Ball Python Food Question?

Hello,
I have two EXTREMELY STUBBORN eaters :mad: which I know is extremely common! My question is should I feed them ASF rats? I have a reliable breeder close by that breeds ASF and I know that ball pythons love those suckers! I know they will probably never switch back to rats from ASF, so should I do it? They are behind on there growth because of there stubbornness! :colbert: Should I try ASF? any information will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Billy

What is their age and weight? Set up? Etc etc as this will be what you are asked immediately :)

Also, prey size, and whether live, pre-kill or F/T are being offered.
Temps, or stress can put them off food and even healthy, content BP's have been known to go off feed for a while.

My male is a year and 7 months, he is barely 300 grams :( he is in a cage with two hides, logs, fake leaves, alot of areas to hide, etc. his hot side is 92-94. cold side is 82-84
My female is about a year, and is 140 grams, she is in a tub with two hides, a log, fake leaves, she also has alot of areas to hide, etc. the temps are the same .
I offer prey size the size of there girth, I attempt to feed my male live large mice, and my female live pinkys but they just ignore them,
Should I do ASF rats?

Have you tried placing them in a smaller container for feeding? I feed in my enclosure but was told to try this as an option. It means they are faced with the prey item and may eat.

How are you thawing/heating the F/T?

Yes, I tried that I put them in a small container and left them there overnight, and nothing. I tried F/T once, I thawed them, then heated them with hot water, they looked at is as a rock, live doesnt seem to work either

I just feed mine reg rats,I don't think it really matters that much...

I have one who just made the switch to rat pups with no problem,he wants nothing to do with FT only live,and will only eat if put the prey in the tank and turn the day lights off and night black light on,then in about out 10 mins he comes out and does his thing.

but I'd say just stick with reg rats. There easier to get,supply plenty of fat ,calcium and protein,unless your breeding your own asfs,you can just be asking for a headache down the road...this is just my opinion.

Well, I have a supply of ASF from a breeder down the road from me, I was just curious as I heard ball pythons love them

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Originally Posted by unholyterror16

Well, I have a supply of ASF from a breeder down the road from me, I was just curious as I heard ball pythons love them

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I heard the same and I also heard that sometimes when they switch to ASFs,it's hard to get them to go back to reg rats and mice so, my point is......u can buy and find rats in many places,always somewhere to go,but u can't just find ASFs that easily...so my point again is,lol..if this guy moves or relocates or just stops breeding his ASFs,what do you do now? What if now your snakes don't wanna make the switch back to regular rats?You need to weigh out all options and think of the bigger picture. This is all the stuff I would think about,but that's me

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Originally Posted by unholyterror16

Well, I have a supply of ASF from a breeder down the road from me, I was just curious as I heard ball pythons love them

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Well It sounds like you are going to get them regardless so I'd just try them then. What NYHC4LIFE8899 is trying to tell you is that once they start eating ASF it's hard to get them to switch back over once you need to. If it was me I would make every attempt to feed them Rats, whether it be F/T, Live, or whatever. Check and recheck humidity, temps, and substrate. Then if nothing at all will work after a month or so then by all means switch over, but only as a last resort.

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Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

so my point again is,lol..if this guy moves or relocates or just stops breeding his ASFs,what do you do now?

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Bingo!

Are they triangular rather than healthy? How long have they been off food for and how often are you getting them to feed. Have you changed anything recently? Even the smallest thing? Handling?

Are they losing considerable weight?

I have a picky eater who not eat anything except live white mice. I even tried asfs and she wouldn't eat those either.
Check your parameters, how are you taking your temps. How often do they eat?
I believe something is off somewhere in the husbandry for both of them to be like this

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

A BP's reluctance to switch back to normal rats after eating ASF's is yet another bp husbandry issue that has been blown way out of proportion by people with no first hand experience...here's a start...
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ght=imprinting

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Originally Posted by led-zep

Well It sounds like you are going to get them regardless so I'd just try them then. What NYHC4LIFE8899 is trying to tell you is that once they start eating ASF it's hard to get them to switch back over once you need to. If it was me I would make every attempt to feed them Rats, whether it be F/T, Live, or whatever. Check and recheck humidity, temps, and substrate. Then if nothing at all will work after a month or so then by all means switch over, but only as a last resort.

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Exactly my point and yes I'd make it last resort. I really couldn't find why any bp wouldn't eat reg rats or mice....,like you said..check substrate,humidity,temps etc....strong possibility something may be off. I know sometimes the switch from rats to mice is a pain,but I'd assume once they make a switch u can then feed um mice or rats easily,my guys take either.

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Originally Posted by led-zep

Bingo!

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;)

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Originally Posted by sho220

A BP's reluctance to switch back to normal rats after eating ASF's is yet another bp husbandry issue that has been blown way out of proportion by people with no first hand experience...here's a start...
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ght=imprinting

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Sho,I've also heard that once a BP has a taste of gerbils and hamsters to get them to switch back is a pain in the back...so I guess it comes down to the individual snakes preference. No I don't have the experience of doing this,but I've read and heard and spoke to a lot of ppl,be it on here or in every day life and I always get different answers..best is to find out what works for every snake individually

Ive fed a gerbil and hamster before and it didnt even phase my ball. Idk, thats just one example though. Prey Imprinting is something that CAN happen but really isnt as common as people have made it out to be, IMHO

Yeah, I don't think the asf's are quite like the crack some people make them out to be. We used to breed asf's. We got out of the asfs because they take so much longer to grow to size. My snakes all now eat strictly rats. But they would eat both then. I even had a few that wouldn't touch the asf's...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sho220

A BP's reluctance to switch back to normal rats after eating ASF's is yet another bp husbandry issue that has been blown way out of proportion by people with no first hand experience...here's a start...
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ght=imprinting

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I agree 110%. I have balls that eat anything i offer, whenever for the mosy part. And i have a few in my collection that wont eat anything but asfs, and one that only likes mice. However, imo both your snakes are extremely light for their ages. If i were you, id do whatever i could to get them to eat and gain weight first, and then worry about switching later. I have a 1 year old female who sits at 1300g, even with some skipped meals, and a few 4 month olds who sit around 300-400g. I would think your main concern would be getting them to eat, no matter what the prey was. I definately would hit up that asf breeder for some feeder animals and maybe a trio to start breeding ur own. Good luck

sent from my incubator

My girl was on an all rat diet from the day I got her till she went to live with my friends for a little over 1 1/2 yrs. They bred ASFs and she ate them just fine. Wehn I got her back she was on reg rats again because they fed off and sold their ASF colony. She had no problems. She's even eaten a chick or 2 while with them. I do feed her in her enclosure but when she was younger I fed her in a separate enclosure. She will eat what ever you give her if shes hungry. So the theory that a bp wont switch back is false.