feeding thingy

i feed monty every 2 weeks and i think hes ok with that i fing that if i try to feed him every week it takes him hours (like 5 hours) to actually go for it (i'm feeding him live mice)
so i should be feeding him tonite but i on friday his eyes turned blue (which is a shedding sign right?) and i was told not to feed him durning shed
but if i dont feed him till he sheds it could be like in a week from now and then he wouldnt have eaten for 3 weeks is this a problem

BTY if its not a problem do u think he'll be hungry enough to go for a F/T?

I don't think that will be a problem. I don't feed Issa when he's shedding at all. Issa is usually hungry enough after shed that all I have to do is drop the mouse into his feeding box, and then he goes for it.

I hope you are very carefully watching him with the live mice, since the mouse may bite your ball.

Why do you feed him every two weeks?

he didnt seem to go for a mouse every week

BTY can you tell who old a BP is by length?

Not accurately, no. A 3 foot ball python could be 6 months old. Or it could be a year old. The size of a ball python depends on a number of things such as genetics(big parents = possibly big offspring), food size, feeding frequency, age, etc.

Oh, and what does BTY stand for? I've never seen that before. :oops:

Nope...if your snake is healthy & robust, going 3 weeks w/o a meal isn't usually a problem. Obviously you'd want to avoid this with young or underweight animals.

Definitely try F/T - make sure you get it VERY VERY warm (almost surprisingly warm to the touch) before you offer it to the snake - you just may be in luck!

K

It would be great to get your ball python on F/T. However, if he's only reluctantly feeding on live, he may be even more reluctant to take f/t, but you should definitely try f/t anyway.

If you must feed live though, NEVER leave the rodent unattended with your snake. Preferably, you should stun the rodent and feed it from tongs, forceps, or large tweezers. This will also make switching to f/t easier when your snake is accustomed to taking food from a holding instrument.

However, there are some ball pythons that insist on waiting on a rodent from inside its hide, or that insist on following a rodent into a hide, which is quite typical of behaviour in the wild (I have one of each of these and they are the only 2 who won't take f/t). Only if that's the case, and make sure you've exhausted all other possibilities first, should you just simply drop the live rodent in. Even then, you should supervise the whole thing until the rodent is dead. A few times I've found that the ball python has gotten a bad hold and holding the rodent in place with tweezers can help quicken the death... if you must feed live, you can do whatever you can to make it as humane as possible. I've also experienced a few times where the rodent's heart was still beating yet the snake had loosened it's coils... in this case you can move the rodent around a bit so the snake will constrict it again. Even if the snake is not in danger, you owe it to the poor little critter not to be swallowed alive.

thanks you've all been great

*****BTY is By The Way********

I feed both of my snakes during a shed with no problem......Who told you not to feed while the snake is shedding ?? I was told not to by a pet store owner and when i asked him why ? he replied......umm....i dunno just dont. What a wierdo.

I saw you say you feed live right ??

well when i feed them during shedding sometimes since thier eyes are milky they cant see that well and grab the rat by the butt but it really doesnt matter becuase i feed F/T and there is no danger of the rat turning around and taking a chunk out of my snakes head, however with you,the snake might not be able to see that well and maybe there could be some danger of the rat biting (event tho there is always a risk when you feed live, i mean maybe feeding live during a shed isnt such a great idea)...........But i dont know about that,anybody know or heard of that happening before ??

Sorry, I think you have some computer slang a little backwards lol. Ok, how can BTY stand for By The Way?
B. By
T. The
W. Way
its BTW not BTY lol.

Brandon O.- I had that happen with a Redtail Boa I had this summer that we rescued from a feed store (she was dumped, and 7ft. long). She would only take live, so we gave her a live rat, and she bit it on the butt and it turned around and nipped her on the nose slightly (no blood or anything). She wasn't in shed though.

The reptile house guys told me that, when I first got my ball, although that might have been a one time thing, since I brought him home as his eyes were clouding up.

I think I've read/heard from other people about how you shouldn't feed during shed, some of which was on this board.

I just think feeding live during a shed wouldent be the best idea becuase of the impared vision. I think its totally fine tho if your feeding pre killed or frozen-thawed. But who knows i could be totally wrong,its just what I think.

I agree with the not feeding live prey during shed.

ok totally new problem i was cetain that his eyes we blue on friday but now i'm not so sure can ur snake go out of shed?

No, the eyes go blue, then they go back to normal then they will shed in a few days,perfectly normal dont worry :D

so its like (roughly) 2 days of blue, then back to normal, then they shed?

well........When roxy sheds first i notice her get really dull in color then a few days later her eyes turn blue and after about 2 days they go back and then a few days later she sheds.So.....about a week and a half(maybe even two). At least for me its like that,other peoples snakes are differnt .

When Pelota shed she was in blue eye stage for about 4 days, then eyes cleared, then 3 days later she shed. She's currently in shed now, and she's been blue since Friday. I expect a shed by this friday or sometime during the weekend. It usually takes her a week to shed.

Oh, and as for not feeding during a shed, usually it's not a good idea since shedding is stressful enough on the body, so having to digest a meal might not be too good. Atleast that's how I see it. Although I did feed Pelota friday as she was going into shed. But it was a smaller meal than usual, and I was already in the process of feeding her before I even noticed he blue eyes, so I wasn't about to rip the mouse from her grip. ;) And she digested it fine. But if you do feed while in shed, don't be surprised to find a regurge.

It's not that you *shouldn't* feed when they're in shed (unless you're feeding live) but that a lot of snakes just won't eat until they're done shedding and feeling less vulnerable. Unless your snake is in serious condition, it won't hurt it to wait a few days for a meal, and then your odds go way up of the snake actually eating and benefitting from the prey and of your not wasting time and money to feed a non-eater.