http://imgur.com/zHRuvgLThis is the story of my ball python for the past year. He has made me cry numerous times. Sorry about spelling or grammatical errors or timeline errors. I got him Aug 23 2015 and still have him today.
Many told me that a ball python would make a great first snake. I had wanted a snake for a few years (I'm 16 right now) and a year ago in August I decided to go to a reptile expo to look at ball pythons and hopefully get one. As I was walking around I saw a lady holding a beautiful black and white snake. I was praying that she would put him down and not buy him. Luckily she did and I picked him up to the surprise of how a snake felt (this was the first time I had actually held a snake). I told the man at the booth that I wanted to walk around more, he said "You can walk around with him!" I was shocked. I walked 10 feet with this snake in my hand and I knew it was meant to be. And that is how OSCAR became my Male Axanthic Ball python.
I got home and let him chill in his new tub for a few days before trying to feed him F/t. I never asked if he was fed f/t or live but soon came to the realization that he was fed live. After trying to feed him f/t for 4 weeks I was VERY VERY worried. He was getting skinny and there were no pet shops near my house that sold live babies. I tried feeding him a live mouse but he was scared of it and denied it. So I had to wait 3 weeks for the next reptile show so I could buy live fuzzy mice. He ate! That was the best feeling ever. I decided to try to feed f/t the next week by just placing it in his feeding tub (dont worry i have since gotten rid of it) and he ate it! I thought I was a pro. Anyway to make a long story short he had been on and off of f/t, usually denying it because it wasnt "ALIVE!!!". After around 4 months I had been worried obviously being 16 I am going to be moving away in a few years and cant imagine having a pet that required live food every week. I had made a 35+ year commitment and I was questioning if I should simply sell him. But I wasnt going to give up that easily. I then discovered pre killing. I first pre killed a rat with a butter knife using cervical dislocation. I hate killing live animals but i felt a little comfort knowing that I was using a very humane method. He took the pre killed rat!! I was soo happy. So than the next week I tried f/t but no luck once again. I then started pre killing and did that for about 8 weeks and he took everyone of the mice i killed. I then tried f/t again and he took it! But just struck and didnt swallow. I was worrying so much just wondering what I was doing wrong.
I was questioning if I would be able to keep him almost everyday he didnt eat. For about the past 2 months sometimes he would take the f/t rat but usually he wouldnt. The only place I can get rats is a 45 min drive, so i would buy about 5 at a time and he would eat the first one but than wouldnt eat the rest. I began to think that they were getting stale somehow. Anyways... I figured out the problem, I wasnt thawing them correctly! For some reason the rats would always thaw out hard. But I have recently been thawing them in hotter water and they come out squishy and more 'rat feeling'. For the past 6 weeks he has eaten continuously f/t everytime. I have been through hell and back with this snake, he has made me want to rip my hair out on numerous occasions. I think, no I know I have finally got him successfully switched and it only took a year XD
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