Switched to F/T -- Too Large?!?! - Some Concerns - Please Advise

[Crazy4Herps]

I thought i was going to have to leave it over night this second time, but i came back like 15 minutes later and she already was getting it down. My BP doesn't seem to be too shy in front of me because it keeps biting and attempting it, so I guess it just needs some time to get going and find the head.

HaHa I guess you may be right about the hemostats. I don't know why, but I kind of have it in my mind it has something to do with how I am offering it, since mostly everyone from what I read or see in feeding videos they are offering it with hemostats or tongs and the snake strikes the head and coils up, which is what I want. At least that would be a little exciting and more natural for the snake.

I loved watching him strike and coil a live mouse, and hear the streak the mouse gives when the snake strikes hard.

If I would be able offer with hemostats and actually get the snake to strike, and not just calmly and gently bite it rat, then maybe he would get the head and coil up. Thats why I thought I might need them.

Plus the first time I was offering the f/t rat with the 10" tongs I have, the snake would come up and smell the head, then move up to the body then up towards the tail, coming up pretty high in the 10 gal. tank I have the snake in in, and I was thinking that since the tongs aren't that long maybe the snake was picking up the heat or some sort of scent from my hand. maybe an 18" hemostat would solve that, or maybe he just wanted to get out of the cage and get some exercise lol.

You can certainly try hemostats if you want, but there's nothing wrong with how he's eating now. They're all different, and it sounds like that's just how he likes to take f/t. I have found that heating up the head to be a few degrees warmer than the rest of the body can help the where-to-begin-eating confusion.

As I said, you're welcome to try whatever you want, but in my experience when ball pythons act interested in food but don't strike, they're only humoring you and have no intentions of actually eating it.