How to feed a new Ball Python

[Bweiser18]

Tomorrow will be a week that I’ve had my new Ball Python. I want to feed frozen thawed. How should I go about trying to offer a meal? Should I wait until the snake comes out of his hide to explore? He seems to come out and explore around 10PM. Should I wait until he’s out to offer? Should I just open up his hide when he’s in there to offer? Or would that scare the :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: out of him!? How often should I offer if he were to not take this meal?

[bcr229]

How old is it, what was it eating for the prior owner, and how often?

[Bweiser18]

It’s like 4 months old the breeder said. It was on live mice. He said to feed it a small adult mouse this Sunday. I never asked how often he fed.

[aurum]

Most people recommend feeding exactly as the breeder did for the first few meals to ensure that the snake will eat in your care. I don't keep ball pythons, so I don't have enough experience to know what the best course of action will be for you, but in my opinion it wouldn't hurt to try f/t first as long as it is warm enough and you are minimizing stress. I think dakski also has a good step by step post for preparing f/t somewhere on here, so it might be helpful to find that.

In general for offering the f/t food though, if/when you do: you can wait until he's out and exploring at night, but if he tends to freak out and flee once you open the enclosure that might put him off eating. You'll probably be more successful offering while he's in his hide, that way he will feel nice and secure, and it will appeal to his ambush instincts. Just wiggle the mouse at the entrance and let him come to it, poking it in there might scare him. If he doesn't take it, you can leave it in overnight and remove it in the morning if it's still there. I would wait a week before offering again. Good luck!

[Bogertophis]

Tomorrow will be a week that I’ve had my new Ball Python. I want to feed frozen thawed. How should I go about trying to offer a meal? Should I wait until the snake comes out of his hide to explore? He seems to come out and explore around 10PM. Should I wait until he’s out to offer? Should I just open up his hide when he’s in there to offer? Or would that scare the :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: out of him!? How often should I offer if he were to not take this meal?

Ball pythons are more active at night, but actually they're ambush-predators (they sit & wait in a protected place, like their hide, peeking out & waiting to grab prey that gets close enough to grab).

If yours is still exploring his home, he may not yet be settled in enough to be ready to feed-most BPs don't care to feed when out in the open, because instinctively they know that other predators can easily nab them too while they're preoccupied with dinner. His activity lately probably has more to do with wondering what happened to the territory he knew & how can he find it again. New homes are unsettling to snakes- try to imagine how you'd feel "in his shoes". In the wild, their safety depends on learning their way around, where to hide from bad weather & predators.

No, don't open his hide to offer prey. And personally, unless you see him peeking out of his hide in the later evening hours, you might wait another week to offer food. He'll be hungrier then, & more likely to accept f/t -IF you get all the cues correct. (prey thawed properly- not spoiled- & warmed quickly to imitate living rodent- slight wiggle from tongs but NOT in a threatening way to the snake-remember that in real life, rodents don't volunteer to be dinner!) If your snake refuses food, best to wait a week before offering again- that gives them time to re-focus & not be overly stressed from your attempts. Remember that snakes are actually shy.

While I agree that feeding f/t is best for safety & kindness, please also understand that your snake might be unwilling right now to make the switch to f/t from eating live. I hope he does, but you might need to feed live a few times before attempting the switch, because it's more important to get a young (-I'm assuming?) snake eating again than to make such modifications just yet.

[Bweiser18]

Thanks bud! Yeah that’s what I was thinking as well about offering the same as the breeder did. I figured maybe the first meal so that I know he’s comfortable enough to eat. Then start trying the Frozen thawed.

[Bweiser18]

I very much appreciate your response! Thanks for the tips! He’s around 4 months the breeder had told me. I’m going to try my very best to get him on F/T but at what point should I go back to live if he doesn’t go for the F/T? A few weeks? A month? Too long? We are going to try our absolute best to get him off the live without causing any harm or anymore stress on the snake.

[Bogertophis]

I very much appreciate your response! Thanks for the tips! He’s around 4 months the breeder had told me. I’m going to try my very best to get him on F/T but at what point should I go back to live if he doesn’t go for the F/T? A few weeks? A month? Too long? We are going to try our absolute best to get him off the live without causing any harm or anymore stress on the snake.

If he doesn't take f/t now or the next time you offer in a week, I'd feed him live a few times so he can best "settle in" (ie. feel at home with you). It's not normal or "good" for young snakes to go on long fasts- they're growing & need good nutrition. It's not such a big concern once they're over a year or two old & have some "size"- it's actually fairly normal for adult BPs because of breeding interests, but not a young one like yours. You have the right attitude also- to do what's best for the snake.