Another Question?

Okay, Last Sun. my kids ate for the first time. My concern had been that the female (Cleo) did not like her hide. Now since feeding she doesn't come out . At least not that I've seen. I want to :confused: feed them again this sunday but if she doesn't come out of her hide, is it all right to lift it off her so I can put her in the feeding box. I don't want to stress her but I don't want her to go hungry.

Yes its fine to lift her out and put her into a feeding enclosure.



Mike

why dont you feed her in her enclosure?

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Originally Posted by juddb

why dont you feed her in her enclosure?

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Exactly. Ball pythons, like most if not all boids, are ambush hunters. They are designed to wait in their hide (a burrow in the wild) and ambush passing or entering prey.

The only reason I can understand using a feeder tank for would be that your BP is on mulch or bark, etc. If this is the case, put down a paper bag or newspaper on top of the loose substrate before feeding the BP.

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Originally Posted by Elgaro

Now since feeding she doesn't come out . At least not that I've seen. I want to :confused: feed them again this sunday but if she doesn't come out of her hide, is it all right to lift it off her so I can put her in the feeding box. I don't want to stress her but I don't want her to go hungry.

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I forgot to add that if you dont see her come out of her hide, then it sounds like she is just being a bp, keep in mind they are nocturnal anyway so they wait until its dark to cruise around. Some of my bp's i only see when i change the water and they poke their heads out of their hides, then i close up their tubs and dont see them again until the next day, they arent the best for display animals.

The breeder I bought them from started them on f/t in a separate feeding enclosure. That plus the fact that I currently have them on aspen Is why Iuse a separate tank. I figure ifit ain't broke don't fix it. Theyboth ate like champs 7 days after I got them which was also 7 days after their last feeding. Breeder fed them before I took them home.

I hope they are in seperate tanks... Otherwise dont be suprised if one eats like a champ and grows while the other goes off feed and becomes very unhealthy. Just a thought. I would throw down on another tank or maybe a small rack system, to benefit both snakes.

They are each in separate tanks

Thats cool. So you should have no problem at all, if you want to feed them in seperate enclosure's thats cool but its not necessary. :2cent: Good luck either way i hope they get fat and happy for you... :salute:

Oh by the way one of the coolest things to watch is the bp peeking out of his hide and awaiting the prey to get close enough for the strike, very natural you know.

mine smells the mouse instantly in his cage and comes out hunting, he doesn't bother ambushing :)

touche :colbert2: well played!!!

Yea I feed in seperate enclosure. I wait until he's done (finished swallowing, tongue flicking, moving again) and carefully lift him out and put him back in his tank. With multiples I simply drop in another mouse when he's done with the first. usually the activity level drops way down for 1-3 days. If mine remains active that same evening I take it as a sign its time for bigger feeds.

I guess you could call it ambush but I think its more like stealth. I feed mine it a big empty tub under full lighting and, indeed, he does not chase his prey. Despite the fact that they have an unobstructed view of him he pretty much could sit with his mouth wide open and just wait until they walk in. In reality, he waits until he's got about a 2-3" range and strikes. But, from what I can tell by watching the mouse's behavior, it has no real idea what's going on. My theory is that the snake is mostly motionless and doesn't really smell. Alot of animals have pretty poor vision and rely much more heavily on sounds and scent.

Most likely at some point in the night they will come out when it's quiet and dark some of ours spend days or weeks in their hide's others dont use hides live under the newspaper or other bedding in the cage only see them when cleaning and watering them. If you've left them alone for 48 hours after feeding your fine to handle them on aspen or paper you can feed them in their cages won't hurt them don't feed any of our bp's out of there homes and they are all doing fine. Good luck you snakes are fine just being snakes.