LF Advice for F Ball Who Eats Rats Backwards?

[Feistay94]

Good morning all,

My female ball is 2y2m old and she insists on eating her rats tail first. She went into brumation around the time Covid hit us (March 2020) and was off food until maybe July, she ate one rat (no strike, just left it lying in cage for a few min and she ate it anyways), went back off, ate another in August but this time backwards. Since then she's eating every 2-3 weeks but every single rat she eats is tail first. Other than trouble w the legs, she's fine eating them backwards.

I have double checked the usual things (humidity, temp, size of rat, sheds, etc) and she demonstrates prey drive, but only if I hold the rat with the tongs by the head. She won't strike it if I hold it by the tail. I don't want to brain the rat either bc she never liked to eat the rats if they get bloody while thawing.

I'm assuming this is a non-issue, but I wanted to ask around just in case. Thanks in advance!

[Andiamo]

May not be your issue, but it's possibly due to how you are warming your food items?

I warm my rats up in a tubberware container...it's more tall than it is wide, so the rats go in vertically (and they're also sealed in individual bags, which helps them stay vertical).

If I warm them up with their heads up and their tails down....the bottom part of the rat will warm up faster than the top part (the head).

If I warm them up with their heads down and tails up, the head will be the warmest part of the rat...and IMO, more appealing to a hungry snake.

My snake has taken down a few rats backwards, but now that I warm them up head down, I don't have that issue. I know some people say warm them up with their heads up so you don't get blood coming outta their nose...but I don't care about a little blood.

[Feistay94]

Hi Andiamo,

She is definitely picky about the temp of the rats, so I have to thaw in a baggie in a large bowl (head up like you mentioned bc she doesn't like the bloody nose) and refill it with warm/almost hot water for at least 30min. I have to pat the dry with paper towels because she won't eat them wet and I also have to use a hair dryer to super heat them to 95-100F before she will show interest. I use an infrared thermometer gun to check their surface temps.

I heard about the temp of the head being a factor so for the last 2 or 3 rats I've focused on the head with the hair dryer. No luck. Even if the rear end of the rat cools to like 70F or lower she'll still strike at their back end instead of the 90F head.

I guess I'm wondering if she's just a super picky ball or if it's something we can change to help her out. I feel bad watching her get stuck on the legs, even if she looks super funny lol.

[Bogertophis]

Knowing ball pythons, I'd just be glad she eats. Some snakes are goofy like this- I think the tail end probably has more scent than the nose, perhaps that's why? Not much you can really do about it, & you already tried my only suggestion (using a hair dryer to warm the head more). The only other thing I can say is if it really is about the scent, get a hold of some rat droppings* to add "fragrance" to the nose? *If there are none in the bagged prey you have, you could ask a pet store nearby for some. They'll laugh at you, for sure, but that's life with snakes, eh?

[Feistay94]

Hi Bogertophis,

Yes! She and my boyfriend's pastel are our first balls, so we researched the heck out of her not eating back in March to make sure it was brumation or some other moodiness and not an enclosure or illness related thing. Ironically, before her I always by chance ended up with male snakes who would eat a dirty sock if offered, so this is my first experience with pickiness aside from our bearded dragons during brumation.

Yeah, the scent was what I was thinking, too. It's the only other variable I can think of about the rat. In the bag of rats we're currently working on there's no droppings, but hitting up the pet store might work. I feel like I've seen scenting things (like when you use pheromones for hunting, but for pet foods) online somewhere, so that's worth looking into.

Thank you Bogertophis and Andiamo for making me feel more at ease about this! <3

If anyone else has any ideas, I'm open to them too

[Bogertophis]

Do let us know if the scenting works. Scent is a big issue for most snakes, but BPs are usually more about the temperature because of their heat sensing pits. Really, that's about all it could be is that rat fannies have more scent than their heads? Silly snakes! If only they'd "read the manual" first... (BTW, in all my BP-experiences, the females ate much more reliably than the males.) Hopefully if you can get her to try it nose-first, she'll learn to do that in the future.