live feeding.

new to the forum. i bought a male ball python three weeks ago. he's about ... 15 inches or so i'd guess.

anyway everything was fine, i had hiding spots, branches to climb, no problem with temp or humidity. but he wouldn't eat. i wasn't too bothered, i'd read plenty of places they go off feed occassionally. still, it was worrisome. anyway today the pet store was out of frozen mice, and we were talking, and contrary to what i was told, at petco they feed the balls live mice. so i figured i'd give it a shot, since he hadn't eaten in the three weeks i'd had him. i had thawed it out with a heat lamp the first time and dangled it in front of him with no effect. the next time, i tried to leave him alone with it in a paper bag. the result was he climbed out of the bag. heh.

but the live feeding worked like a charm, about 10 seconds after i put mousey in, xerxes(his name) came out and snatched him up. :shock:

do you think it's worth it trying to wean him off of live mice? he's shown no interest in the thawed ones even when i jiggled them around quite extensively. and he won't even investigate them if i just let them lie there.

thanks.

actually i let mine touch reeses nose before he strikes(one time he would not go after it while it was lying on the ground) he wouldn't even pay attention to wiggling. also u should try braining the mouse or if u are going to feed him live at least stun the mouse.

To get my ball roxy to eat a frozen mouse i first had to skip 2 feedings (2 weeks) so she was more hungry than usual and more willing to eat anything (by ANYTHING i mean dead prey) and wa la, it worked and she took it down no prob and has been eating frozen (rats) ever since

also you can just stun the mouse (basicly injure it enough so its just barely moving)................personally i would feel bad doing that,but hey the mouse is going to die anyways.

Or maybe you didnt get it warm enough (i had problems with that at first) so maybe just try a pre killed mouse.

The first time I tried to feed Isis a f/t mouse she didn't take it, so the second time I tried I did a rat dance, but I think I moved it too much, because later I just held it very still with the tongs right infront of her in a last attempt, and she took it.

yeah same here............I used my hands :?

Now i just drop the rat in there and give it a nudge with a stick and then WHAM ! she grabs it.

Its easier for me, and my hand isnt in any danger anymore,lol

I think it might be easier for you to try a pre-killed mouse for a few times, and then try going to frozen thawed. After all, pre-killed will definatelly be the right temp :)

I feed frozen thawed myself, but it's taken me a feeding or two to get the temperature right.

I understand that ocasionally you get a ball that won't take anything but live, but it's a lot safer for the snake if you can get them onto dead prey :)

I feed all of mine stunned live or prekilled. I am going to be switching to frozen once i get a freezer to put them in because my wife doesnt want frozen mice and rats in with our food.

the only time monty's ever eaten was with live mice i tried frozen and he never even considered looking at it

did you heat the mouse up enough? and was it fully thawed? might just be a picky eater.

i'm pretty sure it was warm enough. i left it under a heat lamp for quite awhile both times. they turn kind of warm and mushy.

might just have a picky eater. i would try a prekilled mouse and see if he takes it.

Welcome to the world of keeping a ball python. Yes, they are going to be picky eaters. Yes, they are going to go off feed at some point. No, you should not freak out every time they do something that in their nature to do. Just keep up on all your other husbbandry and they will work out the rest.

Like your BP, Zeus would never even touch a f/t rat no matter what I did. So, I continued to feed him live. I then tried a f/k rat, and all I had to do was dance it front of him a little and he took it without hesitating. I would try feeding him a f/k mouse and dance it in front of him and see what happens. As it has been said many times on here a dead feeder is better than a live one. Good luck to ya in getting him switched over, and let us know how it turns out.

I would definently switch to prekilled at least. Instead of a paper bag try a small shoebox with weight on the lid. I had the same problem with a bag, but the shoebox worked well

Make sure you're heating up the F/T after you defrost them.

Put a heat lamp over the head for 5-10 minutes.

If this still doesn't work, try pre-killed.

Also, I know that new borns eat live for the first few feedings before getting switched over to either pre-killed or frozen/thawed. :bounce:

Personally (as I am sure some people will disagree with me), I would feed him live the first few times, to make sure that it is an issue of live vs frozen/thawed rather than an all-around picky feeder. This also serves to make sure he has a store of fat, as well as allowing you observe the way he likes to hunt his food. Some BP's are ambush hunters, some like to sneak up on their prey from behind, some will strike at anything they see, etc... It's different from ball python to ball python. Once you see how yours likes to take its prey, you can try to simulate those conditions with a prekilled or frozen/thawed. It may also help to try feeding live from tongs, so it's used to having tongs and your scent around during feedings.

In the long term though, it's definitely worthwhile to make the switch to frozent/thawed if possible. Cost, safety of your animal, less suffering for the rodents (which would presumably be euthanized by carbon dioxide; switch rodent suppliers if they don't), etc...

If it so happens that no matter what you try, your bp still won't take f/t, then feeding live isn't the end of the world. But you owe it to yourself and your ball python to give f/t a shot.