Question for pied owners

I recently acquired a pied and even tho it ate for me a F/T rat pup with no problem the first time i offered it, is not to say that it will happen again. My question is , is it true that piedbald ball pythons are finicky eaters. Those of you that have pieds and had them for a while please let me know what your pieds feeding are like. Do they eat all the time no problem are they actually as some people have told me (finicky eaters). I just want to know if it's just a select few as all morphs have picky eaters or is it something with the piedbald gene in itself that makes them be more of a hassle to feed.


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Maybe whoever you talked to has husbandry issues and that's why they're having a hard time getting them to eat. Or maybe they have a line more prone to be stubborn eaters. I haven't heard of any morph being more or less inclined to eat. Seems like it's the snake's personalities (AKA stubbornness and the joy to drive their owners crazy) and whether they are comfortable in their environment.

My male wouldn't eat when I first got him, but that's because he was still with some ladies and in breeding mode.

He eats fine now. Loves his rats.

My pied was my best eater. Id agree with Marrissa, if your husbandry is spot on and its not breeding season for him, its usually a snake by snake basis.

I have pieds and het pieds and they eat like horses :gj:

Always ready for second servings.

Pieds were very bad eaters way back when they were first being produced...Most of that has been bred out now though...

You will always get a random crappy eater if you keep/breed enough Balls though.

Yea, sounds like it was more or less a husbandry issue. I mean there are exceptions to snakes not eating even with husbandry spot on, but it's not uncommon if you deal with them on a larger scale, even a small scale.

One thing I will say though is that to me Spiders are the best eaters.

My het female gave me a little issue when i first got her but now eats like a horse. Gaining 20+g a week. My visual male has never given me an issue. He ate for me with in an hour of coming to my home. I wasnt even going to offer, but he was intent on eating one of the mice that came with him and his het girl friend. While i was setting up the tank for the mice to live in for a week or so, the AC cut on and blew the smell towards the rack they were in. About this time my wife opened hia tub to put a larger water bowl in and there he was popping out in "S" position and ready. He remained semi-aggresive until i finaly broke down and offered one to him. So in my expierence i would say myth. The person who said this likely had some husbandry issues, or just a very picky animal. To my knowledge no morph causes a decrease in appetite. I wouldnt stress it too much.

The best eaters I have right now are my snakes with the Yb gene. My Yb banana was 70g on August 15th he is now 230g as of today. And he are ft the first time I ever offered it and then won't touch the stuff ever since. The best explanation I've ever heard is: "just because I like cake doesn't mean I have to like every kind" haha

Thanks guys for the replies the one I have ate right away for me but I wasn't sure if it was a pied thing that they don't eat.. It was most likely a husbandry issue thankfully I try to keep mines at the best possible way I can provide. Thanks again guys.


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Here's what I have in my pied program and what they tend to eat like. It's not much;

high white pied male, 550g: fair eater. Will only eat live but will eat mice AND rats no problem.
Lesser male het. pied, 1200g: Fair eater. tends to only eat every other meal.
Het. Pied female, 1400g: Good eater. Always takes her meals, sometimes doesn't take F/T but usually does.

I don't think this speaks much for the pieds though, as I also see this with my albinos and several other morphs. Just my personal experiences.

my het pieds eat fine. the male was a little tricky cause he would eat when i got im. im almost as stubborn as a snake cause i wouldnt give in to giving him live so he went without food for 2 months. once he lost 5 grams i gave in and now he eats at lest 2 rat pups a week.