Should I attempt to feed on Saturday

We purchased Xefaud and Sadis on Saturday August 25th. Should we attempt to feed a hopper to each of them on Saturday? And it was recommended to us that thier first two feedings be live and then try and start making the switch over to F/T.

I'd say trying a Pre-killed... so it's still warm... and then work your way to F/T.

A frozen thawed prey can still be "warm".

Why not feed how you were recommended? I'd rather illicit a strong feeding response right off the back. Once their settled and eating well then try switching to the style you prefer. :D

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Originally Posted by ivylea77

A frozen thawed prey can still be "warm".

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Yea I know but I kinda find it different because they are not only warm on the outside but on the inside as well... It takes a while to get a F/T to the right temps....
But you are correct!
That's a great idea getting that good feeding response first! Do er up!
:rockon:

I think we will try the live first. As for pre-killed, I've never killed a mouse before and I do not know how to do it properly. I wouldn't want the hoppers to suffer because of my inability to kill them in a humane way. (And please do not tell me to just whack them against a wall.)

Thanks for the answers! Hopefully, Sadis and Xefaud will be enjoying a nice plump hopper each, on Saturday. :rat:

When I first got my BP he was originally eating live and the first week I said heck if he doesn't eat it I wasted $1.50. Well he ate it within seconds and has never looked back.

I've heard that some ball pythons eat strictly live prey. Is this true? I would rather have them on F/T as that is what our other two snakes eat and it would be so much easier to just order frozen online or get frozen from expos.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I wouldn't want the hoppers to suffer because of my inability to kill them in a humane way. (And please do not tell me to just whack them against a wall.)

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Here Here :clap:

There are easy ways of properly euthanazing prey items like with co2, and many links throughout the feeders section explain how with dry ice or co2 canisters.

BPs can be picky and your feeding style is your personal preference, just be prepared that no matter what you try and how you try it some BPs will not take F/T. They all have thier quirks and differing personalities

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I've heard that some ball pythons eat strictly live prey. Is this true? I would rather have them on F/T as that is what our other two snakes eat and it would be so much easier to just order frozen online or get frozen from expos.

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I think they all will eat F/T, but getting some to feed consistantly on F/T is the problem. I feed pretty much all of my snakes live and they all usually eat every week. Many snakes will take F/T just fine, but there are some picky eaters that if you ever want to get any size on them live is the only way to go.

I don't mind feeding live and am willing to do so. I've had to do it for my corn before when there were no available frozen feeders around me. She did fine but I like her being on F/T, that way I don't have the problem of the mice biting her. I've had to step in a few times and give the mouse something else to chew on so it would not harm my snake.

We'll try live this weekend and if they both take live, we will try F/T next week. If they don't take the F/T, we'll do live again. Then the week after we'll try F/T again.

Hopperes and rat pups will not bite your snake, they barely have teeth yet. If you are feeding hoppers i assume you have a very small(baby) snake. I would recommend feeding live for the first month or more until he is an established eater then try making making the transformation. it is true many BP's will not touch F/T or P/K so you may have many refusals before anyone eats.Yyou want to make sure the snake has been eating well before you switch so the poor guy doesn't loose weight. I have many snakes that won't even look at a dead rodent and when I tried to switch to P/K alot of rats died for nothing which was not fun. Now I feed all my 30+ snakes live and never have problems. I do feed smaller rodents so they are easily killed by the snake and their feeding response it always aggressive. As they get larger rat pups and weanlings are nice because they are as big or bigger than mice but cannot hurt your snake. And yes feed Saturday! Good luck!

What happens when you get up to the bigger rodents, adults. Those have a higher chance of hurting the snake, right? What do you do then?

And as for size. The male ball python, Xefaud, is 68g. The female is a bit larger, but we couldn't get a weight on her. She was too stressed out and we just left her alone.

I feed live and watch under close supervision until I know the rat is dead. There are alot of nay sayers for live, but i've read many times that when a snake constricts the prey thier death is instant, almost like having complete heart failure, but then there are always what ifs? like what if the snake has a bad strike etc. I've seen bad bags of F/T bloody etc, and since I consider myself a responsible snake owner, Live is the way for me. I always make sure that whatever I feed is lights out before putting the lid back on. Just my :2cent:

Would assisting be ok? Or would that stress the snake out too much. When I saw assist, I mean being there in case the mouse/rat does try and inflict harm on the snake. For example, when I feed my corn live I stand there at the cage with a small metal rod (smaller than a pencil) and put the rod in horizontally in the mouse's mouth if it start doing that biting motion too close to my snake. It gives the mouse something to bite on other than my snake. Is this ok? I've done it twice with no problem.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

What happens when you get up to the bigger rodents, adults. Those have a higher chance of hurting the snake, right? What do you do then?

And as for size. The male ball python, Xefaud, is 68g. The female is a bit larger, but we couldn't get a weight on her. She was too stressed out and we just left her alone.

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Really you never need to feed your adult BP anything larger than a small rat which an adult BP will smother in seconds. Some feed larger items but thats where the risk of injury begins and also over fed BP's can go off feed and become very unpredictable feeders.

Looking at the size of you snake (baby) a mouse hopper is perfect and after a few meals you could try a rat pink. Both are totally harmless and could even be left in the enclosure overnight for picky/problem feeders. Baby snakes can be fed every 5-7 days.

Alright so on that note, if you had a Ball who fed the first week frozen but hasn't eaten for almost two weeks due to F/T refusal you should try live defintely without question.

I always feed live as I always monitor them. At a consistent time usually at Noon on Thursday (ie. Today was their feeding day)

From my own experience, I am one of the very few who feed their BP's the first scheduled feeding. I've never really waited a whole week. I believe if you get them in a top notch environment with the correct settings, that they will feed for you regardless. I have three BP's, and two of them I fed within a day of owning it. The first one, I actually put it through a week of settlement. But the other two girls, they fed one day after I got them (only because I happened to get them on Wednesday)

In regards to switching to F/T. Many will tell you to go from live, to pre-killed (don't get let down if they don't eat for you), and then finally frozen thawed. Just make sure you F/T them properly. I've tried several times, and over-cooked my mice. So I just resort to feeding live the way the bp's were raised prior to my owning them.

Hope that helps