When should I switch to live?

I purchased a ball python baby about 2 months ago and he ate FT right off the bat 3 times. Now he has been off food for 3 weeks now (today is his 3rd week of not eating).. Should I offer him live? I don't get it. Humidity 50-60 Ambient 82 basking 95-98 2 hides, nothing has changed. He does a whole lot of sniffing but doesn't seem to want to take it.

edit: I DONT want to switch but when is it a GOOD time to? He hasn't eat 3 times so far I don't want him to die lol

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Originally Posted by Adamrhh

I purchased a ball python baby about 2 months ago and he ate FT right off the bat 3 times. Now he has been off food for 3 weeks now (today is his 3rd week of not eating).. Should I offer him live? I don't get it. Humidity 50-60 Ambient 82 basking 95-98 2 hides, nothing has changed. He does a whole lot of sniffing but doesn't seem to want to take it.

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. It sounds like your husbandry is on point. Imo, I think the hot spot can come down about 5 or 6 degrees. What is your feeding schedule frequency? Third week not eating but how many feedings has he missed? Actually three weeks is not that long since you said he has had 3 feedings prior. Personally , I would wait another week to 10 days. Depending on what happens at that feeding I would go to plan b. Relax for now and monitor his weight.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

. It sounds like your husbandry is on point. Imo, I think the hot spot can come down about 5 or 6 degrees. What is your feeding schedule frequency? Third week not eating but how many feedings has he missed? Actually three weeks is not that long since you said he has had 3 feedings prior. Personally , I would wait another week to 10 days. Depending on what happens at that feeding I would go to plan b. Relax for now and monitor his weight.

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he hasn't missed any feedings prior to these 3. I feed once a week on Thursdays. The very first 3 times of me ever feeding him he took them no problem. So is it okay and I should just wait again another week?

Hot spot needs to come down but 3 weeks isn't anything to worry about.
What was the last weight taken, how long ago, and what is the current weight?

He was 199 grams the day after his meal, I took him out to weigh him since I wanted to spot clean, he ate Thursday morning and I weighed in Friday night. I weighed him yesterday at 160~ I'm assuming he just had a mouse to as his higher grams? He acts normal.

Hmm I've run into this too. Monitor his weight carefully to keep track of what he loses. You can always try deep cleaning your tank, it always works for me with my girl. Has he shed yet?

Three weeks is NOTHING to a Royal is it really ... As I recall the record for a snake not eating is 21 MONTHS and that was a Royal as well . It could be simply down to breeding season or something....

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Three weeks is NOTHING to a Royal is it really ... As I recall the record for a snake not eating is 21 MONTHS and that was a Royal as well . It could be simply down to breeding season or something....

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Babies don't last 21 months, or even a year without food, nor do babies quit eating due to breeding season.

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Originally Posted by 200xth

Babies don't last 21 months, or even a year without food, nor do babies quit eating due to breeding season.

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. Yeah, I think Zincubus missed some of the original information. Keep fresh water to drink and make sure you take him out for little soaking sessions. As long as he remains hydrated that is a big part solved. Instead of weekly feedings consider switching to every 10 days. Consider adding another hide and make sure it's smaller than the two he already has. :gj:

If he has been a consistent FT eater then I wouldn't be concerned about making a switch just yet. Sometimes they do that. Now if in a couple more weeks you get really worried, by all means try it. But he may just stick to live feedings after that. Sometimes they're picky.

Yeah ... Didn't realise it was a hatchling ... Still think it just takes time and patience to get them eating d/f though z

Cracking the feeder's skull with pliers (so a little brain matter/blood comes out), and leaving it alone with the snake in its cage for at least a few hours (close to its hide) has worked for me in a similar situation.

Anytime I hear a small snake not feeding I suspect husbandry. Your hot spot is off for a small snake 88ºF is fine. The ambient is fine IF you are measuring it correctly and if your thermometer is accurate.

Question how are you measuring the temps?

Where exactly are you measuring them from?

What thermometer are you using and what is the error range of it? (expressed in +/- usually sometimes a % of the reading)

Does your snake always sit on the cool side? Even after a feeding (when it was feeding.)

