Ate on his own for the first time, but a huge meal..

[CoolioTiffany]

Why do you move him from his hide before feeding him? Seems like that could be what was causing him not to eat on his own.

I've always moved my snakes out of their hides because they will sometimes have their heads underneath their bodies when they sleep, and when I have the rodent near them they don't wanna come out to get it.. though that's never the case with my largest Ball LOL.

How big is your spider? Ball pythons can take bigger meals than you might expect!

My spider is very little, only a couple months old or so. He's around 70-80g, so he's a pretty small guy. I still can't really believe a little guy for his size took down a rat pup LOL.. snakes amaze me too much.

assisted feeding should be put off till you see a weight loss b4 you try it, causes alot of stress on them trying it the 1st 2 weeks you had him was a little quick.

My Spider seems too little to be refusing food, and for his size I definitely do not want him losing weight. He's going to be my breeder next year for my first breeding season so I need these meals in him.

He did take the rodent the first two times which I'm glad about. When I put the first one in his mouth he just sat there, then a minute later he began to swallow it (I left the room so he would feel comfortable enough to swallow it without me being there). The second time I assisted I put it in his mouth and after maybe 3-5 seconds he realized it was the rodent and once I let go he wrapped around it.