What's your feeding methond/schedule on feeding multiple balls ?

Hi,

I just increased from 1 to 12 balls :)

But as we all know, ball pythons are know to refuse eating etc...

And I am pretty sure, no one like to thrash feeding rodents.

So I was wondering, how do you work it out so you minimize this ?

• Let's say you have 100 snake to feed. Are you going to unfreeze 90 rats or 70 rats ?
• Or do you just thrash the ones who are not eated ?
• Or do it in batch or on a 2 days/week periods ?
• Anything else ?

Thank you !

When I feed F/T which happens throughout the year I thaw what I need and if something is not eaten by one or more snakes than some lucky snakes get a second serving that day. ;)

Well, seeing as I have more than just ball pythons, I have a few snakes that are my "back up plan" if you will.

If someone refuses, I know FOR A FACT, that the retic will take it, or one of the big boas.

If my collection was just balls, I would do it in groups, to minimize waste.

I do in groups of 2 weekly normally. If anyone refuses I just feed to one from the other group. Keeping feed records is key.

I do the same. But the only time some of them do not eat is when they are in shed so I do not thaw anything for them. Plus I keep a Monitor (The Garbage Can) to take care of any left overs. Let me tell you he peeks around the corner of his enclosure and watches every BP eat and get really happy when he sees me walking over to him when I am done with them.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

When I feed F/T which happens throughout the year I thaw what I need and if something is not eaten by one or more snakes than some lucky snakes get a second serving that day. ;)

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I feed live. Mice to two of my subadults who won't take rats reliably. Once a week. I don't feed while a snake is in shed, though; just personal preference. I like them to have time to get out of shed comfortably before taking a big meal.

i feed 2 live mice per week to my 2 girls
they come out of the tank and into 2 seperate tubs
then i drop in one mouse wait till its down then in goes the second
they they both go back in their tank to curl up with each other lol

I have 9 currently all on F/T. It takes some time to know your animals, and as Waltah said keep feed records. Once you get to know them a bit better you will realize how they will and will not feed. Then you have a good gauge of how many to thaw. It gets a little tricky if you are feeding multiples to a single snake because some weeks they will take more than one and some they won't.

It is always good to have a garbage can too :D . My big girl hungrily awaits any left overs.

i feed F/T to all 5 of my snakes and plan to for my entire growing collection until further notice.

i pull out food enough for everyone currently. When the weather starts to get colder i have one animal i know will probably go off feed.

Everyone is offered food, i can tell through behavior who will eat and who wont (i use a hair dryer to defrost, and within 10 seconds of the dryer being on EVERYONE who is hungry is cruising their enclosure for food). Currently, either of my two big females get any left overs, but once my Carpet python gets bigger they might have some competition for the title of "garbage disposal" for the left overs.

Really BP's are known to refuse food?
Guess someone forgot to tell mine that...

I used to thaw enough for each of mine to have 2 meals until I reached 50 head and started feeding live.

Seriously, I very rarely have a BP that won't eat, even in shed.
However, once in a while a few would not take a second and my Red x Blue Tegu would bat clean up.

Thank you everyone :)

So far I have been defreezing all my rats. But I have been trowing a lot to the trash for the babies. Mostly the new ones. Took some time to adapt. I still have 2 babies you haven't eat yet :( but others small ones are taking their food for now.

But this is my method of feeding so far :
I put the rodent to defreeze only 30-60 minutes before feeding. I feed as late as possible.

I feed in the enclosure. Once they are thawed, I put them in ziplock bags and in hot warm water (no boil just hot water from the tap). My bigger snake doesn't refuse it. If they do, I leave them in the container and they are usually gone when I wake up. If it happens they are not, I put that rat under a lamp for a few minutes and offer it to another one. If not taken, it's trashed.

For the smaller one, I kinda do the same. But if they don't tag it when I present them, I put them under a lamp for a few minutes or even seconds (really close), mostly on the head and present it back right away to the snake. It will usually tag it, just giggle a little bit etc... If after a little while he doesn't go for it, I leave it in the container. If not eated the next morning, I reheat it under the lamp and offer it to another one. Just like I do with adults.

Hope this help !

Easy, I feed live. If they don't eat I put the rats back in the colony. I offer food once every seven days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DrkstFaery69

i feed 2 live mice per week to my 2 girls
they come out of the tank and into 2 seperate tubs
then i drop in one mouse wait till its down then in goes the second
they they both go back in their tank to curl up with each other lol

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I hate to say it, but are you sure they're not just fighting for the warm spot (to digest)? Don't want to send this thread off-topic, but you may want to read up on proper husbandry for BPs. ;)

To answer the original question, like the others I'll feed leftovers to Toby or Delilah - my garbage cans, LOL. I feed live, so it's even trickier to have an extra mouse, since you can't just throw it away. :oops: But I just got a breeding pair of mice, so in the future I will only have to return them to their cage.

Wow looks like there is way more people who feed live than I taught !

Crazy !

I don't feed live cause I don't have the place or the time to take care of the rodents. I way prefer to feed frozen. Also I am allergic to rabbits, so I don't know with rats but don't want to go that way. I prefer to give my time to snake and GF instead of rats :)

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Originally Posted by Watever

Wow looks like there is way more people who feed live than I taught !

Crazy !

I don't feed live cause I don't have the place or the time to take care of the rodents.

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Until I got my breeding mice (about 2 weeks ago), I would just buy them weekly & feed that evening - so it was rare that I had to house them. But I understand your preference, and wish I could switch all of mine to F/T... unfortunately they won't all take F/T consistently, and I end up wasting a lot of money. :cool: