Having trouble feeding. I think my BP is scared of f/t rats.

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Originally Posted by OmNomNom

Oh noes! Another picky eater! (What, are all BPs re-incarnations of French food critics or something?)

What happens if you give him a fresh-killed mouse/rat pup?

I feed my guy in a brown paper grocery bag in a room with little light in the room. It's nice and dark, secure, and most importantly for my little stinker: he can't get out! I'm not so much worried by the possible "aggression issue" if you feed in the tank, he's about as aggressive as Buddha, but he seems to know when he's in the bag that food is coming, and he starts getting excited and flicking his tongue out a lot. Maybe yours would respond to some sort of Pavlovian "feeding-time" cue?

...still won't eat f/t, but, well...he's a stinker. :P

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I don't know if I could ever freshly kill a rat pup. Let alone kill anything. :( I don't feed in a separate container because I think it might freak him out.

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Originally Posted by AdamF

Striking at the prey and recoiling is a sign of a stressed animal, not a hungry one. A angry/stressed out animal is not likely to eat, and if it does, the stress caused during the feeding (poking at the head, etc.) could result in regurge.
Also, moving around does not=hunger. They are nocturnal by nature, and could be probing for escape just as well.


Wait a week, try again.

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Thank you for letting me know this! :) What do you think would stress him when I try to feed him?

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Originally Posted by KMG

A moist feeder is fine BUT...this allows the substrate to stick to it more so your snake ingest more substrate than it should. While the substrate MOST LIKELY won't harm your snake to much can cause impaction.

As for your temps. I highly recommend getting a IR temp gun. If your cage floor at the probe is at 90 the thickness of the substrate will make the temp on top of the substrate very and it will be lower.

If you thaw it in water you really have no need to pre-thaw in the fridge. She is explaining like many will thaw meat like a steak or chicken for cooking. You do it so the meat is ready for cooking and doesn't require you to thaw it all the way when you want to cook it. Saves time. Feeders are so small though the water does a great job thawing them out.

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Yeah I think I will invest in a temp gun. :) I can use it on my rat pups too right? lol He was in his cool hide all day yesterday. I came to my room last night and noticed he was poking his head out of his hot hide. Woke up and he is still there right now. Sleeping of course. I think he literally just discovered it. Which makes me happy! :D

I guess I should just stick to thawing in water then. If I use a temp gun on my rat pup, what is the recommended temperature to have it at?

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Originally Posted by AdamF

Agreed. The hunger/hunt instinct does not increase with prolonged zombie dance. If mine don't hit in 90 secs, they usually wont eat (rare) or want me to leave them alone and get out of the room. I dont have issue leaving feeder over night, but for some reason I do have issue thawing and re freezing.

i have read, in the wild, a BP will eat dead prey it comes upon.

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Should I just zombie dance for around a minute or two? After that just leave it alone in with him and wait for an hour and see if he eats it? Do you recommend leaving the feeder in his enclosure overnight in my situation?

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Originally Posted by Punkymom

I will not refreeze a rat if I leave it overnight.

As for thawing in warm water, I find that pups take - oh I dunno - an hour? Maybe a little longer? Small rats take a couple of hours. Basically this is what I do: Take rats and place in plastic bag (at this point they're still frozen solid), submerge in bowl of hot water and set timer for 30 min. Come back and check rats. They're never done at this point so I feel the water. Usually it's cooled down considerably so I replace it with fresh hot water and reset the timer for 30 min. Repeat until all rats are thawed. I do the Head Press and the Belly Squish (careful now, those are copyrighted terms!!!) to check for remaining ice. If I feel none then I do a final water change and leave them to warm up for 15-20 min longer. Now they should be nice a warm like a furry burrito from Taco Rat.

As for thawing in the fridge, it all depends on how long you're willing to wait for them to thaw. I usually put them in the fridge before I go to bed for the next evening. By then they're mostly thawed (pups are all the way thawed) and take between 30-40 min to warm up depending on how thawed they are and the current room temp. It takes longer in the winter. I have put them in the fridge in the morning, too. I've also just left them out on the counter for a few hours. It all depends on my schedule and what I'm going to have time for. If it's a church night they'll have been put in the fridge the night before because I don't feel like staying up until midnight feeding snakes.

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Thanks! I'll try thawing in hot water next time. :) So I can refreeze the rat as long as it wasn't thawed overnight?

Yes! :)

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Originally Posted by blaze

Thanks! I'll try thawing in hot water next time. :) So I can refreeze the rat as long as it wasn't thawed overnight?

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I simply thaw mine in VERY hot tap water. Pups are "done" in 3-5 mins, medium rats are done 10-15 mins.

Frist, Welcome to BP.net!

I tried to read most of the thread, but may have missed a post or two so forgive me if I repeat anything.

A couple of things that may help:
--> Boost your ambient air temperatures - I find a warmer overall temperature will sometimes help problem feeders over an extended period of time.
--> Feed at night with all the lights off! You can use a red bulb to navigate if needed.
--> Black out the sides of your enclosure to add maximum security to your snake.
--> As much as I don't promote feeding containers sometimes it is needed. Use a shoe box, something that NO LIGHT can enter. Leave the rat inside to scent it up nice before feeding. I have found with severe problem feeders scenting a shoe box and then wiggling the rat around with the lid closed can work quite nice.
--> Last, feed live. I got away from F/T some time ago and only feed live.

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Originally Posted by blaze

Should I just zombie dance for around a minute or two? After that just leave it alone in with him and wait for an hour and see if he eats it? Do you recommend leaving the feeder in his enclosure overnight in my situation?

