How to train your ball python..?

[SerpentGirl]

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.

Thanks!

[Sonny1318]

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.

[M.P.C]

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

[Marissa@MKmorphs]

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?

[SerpentGirl]

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.

[Boomerang]

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.

[Tsanford]

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.

[SKO]

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.

[Lynchman18]

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)

[DVirginiana]

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)

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.