how do i...

how do i switch a baby ball to f/t mice and at that im not sure what to do with the f/t mice itself lol...sorry im new to owning snakes as some of u know hes the rescue i found by a dumpster so i was hoping i could get him to eat f/t mice but i dont even know how to do it or how to prepare it...any help would be appreciated...thanks:D

I thaw mine out in hot water....you have to feel it/fondle it all over to make sure it's completely thawed and warm, especially the head...lol. Most of the time it takes several changes of the water, as the water cools quickly. I have a pair of long-handled hemostats, and I just hold the prey item by the tail, and wiggle it a little in front of the snake. Warm, smell, and movement usually are all that's necessary. Main thing is.....completely thawed, and use tongs/hemostats that are long. Snakes sometimes have bad aim....LOL! Good Luck!

so i just put it in a baggy and run it in hot water from the faucet or boil water?? i wasnt sure if you run the water straight on the mouse or through a bag???

I put the rodents in a cool whip bowl, no baggie, with hot water. you can blot it with a paper towel before you offer it....the water makes it smell really good (to the snake) and extra water never hurt:). You may have to change the water a few times, empty the bowl and run in fresh hot.....just make sure it's completely thawed before feeding. Offer it warm. Don't boil the water, and for Heaven's sake, do NOT put it in the microwave....LOL! You will explode the mouse, and have to buy a new microwave. And the smell will run you out. One of my friends tried that once, it was not pretty:)

LOL no never thought of putting it in the microwave. but thanks for the advice. if he doesnt take it, do i make him wait and try again? or feed him a live? if i make him wait how long do i make him wait???

I had one once that was stubborn, he went 4 weeks without eating before he took it.....but he was a big male and it was fine. If your snake is healthy, and has a good weight, I'd try 3-4 feeds before giving in. Also, I do have one baby who won't take from tongs..I have to leave it in the hide, where he'll "find" it and "kill" it himself:)

forcing your baby ball python to take f/t by missing 3 to 4 eating routines is a no no.:colbert: pros on this site had been telling it all over that ball pythons can really starve themselves to death just because they dont wanna eat f/t. seems like ball pythons are not like our typical pets that would eat anything when hungry, some ball pythons can be really really picky even if it would mean their life.

i would recommend feeding it live first if you haven't fed it yet... then transition from live to a pre-killed, then go for f/t next. converting from live to ft is NOT always possible, some snakes will never ever take FT. hope this helps.

And oh, do not use boiling water when thawing okay? i made this mistake before and it was a very unpleasant experience and the smell was horrible and ofcourse, i didnt feed the rat to the snake, i just threw it away but you wouldnt want me to go on detail about this, its disgusting. haha.

what i do though is i pull the frozen mouse/mice out of the fridge and let it just sit there for like 30 mins to 60 mins or so to room temperature. then soak in hot water (the hottest you can go without 'burning' you, probably something like jacuzzi hot water haha) then let it stay there for like 3 mins, prepare a paper towel / napkin and dry the f/t there before feeding the snake so it wont drip.

My bad, I wasn't clear on holding out on a baby.. but it is OK when trying to switch an adult. SOrry I wasn't more clear:)

haha no worries im not very successful at holding out on his meals lol, he has had 4 meals since i found him, every 5 days. the last feeding i tried a f/t and he didnt take it so i was told to hold out and try again in a couple days....i lasted a whole 2 hours beforei started feeling guilty and went and got him a live mouse which he took immediately lol. i dont mind keeping him on live its just that i was told when he gets bigger i will have to feed him rats which may hurt him, that i do mind.

it may be easier to switch his from live to prekilled before going to f/t. I have had some that would go that route. Either way, good luck:)

haha thanks for the info guys....oh and this snake is pretty way cool haha im not scared of him no more....that is to say i can pick him up with my hands and not a spatula and let him crawl over my neck without screaming haha

uh oh.....once you're hooked, there's one snake, then 2 snakes, then 5 snakes......:gj:

haha no, not for me. these things scare me to death, i mean i am no longer sacred of HIM persay but put another snake near me and prepare to eat dust haha. besides ive got enough animals to support with 2 cats 2 dogs and this snake all by myself lol. ive gotta work 2 jobs just to continue to spoil them like i like. as for the snake hes lucky im kind hearted lol. i wanted to leave him at the dumpster and to make it worse not only was i scared of him but my boyfriend hates them so now that i took in the snake he refuses to come over at all.

LOL! dont worry, your fear will go away entirely to ball pythons. i would say, the problem was when i had my very first bp which is a normal, i'm like, omg how do i pick this up... hahaha. i even had to youtube it and see how pros just grab em and i'm like, wth?! haha! I still wont mess with other kind of snakes though, like boas, for me if i'm gonna handle a snake it should be the most docile kind which are ball pythons. :)

took me a while before my scare with ball pythons faded away, i took i think around 2 weeks, for some maybe shorter. when i went to the reptile super show in southern california, i've been holding every ball python that i had interest and that's where i bought my first designer snake. we have this natural fear of snakes just like any other animal i guess, must be an instinct or something.

on the other hand, i usually use a hook to pick up my snake, this has just almost been a habit, if not that i would get the hide and move him a little just so he's aware i'm right there and wont go for a defensive strike. they never did though, but one of my bps actually did a defensive strike when i reached my hand inside the container, kinda scared me but i guess he was just surprised himself and i felt he is apologetic about that and never did it again.. i think any animal that gets surprised/threatened will be first reaction is to bite. but overall this is the best pet i ever had and i've gone through every possible legal pets out there :)

haha yeah he seems pretty cool and docile, crazy thing though, i do have a fear of snakes but it has always been geared towards ball pythons versus any other snakes. reason being in 8th grade my science teacher had two snakes, one was a large (maybe 4 ft) ball python, the other was a baby (maybe 6 or 7 month about 18 inch) red tail boa. both were "hand tame and friendly". however not the case lol or i dont know what went wrong because i had held the python a bunch of times then one day i was holding him and he bit me. i always felt that i would get bit but not by that one i thought by the younger one(just looking at him gave me a "i cant trust you" feeling). so since then ive been scared of snakes but totally freaked of ball pythons. but im warming up to this little guy hes really handled like a champ and been very sweet even in shed and feeding times. never struck, maybe hissed a bit but thats it

oh dont worry i still get the i dont trust you feeling. i think what changed though is the way i think about handling it. I used to be scared of being bit, now everytime i put my hand in there i'm ready to get bit. and i already read a lot of ideas around on what to do when tagged etc etc. The more knowledge i gained about how to get them to 'let go' a tag made me feel more at ease at getting bitten. That alcoholic drink method that you put on a cotton bud and make him taste it, the listerine that you pour on his head, the credit card technique and so on. lol.

I guess i like it when i'm at least ready and not be caught by surprise. I still wouldn't trust it to go around my neck or near my face, for me a snake is a snake. but now i even use the computer with them beside me and they just sleep there wrapped around my arm or hanging out beside my keyboard. :gj: