My male normal ball python, Boomer, finally ended his 8 week hunger strike! He hatched in August 2009 and weighs around 420 grams. Today I fed him live to see what would happen since he has refused frozen/thawed the past two months. The store did not have any adult live mice.....just hoppers. So I bought two. I know he needs significantly bigger but I bought two live hoppers. He scarfed both of them down! Next week I will buy an adult large mouse and offer it to him.

Is it better to offer the live mouse with tongs or to just allow the mouse the run free in the enclosure (supervised of course). If the mouse is able to bite in it's effort to escape is it okay to grab the head of the mouse with tongs? Stupid question I know but I've never fed a live adult mouse before. Thanks in advance.

I'm stoked that he finally ate!!!