How to train your ball python..?

Hello, I recently bought a female pinstripe that is about 350grams. I've had her for a few weeks, and I can't get her to take a frozen/thawed rat. She'll only eat live, which I hate giving her. I thump them, but they're still alive. How can I train her to eat prekilled? I got her to strike and take a dead mouse once, but she then proceeded to ignore it. She hasn't taken one since. I'll be feeding them all in a few days, and want to come up with a battle plan for her lol. :P

Thanks!

I had a similar situation. One of the senior moderaters once said soon or later they all will switch. I kept feeding fresh killed, then started freezing the fresh killed. Then switched to regular frozen thawed. It worked, hope that helps.

Ball pythons are notoriously picky eaters, from random fastings for random periods of time, to even being so picky as to what color the prey item is.... if it eats live keep feeding it live, and every once in a while try a f/t... and if by thumping you mean stunning you shouldnt do that either, besides it being unessecary cruilty you dont want it to come frame daze and freak out or have your snake mistake it for dead and it awakens as the snake starts to eat it... snakes are Fantastic and extremly capable rodent slayers

x2 to getting rid of the "thumping"/stunning, a scared feeder is a dangerous feeder.

Just keep offering, one day they will take it. Are you sure your husbandry is spot on and that your snake feels safe and secure?

OK, I'll stop the thumping. I guess I'll just have to keep trying. Her housing is fine, she just won't accept f/t. :(

My breeder told me my snake liked live, but would go for frozen/thawed with some coaxing and time.
I've only fed her frozen/thawed without problems from day 1. In fact, the more she has them the more she likes them. When i bring the thawed rodent out she can smell it form a room away and immediately comes from her hide all coiled for a strike. Sometimes, however she acts like she wants to feed, but ignores my offering. I've found that smacking the dead rat fuzzy gently on her face agitates her until she strikes at it and eat it. It's the only time I've heard her hiss a little and get angry, but it works.

When I switched from live to f/t, it took some of my snakes 5 weeks to accept. You can also decrease offering to 2 weeks just temporarily to get them hungry enough to take it.

Just do a cervical dislocation to pre kill the rodent and then leave it in the opening to the hide that the snake is in. If that doesn't work then try dancing it around in front of your snake and see if it strikes it.

As other have mentioned BP's are hard to train when it comes to feeding... Persistence in trying F/T I have found to be best... Some of the users here suggested not Thumping/Stunning and the only objection I have to this is I've had 100's of snakes since I was 9 years old and on the snakes who have never taken to pre-killed or f/t not one time did any of them not strike, wrap up a thumped mouse.. snakes don't eat a mouse that they think has been killed w/o wrapping up on them. As far as cruelty to the mouse seriously??!! its about to be food... Mice know almost instantly that they have been put in a tank with a snake so they are already a scared feeder and already a dangerous threat. Another thing you need to think about is a live mouse biting your snake.. Snakes are quite capable of killing any mouse but in the process they could be bitten. (this has happened to my snakes who wouldn't take anything but live that I didn't thump, this happened to my kingsnake last week)... I'm not discrediting the other user's opinions however i'm giving my opinion to help keep your snake safe until it starts taking F/T. (now watch all the hate replies after mine)

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Originally Posted by Lynchman18

As far as cruelty to the mouse seriously??!! its about to be food... Mice know almost instantly that they have been put in a tank with a snake so they are already a scared feeder and already a dangerous threat. Another thing you need to think about is a live mouse biting your snake.. Snakes are quite capable of killing any mouse but in the process they could be bitten. (this has happened to my snakes who wouldn't take anything but live that I didn't thump, this happened to my kingsnake last week)... I'm not discrediting the other user's opinions however i'm giving my opinion to help keep your snake safe until it starts taking F/T. (now watch all the hate replies after mine)

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First off, using your logic it's perfectly morally okay to taze a cow that's about to be slaughtered for no reason just because it's going to be food... Which is of course a ridiculous statement. Yes, the mouse is about to suffer, but we owe it to the feeders we use to respect them enough not to make that suffering any longer or worse than it has to be. Additionally, a properly bred feeder's response to danger is to freeze, not attack. The freeze instinct has been selectively bred for, so no they do not go into 'fight mode' the second they are in a snake tank.

Secondly, there is a safety component to not 'thumping' or stunning the mice before feeding them. This automatically puts them into a defensive state of mind (after all you just attacked them, and you're not as good at immobilizing a mouse as your snake) and makes them more likely to bite. Additionally, they are not moving normally after being thumped so the snake has a harder time grabbing them properly, again making a bite more likely.

If you had a bite occur after doing this, that's why. If you had a bite that did any major damage (I'm not talking about a minor scratch) then it's because you were not properly supervising the feeding and were not ready with a utensil to put in the mouse's mouth to keep it from repeatedly biting long enough to do damage.

