Safest way to feed live??

I just got my bp about a week ago will try to feed him pretty soon the breeder said he was taking live mice I just wanted to know what was the safest way to feed them live mice. I'm going to buy some tongs but was worried that the mouse would wriggle right out or something (i dont know) I dont just want to put the mouse in there with the snake and risk a bite even though i'll be watching over but anything can happen in a split second so what do u guys suggest?

kill it before you put it in there. lol i know nothing about it, ive always fed frozen, someone will be around shortly

Place the mouse at the opposite end of the snake, and just keep an eye on things. There are no need for tongs since the mouse is alive and would bite and try to get away. The snake knows what it is doing and knows what kind of grip is needs to keep the mouse from biting him. If you just let nature take its course, all should go well. In the event of a small bite, if it does occur, just apply some neosporin and all will be well again.

Hope that helped a bit and settled some of your fears about feeding your snake :)

Okay so I place the mouse at the tail end of Osiris or the enclosure. What if i feed him inside his enclosure because he's always tucked away in his hide so he should be safe in there right...when the mouse aproaches the hide BAM!!!! end of story???????

Place the mouse at the opposite end of the enclosure. Just drop the mouse in, and Osiris should go for it. You can either take the hides out or leave them in. I usually take one hide out and leave one in, but sometimes I'll take everything out just in case she decides to fling rat guts everywhere. Saves me the time of cleaning everything. If it is his first time feeding for you, I would leave one of his hides in, and just let him do his thing :)

Okay got it yeah i wasnt going to leave both hides in cause common sense told me that if i were a mouse and i smelled a snake around i'd go for the nearest hiding spot and never come out LOL....Thanx I love how quick people respond on this site everyone is so helpfull.

PS one more question Satanic um..... ur title says POOP SCENE INVESTIGATOR what exactly is that???

in addition to what was said above i would kind of pre scent the area the tank/cage is in with the mouse for about 10-15 min. just leave the mouse in a box near the cage for a bit and see if your snake becomes alert and gets into feeding mode. this helps with feeding live or dead.


vaughn

Thanx Kavmon good idea

Side note my mom is cooking porkchops right know I wonder if his stomach is as alert as mine right now the piping hot scent of freshly fried porkchops has got me into a frenzy...LOL

Hehe, Poop Scene Investigator refers to my profession as a Vet Tech and loving parasitology. Parasitology involves ALOT of poo :)

Interesting......You know I once wanted to be a Vet....or maybe just a Herpatologist i've been in love with animals every since I can remember especially reptiles...funny thing is that almost everyone in my imediate family is scared of snakes but when I said I got one the first questions was what are u gonna do when it gets 100ft long..LOL...and can we see it (Go figure).

best thing i ever did was buy pots and enlarge the whole in the top, if they are tall enough the mouse can't get in. Moe comes out when he's ready and sits on top of the pot when the mouse walks by on the ground BAM from above there is no risk at all to your snake. if he is not intrested he will stay in his hide and it is imposible for the mouse to climb up the tall pot.

hah..dont ever say impossible when you are talking about mice :) .... but I am sure you method works well. I have seen hide boxes w/ the access hole at the top of the side to prevent the mouse/rat from getting in several times....and it sets up a pretty cool airborne attack also :)

I dont know if theres any good way besides just removing all of the cage furnature and let the mouse and the snake battle it out. Remove it immediately if your snake doesn't appear interested in it. (feeding frozen or p/k, sometimes, you can leave it in longer if you have a lazy or slow eater). Your snake will let you know in the first 60 seconds whether or not its going to want to eat, and if you can't identify the snakes body language of when it is going to have a feeding respone, you need be much more observant of snake behavior.

Do not remove anything from the cage! ... The snake needs a place to find cover and protect it's body from the rodent. Hide boxes will give him/her the perfect security for hunting and killing a live rodent. Also, leaving the water dish in will give the rodent access to water while it's in there.

Do not use tongs. Tongs will stress the rodent and make it much more aggressive. It will lash out in a panic at anything it comes near while being restrained.

Pre-scenting the room is an excellent idea. Leave the mouse in a container near the snakes cage for 15-30 minutues.

As long as the snake is in it's hide, just drop the rodent into the cage.

Wait about an hour, if the snake hasn't eaten the rodent remove it and try again later. Do not leave the rodent in with the snake for more than an hour or so.

If you're using a glass tank for your snake, you don't want to sit in the room while you are feeding unless you can sit very still. Distractions outside of the tank (movement, noise, etc) will make your snake insecure and less likely to eat unless it is well conditioned.

Hope this helps.

-adam

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Do not remove anything from the cage! ... The snake needs a place to find cover

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great point - we have a couple that just plain won't eat without that cover to strike from (lol and not even a moving target!)

I would make sure you know what's going on in the enclosure if a live rodent is in there - I would not recommend leaving a live mouse or rat in there unsupervised. I agree that hovering over a glass enclosure may not be the most conducive way to ensure a feed - but I can't recommend leaving them together unsupervised.

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Originally Posted by Smulkin

I would make sure you know what's going on in the enclosure if a live rodent is in there - I would not recommend leaving a live mouse or rat in there unsupervised. I agree that hovering over a glass enclosure may not be the most conducive way to ensure a feed - but I can't recommend leaving them together unsupervised.

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Well, I certainly respect the opinions of everyone that posts on this site, especially when they come from a member of our most awesome admin council! I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers, I was just trying to help.

I was just explaining how I do it with the 200+ live rodents I feed my snakes each week. And as it turns out, yesterday I was helping a buddy of mine feed his 1000+ ball pythons and he does the same thing. But, I think it is fair to agree that with different levels of experience working with these animals there are certainly going to be different levels of comfort with what can and cannot be done successfully. The one thing that I know for sure after 25 years of keeping ball pythons is that no one can tell you how to care for your snake, each keeper has to figure out what works for them and their snake themselves.

IMO, one of the coolest things about keeping ball pythons is that there are so many ways to feed and care for them and still be successful!

ROCK ON!

-adam

No feathers ruffled at all! I fully recognize very few of us will have to deal with that volume of BP's.

Still one can dream . . . :P

I always feel compelled to tell folks not to leave them in there together unattended hehe - it's just a generic kneejerk sort of reaction without any intended target or subtext.

And I fully agree - there are many sucessful roads to BP husbandry.

"Getcher motor runnin' / head out to the highway"

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Originally Posted by Smulkin

I always feel compelled to tell folks not to leave them in there together unattended hehe - it's just a generic kneejerk sort of reaction without any intended target or subtext.

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I know EXACTLY what you mean!! Same thing happens to me everytime I see a myth about live feeding (or any aspect of ball python husbandry) stated as if it were fact! ;) :P :D

I really do so much better when rational people can sit down and share their opinions and experiences on a great site like ball-pythons.net! :D


-adam

Thanx again everyone well i'm going to the pet store now to but dinner and when i come back well see what happens. T.V. and light will be turned off i'll pre-scent then introduce watch carefully from afar and see what happens i'll let you guys know what happens.

Well um after I did every thing that I said he didnt take the mouse in fact he stayed in his hide balled up looking quite stressed so I removed the mouse and proceeded to examine Ol' Osiris and guess what his eyes are turning BLUE......Whoops no wonder he looked so stressed now I feel terrible becuause I probably just stressed my snake out..Only thing to do know is boost humidity a little and keep the excitment down (no handling) the crazy thing is that when I handled him yester day I noticed that he was a little pale I should have realized it could have been time but after only having him a week I wasnt expecting a shed for at least a month and now I have an unwanted mouse that I have to get rid of.......But hey You live and you learn