weird!

[MikesBalls]

Ok so i have an 09 normal female. for the past two weeks she has been doing some weird things when being fed. hope someone can help me out. So last week i went to my local pet store for a rat fuzzy but they were out so i got a mouse and dropped it in. She struck and killed it however when it came time to eat it, it took her like 5 minutes to start eating. second issue is she started from the butt end of the mouse. she eventually figured out it wasnt going to work so she let go and seemed uninterested anymore. I left the dead mouse in her enclosure for about an hour to see if she would eat it but no go. So i tossed it and figured id try again this week. So today i went to the same pet store and got a mouse(out of rats again) and the exact same thing happened!! The breeder i got her from said she was started off on and fed rats all her life so do you guys think this weird behaviour is just because she prefers rats instead of mice and just strikes and kills the mice out of aggression?? any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

[Danounet]

I would say so, but in the other hand I dont think a hungry little bp would be as picky as an older BP.

How big/heavy is your BP?

[Neal]

Typically mice and rats have a different smell, and any difference can affect ball pythons eating. They are horribly picky eaters. As far as her starting off on the wrong end, it happens, doesn't really mean anything is wrong with your snake. My anaconda did it a few times, and I kind of re-directed her to the head, though I wouldn't recommend doing that because you may get bit. I would attempt to get a rat fuzzy(if that's what shes been eating).

[Elise.m]

I've seen many posts on here saying how their snake keeps trying to eat the prey from the rear. They eventually figure it out, and start from the head. I'd leave it in longer than 1 hour personally, just in case she decides to give it another go.

[twistedtails]

If a meal is small enough a snake will eat it any way they can. I had a snake eat one backwads the other day(completely swollowed it). I think your snake is just getting discouraged. You might just be feeding something way too big?

[Neal]

If a meal is small enough a snake will eat it any way they can. I had a snake eat one backwads the other day(completely swollowed it). I think your snake is just getting discouraged. You might just be feeding something way too big?

Even with his girl being an 09, she should be able to eat a mouse.

[ethansmom]

Funny. I have a 09 female myself and for the first time yesterday I gave her an adult mouse. Until now she has been on hoppers, she is still quite young. So I hold it in front of her, it is f/t, and she takes it right away. I check a few minutes later and it was like she was not sure what to do with it. She was looking all around and I thought she was going to slither away. So I left and went back in another 10 minutes and she finally had it by the head and was eating. I thought it might have been too big and I was freaking out thinking I was going to hurt her. It was pretty much the same size as the biggest part of her body, but compared to her head it looked huge.
Maybe it was too big?? I have never fed rats so possibly just the change made her react that way. I hope you have luck soon.

[Freddiesinmyseat]

I've had that happen with freddie. she's a little...slow...when it comes to the whole eating instinct thing. when she loses interest, I just grab the dead mouse and kind of wiggle the head in front of her face and she just starts swallowing it from there, no coiling, just starts downing it.

it helps if you get a pair of angled tongs or something to grab the mouse with so your body heat doesn't show too much behind the mouse. I've had to hide my hand behind the bin while jiggling the mouse with the cold metal tongs several times because she was too intimidated or something lol.

good luck!

[casper]

My BP has been feeding on adult sized mice for the last month or so. He is around 4 to 6 months old. His last feeding the pet store was out of adult sized mice so I got a medium sized mouse and a hopper. I fed him the hopper first and then the medium sized mouse. After his meal he had that look and was like where is the main course. My BP is a pig.

[MikesBalls]

Thanks everyone for your help. She finally ate (rear end first of course) but none the less she ate. You guys are great!