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Originally Posted by Spiritserpents

I only have corn snakes. I only feed frozen thawed. I'm also a vet tech so I'm more a 'save the small fuzzy creatures' type person. With all that aside, I am not against feeding live for a snake that is only going to take live. These things happen and I'd rather not have someone's pet starve to death. If people are careful, there are going to be very few accidents, but accidents can still occur. My sister-in-law used to work at a pet store and witnessed a rat kill a young ball python by tearing off a large chunk of its skull after it missed a strike. I have a rat snake that was fed live even after he went blind. The previous owner didn't leave the rats in with him for hours, but he still got injured a lot because he wasn't able to aim his strikes. I got him after he got bit in the roof of his mouth. He's 16 years old now and I'm fairly certain he's the snake equivalent of senile. Feeding live to him would not be responsible feeding. One simply needs to be aware of all the potential factors.

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Yet another piece of evidence against feeding LIVE !

In the Reptile Community Ireland forum , even DISCUSSING the feeding of LIVE is not allowed as it's regarded as barbaric.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...ive_prey_1.jpg

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Yet another piece of evidence against feeding LIVE !

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

In the Reptile Community Ireland forum , even DISCUSSING the feeding of LIVE is not allowed as it's regarded as barbaric.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...ive_prey_1.jpg

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You and your Pro F/T agenda are getting old, get some experience and once you do give adequate advice to people instead or regurgitating the same thing in every threads mentioning live food.

Here we believe in educating people not scaring them based on ignorance and boogeyman stories.

It's fine . I'm done .

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

It's fine . I'm done .

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I could only hope............

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Originally Posted by Deborah

You and your Pro F/T agenda are getting old, get some experience and once you do give adequate advice to people instead or regurgitating the same thing in every threads mentioning live food.

Here we believe in educating people not scaring them based on ignorance and boogeyman stories.

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I agree. Completely.

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

In the Reptile Community Ireland forum , even DISCUSSING the feeding of LIVE is not allowed as it's regarded as barbaric.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...ive_prey_1.jpg

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Whoa meow!!! Holy heck... No. :rage: Why would you post this here. There's education and then there's just being a jerk. Yes accidents happen, yes people make dumb decisions, but there is a right and wrong way to feed live.

How about people who feed frozen give tips on heating up a frozen meal?

Are you using a blow dryer on the head?

I'm a barbaric American, so naturally I feed live and cackle when I do it.

This is how I feed f/t.

Step 1: take rat out in the morning to defrost for the day, sometimes in lukewarm water if it's later in the day.

2: once the rat is defrosted (soft and room temperature on the head and hips) I bring it in the room where I house monty.

Step 3 (optional) : I weigh my rats to put it in my feed journal. I also weigh monty before bringing the rat in the room.

Step 4: super heat the rats head using a blow dryer. I heat the rat until the head reads 100f. I try to warm the body at the same time. So it's about 90 at feeding time.

Step 5: I open the lid to montys tank and grab the tongs. I grab the rat by the tail and lower it into the tank.

Step 6 : I do the "zombie dance", where you kind of jiggle the rat, and walk it through the tank.

Step 7: monty strikes, if not, I continue to super heat the head (usually with her heat lamp) and zombie dance. If she does strike, I hold the tail and pretend "struggle" with the rat. Just for a minute or so.

This works for me. :))

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Originally Posted by MontyAndMelissa

This is how I feed f/t.

Step 1: take rat out in the morning to defrost for the day, sometimes in lukewarm water if it's later in the day.

2: once the rat is defrosted (soft and room temperature on the head and hips) I bring it in the room where I house monty.

Step 3 (optional) : I weigh my rats to put it in my feed journal. I also weigh monty before bringing the rat in the room.

Step 4: super heat the rats head using a blow dryer. I heat the rat until the head reads 100f. I try to warm the body at the same time. So it's about 90 at feeding time.

Step 5: I open the lid to montys tank and grab the tongs. I grab the rat by the tail and lower it into the tank.

Step 6 : I do the "zombie dance", where you kind of jiggle the rat, and walk it through the tank.

Step 7: monty strikes, if not, I continue to super heat the head (usually with her heat lamp) and zombie dance. If she does strike, I hold the tail and pretend "struggle" with the rat. Just for a minute or so.

