale and find out how many grams the snake weighs. When you find this out you'll be able to determine prey size without guessing.

I don't have a scale. I'll try to get one.