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Zombie Dance that little guy for a few minutes and continue to do so if your snake is showing interest. If feeding is unsuccessful leave the F/T rat in the tub and overnight if needed. In the past I have left F/T rats in the entrance to a hide overnight and the rats were eaten at some point through out the night.

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Originally Posted by blaze

Thanks! I'll try thawing in hot water next time. :) So I can refreeze the rat as long as it wasn't thawed overnight?

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Personally, I do not suggest refreezing. I look at it the same way I do my food. If I were to take out raw Pork Chops and decide not to cook them they would never go back in the freezer. ;)

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Originally Posted by el8ch

Frist, Welcome to BP.net!

I tried to read most of the thread, but may have missed a post or two so forgive me if I repeat anything.

A couple of things that may help:
--> Boost your ambient air temperatures - I find a warmer overall temperature will sometimes help problem feeders over an extended period of time.
--> Feed at night with all the lights off! You can use a red bulb to navigate if needed.
--> Black out the sides of your enclosure to add maximum security to your snake.
--> As much as I don't promote feeding containers sometimes it is needed. Use a shoe box, something that NO LIGHT can enter. Leave the rat inside to scent it up nice before feeding. I have found with severe problem feeders scenting a shoe box and then wiggling the rat around with the lid closed can work quite nice.
--> Last, feed live. I got away from F/T some time ago and only feed live.



Zombie Dance that little guy for a few minutes and continue to do so if your snake is showing interest. If feeding is unsuccessful leave the F/T rat in the tub and overnight if needed. In the past I have left F/T rats in the entrance to a hide overnight and the rats were eaten at some point through out the night.



Personally, I do not suggest refreezing. I look at it the same way I do my food. If I were to take out raw Pork Chops and decide not to cook them they would never go back in the freezer. ;)

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Does it have to be pitch black in the room? Can I use moonlight as light from my window instead?
Just blacked out the sides with construction paper. :)
I will definitely try leaving the rat overnight. :D
Should I use a shoebox as a last resort if feeding doesn't go so well in the enclosure? If I do how long do I leave the rat in the box to pre-scent?
lol Feeding live is not an option for me right now.

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Originally Posted by blaze

Does it have to be pitch black in the room? Can I use moonlight as light from my window instead?
Just blacked out the sides with construction paper. :)
I will definitely try leaving the rat overnight. :D
Should I use a shoebox as a last resort if feeding doesn't go so well in the enclosure? If I do how long do I leave the rat in the box to pre-scent?
lol Feeding live is not an option for me right now.

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You don't need it "pitch black", use your moon light so you can see. All you are trying to accomplish is the simulation of night feeding and the feeling of added security to your Ball Python.

Try feeding in the enclosure a few more times and then try the shoebox method. After you thaw your prey item I'd probably leave it in for 15 or 20 minutes then reheat your prey item in some warm water and finally a blow dryer.

If you are still not having any luck try switching your prey items around. Ie, Sizes of prey, Rats/Mice etc

Hang tight and be patient. Keep us updated and hopefully you get a feeding response soon.

***UPDATE***
Well I tried feeding again last night. I chose the smallest frozen rat pup that I bought just in case. I thawed the rat pup in a ziploc bag under hot/warm water from the tap. It thawed pretty good. But it was also not warm anymore. So I heated it up by replacing the water again. It was nice and warm after a couple minutes. I then started to zombie dance for a bit. This time for no more than 3-4 minutes. Basically the same thing as last time happened again. I then left it in alone for almost an hour. He still hadn't touched it. So I warmed the rat pup again with a blow dryer. I then decided to leave the rat pup in the enclosure overnight. Turns out he didn't eat it. But It looks like he moved it around because the rat pup was a bit further than where I placed it originally. I even tried increasing my ambient temperature earlier before feeding. :(

Maybe I'll try feeding him in a shoebox or separate container next time. My only concern about that is how long do I have to wait after, if he does eat, to pick him up to put him back in his enclosure?

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Originally Posted by blaze

***UPDATE***
Well I tried feeding again last night. I chose the smallest frozen rat pup that I bought just in case. I thawed the rat pup in a ziploc bag under hot/warm water from the tap. It thawed pretty good. But it was also not warm anymore. So I heated it up by replacing the water again. It was nice and warm after a couple minutes. I then started to zombie dance for a bit. This time for no more than 3-4 minutes. Basically the same thing as last time happened again. I then left it in alone for almost an hour. He still hadn't touched it. So I warmed the rat pup again with a blow dryer. I then decided to leave the rat pup in the enclosure overnight. Turns out he didn't eat it. But It looks like he moved it around because the rat pup was a bit further than where I placed it originally. I even tried increasing my ambient temperature earlier before feeding. :(

Maybe I'll try feeding him in a shoebox or separate container next time. My only concern about that is how long do I have to wait after, if he does eat, to pick him up to put him back in his enclosure?

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I've had my spider since May 27th and yesterday was the first time he ate for me since I got him. He would strike, miss it and then get scared and hide. Yesterday I got frusterated and left the f/t small rat in his enclosure and went out with my family for 6 hours. When I got home, I noticed the rat wasn't there and I peeked under his hide.. he was juuuust starting to eat it, only the head was in his mouth. So, don't freak out just yet! It took my boy almost 6 hours to go check out the nice smelly rat near his house, just leave it in there and eventually the tantalizing aroma of dead rat will overpower him!