The advice you just gave is dangerous, cruel, and just plain incorrect. I'd suggest learning a little more about how to responsibly live-feed.

The advice wasn't cruel or dangerous its a matter of opinion.. People have different opinions and mine as stated isn't right or wrong.. I never had a bite from any mice I've thumped.. That's the whole point I was trying to get across and either my communication stinks or you read it wrong.. Your right and I shouldn't of said it like i sounds like I'm heartless.. I care for all animals that's why I prefer F/T.. My kingsnake and gopher snake wont take them.. Like I've said before your opinion is noted but yours isn't right or wrong either.. I've never had any snake bitten from thumping I've owned 100s of snakes and breed many.. Again my concern is the safety of the snakes.. And my advice is meant to be used as a reference and used if needed or take what you want from it. I've forgotten more about snakes/reptiles then 10 people combined.. You don't have any right to judge someone because your opinion is different.. I never said the others who commented that happen to have your opinion were wrong and just a FYI I could equally disrespect you and your opinion as you did me.. I never leave any of my snakes unattended during feeding of live or F/t.. And once again not one single snake of mine over 29 years of owning snakes has ever been bitten by a thumped/unconscious mouse.. The only time they have been bitten is when they are completely conscious as stated above and every time I've been able to immediatly react and handle the situation and it has nothing to do with in-proper live feeding...

Something I think helps as well is if you get your snake to strike and constrict a f/t rodent I always grab the rodent with my hemostats and shake it a little and simulate it struggling to give the snake the impression it's alive.

Some opinions are wrong. For example, recommending 'thumped' or stunned mice. That is an opinion with documented dangerous results. Just because you think something doesn't automatically make it correct. If you want to pull out all your experience, I suggest talking to some of the long-term veterans of this site about their opinions on stunning. I seriously doubt you're going to find anyone that agrees with you.

And if you truly disagree with my opinions on properly supervised live-feeding (which it doesn't sound like you do... because they are pretty well-researched) then by all means criticize them. I can explain to you why I do what I do without getting mad that someone disagrees with my opinion.

I think I'll try fresh killed with her next. The thumped rats were basically dead anyway, so hopefully she'll go for it. If not, one of my other balls will eat it. I have some that are ferocious eaters!

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Originally Posted by SerpentGirl

I think I'll try fresh killed with her next. The thumped rats were basically dead anyway, so hopefully she'll go for it. If not, one of my other balls will eat it. I have some that are ferocious eaters!

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Fresh-killed is much safer, and you don't have the risk that the mouse will suddenly come to and surprise your snake. If I could find someone to show me how to do a cervical dislocation I'd try to start my live-feeding girl on fresh-killed as well since I've heard that's a good intermediate step between live and f/t.

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Originally Posted by DVirginiana

Fresh-killed is much safer, and you don't have the risk that the mouse will suddenly come to and surprise your snake. If I could find someone to show me how to do a cervical dislocation I'd try to start my live-feeding girl on fresh-killed as well since I've heard that's a good intermediate step between live and f/t.

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I'd like to learn how to do that as well. Fresh killed seems like a good medium, so I'll give it a go!

Look up videos on YouTube, they help a lot. Just have something to hold the rodent down at the neck and pull from the base of the tail upwards and towards the head until you hear and feel the neck break. It is instant but there will be some twitching, which is just nerve reactions. Mice have very small bones, so you don't have to yank the tail like you're starting a chainsaw . Just pull firmly while keeping pressure on the neck. I usually use a pencil to hold down a mouse neck (that is my pre killing mice only pencil lol) and a cleaning rod for rats since they are bigger and obviously a little harder to hold down. You can also Co 2 chamber the rodents if you need to do a lot of them at once.

Sorry I haven't updated sooner! Good newsn is she's eating f/t now! I gave her pre-killed for a few weeks, and she transitioned beautifully. Thanks for all the help!

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Originally Posted by DVirginiana

Fresh-killed is much safer, and you don't have the risk that the mouse will suddenly come to and surprise your snake. If I could find someone to show me how to do a cervical dislocation I'd try to start my live-feeding girl on fresh-killed as well since I've heard that's a good intermediate step between live and f/t.

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I definitely agree with what you have been saying. Please please please everyone DONT try to do a cervical dislocation without having someone who knows exactly what they are doing show you first. I do this technique every day for my research animals, and it is actually harder than you think. For young mice and rats it isn't too difficult, but as they get a bit older and larger it can get tricky. I recommend using thumb and pointer finger of one hand to firmly hold the head and neck steady, and then the other hand to pull the tail in one solid jerking motion. I never liked the pencil technique.

IMO using a homemade CO2 chamber is the way to go. There are many Youtube videos on how to construct this simple apparatus for relatively cheap. This way you can euthanize the animal slowly and effectively. Multiple animals can also be put down at once.