This works for me. :))

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Great description . Hope it stays around more than the few hours my detailed explanation did .
After being asked my method I posted a similarly detailed method but it has mysteriously disappeared overnight . Mmmmmmm

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

After being asked my method I posted a similarly detailed method but it has mysteriously disappeared overnight . Mmmmmmm

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Before you make wild accusations you might want to check where you post what, nothing here is deleted but I guess your "Mission" is getting you confused :rolleyes:

This is where you posted your method http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=1#post2337345, a completely different thread and now you may apologies :gj:

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Great description . Hope it stays around more than the few hours my detailed explanation did .
After being asked my method I posted a similarly detailed method but it has mysteriously disappeared overnight . Mmmmmmm

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Deborah found it............I see it, still active.
Your credibility trashed SMH

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Before you make wild accusations you might want to check where you post what, nothing here is deleted but I guess your "Mission" is getting you confused :rolleyes:

This is where you posted your method http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=1#post2337345, a completely different thread and now you may apologies :gj:

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To be fair I looked everywhere for it so I could copy and paste it into here as someone requested . I couldn't find it and assumed that it had been deleted ...... as many if my other posts have incidentally .

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

To be fair I looked everywhere for it so I could copy and paste it into here as someone requested . I couldn't find it and assumed that it had been deleted ...... as many if my other posts have incidentally .

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No one is deleting any of your posts so stop the pitty party.
If your posts were deleted you would have an infraction to show for it, you know such as making false accusations and bashing the forums reputation. ;)

There are fifteen (15) pages of your posts in your user control panel.
Learn it and you will know where to find all of your posts.
AGAIN its not all about YOU and no one is censoring anything you post so get over it.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

No one is deleting any of your posts so stop the pitty party.
If your posts were deleted you would have an infraction to show for it, you know such as making false accusations and bashing the forums reputation. ;)

There are fifteen (15) pages of your posts in your user control panel.
Learn it and you will know where to find all of your posts.
AGAIN its not all about YOU and no one is censoring anything you post so get over it.

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My final post on the topic of LIVE feeding ..

It's no good saying that none of my posts have been deleted as one of the mods is on record as cleaning a couple of the threads at least twice .

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

My final post on the topic of LIVE feeding ..

It's no good saying that none of my posts have been deleted as one of the mods is on record as cleaning a couple of the threads at least twice .

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As in splitting the threads so the off topic ones are moved to their own thread.

Quit being a victim. You aren't that important that anyone's gonna delete your posts.

Right , as I promised before .... I'm done in these LIVE feeding threads and won't contribute to any other LIVE feeding threads in the future .

I'll never understand why you guys feed LIVE but that's life .


Just to add a little balance to proceedings , anyone checking my profile will see that out of about 300+ posts I've made in here ...... there are roughly 60 THANKS plus about 5 RED " thumbs down " ones . The red ones were all in these LIVE feeding threads which is telling in itself .

Anyways , apologies to anyone I may have inadvertently annoyed or insulted . If that has occurred I can only say that it was unintentional .

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Just to add a little balance to proceedings , anyone checking my profile will see that out of about 300+ posts I've made in here ...... there are roughly 60 THANKS plus about 5 RED " thumbs down " ones . The red ones were all in these LIVE feeding threads which is telling in itself .

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I can repeat myself AGAIN, please gain some experience first then feel free to converse or debate on any subject.
There are subjects I don't post on for a reason.:gj:

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

I can repeat myself AGAIN, please gain some experience first then feel free to converse or debate on any subject.
There are subjects I don't post on for a reason.:gj:

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To be fair , there was really no need for your last post as I've clearly indicated just a few minutes ago that I will avoid ALL threads on LIVE feeds in the future.

Hey guys I want to update you guys, he's not due to eat until Thursday (well try) but I was bored and thawed one out for try's and he whacked it right as I opened his cage from his hide. So in all it looks like after 3 weeks of no eating he's back to eating :) I won't be switching to live! :bow:

This is is my first snake so I'm not used to animals not eating everyday so even once a week is a crazy thought for me let a lone weeks!

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

My final post on the topic of LIVE feeding ..

It's no good saying that none of my posts have been deleted as one of the mods is on record as cleaning a couple of the threads at least twice .

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Seems like you have comprehension issues here so let me help you with that, no post has been deleted in THIS thread.

ONE thread had to be cleaned up (several times) which means the thread was split up (again no post were deleted) so the original thread could remain on topic. Whenever a thread is cleaned up there is a WARNING in said thread with link to the spin-of.

Now I would appreciate if this thread could continue without further derailment before I have to resort to more cleaning.

Thank you Deborah. :) he ate now! Thanks for your guys help Im not worried anymore.

Grats on the feeding success!!! Always a good feeling :gj: