Feeding Question

[AK907]

Have YOU tried F/T?

Oh absolutely, but our results with balls have been mixed. Some will, some 100% will not regardless of husbandry. We have been breeding our own feeders for the past couple years though, so live is more convenient for us. I couldn't imagine trying to feed 30 odd balls f/t every week just to have half of them turn their noses up at it. If one refuses a live rat, well he just gets tossed back in his tub for next week. No harm, no foul, no waste.

With that, we feed our corns f/t and they are consistent eaters, but you can't really compare the feeding response of most corns to most balls. You could put a piece of cold mouse scented tofu in their tubs and they would eat it!

[Jeo123]

My 2 year old female currently refuses to eat anything other than gerbils. I gave her one at the suggestion of a pet store employee to break a 6 month hunger strike and now I can't get her to eat anything else(live or FT) and I've tried just about everything imaginable(only thing left besides force feeding directly is attempting to follow up a gerbil with a rat).

Scenting tricks don't work, and I've been holding back on giving her a gerbil for about a month now(continuing to offer live mice since I had more luck with mice than rats in the past).

So given that I can't even get my girl to take live or FT mice/rats, I can easily see where some snakes will never go to FT, especially once they've had live. Sometimes it seems they get a taste of something better and they'll never go back.

[satomi325]

I feel like the debate is going no where. I'm pretty sure I've had the same one w/ you before on a different thread MrLang.
The argument sounds fairly familiar.



I've said my thoughts. You've said yours. And I don't think either of us will budge from our opinions.
I'll still feed my snakes live because I truly believe the majority of them won't switch to f/t. I already have some picky eaters that barely take live half the time. I'm lucky those individuals even eat.

If f/t works for you. Great. Live works for me. That's great too.


Random note:
Its funny because I have a single ferret who will not eat f/t prey only fresh(pre-killed/live). My other two will eat any sort of prey (frozen, pre-killed, live, whatever), but the odd one just doesn't want anything to do w/ frozen. Maybe frozen smells funky to her? Or perhaps the texture is different? I really don't know. This has nothing to do w/ snakes, but thought it was interesting to add anyway.

[Kaorte]

I think it is a little silly to compare any wild feeding habits of ball pythons with captive feeding habits. I also think you can't compare McDonalds and Vegetables to Live and F/T.

We keep ball pythons in a very controlled environment. An environment to maximize their health and lifespan. This environment is nothing like their wild environment. Throw any captive ball python in the wild and I would expect it to not live very long. Even with its natural instinct, it has no idea how to live in an environment outside the captive one.

A wild ball python might take up to 5 years to reach adulthood, but this is because of all the natural factors that come into play regarding its eating and drinking habits, shelter, and the elements/other animals. Since these factors are not present in a captive environment, you can't say that feeding "the biggest" prey item once a week to reach adulthood at a year and a half old is "unhealthy" or negative in any way. We are simply providing them with all the necessary components to live a long and healthy life free from harm.

Do I think any ball python can be switched to F/T? No. The only reason why I think that is because each snake is completely different. You just can't make a blanket statement like that.

[MrLang]

You just can't make a blanket statement like that.

Most compelling argument yet. At the end of the day I'm not totally hard set in my beliefs, I just don't have a problem playing devil's advocate on this because I think people far too often give up too quickly or advise new keepers to try live too quickly, before other avenues are explored. My only point about wild snakes is that letting the snake miss a COUPLE of feedings in attempts to get it to switch is not going to end its life.

My vegetable and McDonald's analogy only served to suggest a bit more vigilance from people to switch and I like it because certainly I would not compromise the health of my child in that process. I'm sticking with it.

[Kaorte]

Most compelling argument yet. At the end of the day I'm not totally hard set in my beliefs, I just don't have a problem playing devil's advocate on this because I think people far too often give up too quickly or advise new keepers to try live too quickly, before other avenues are explored. My only point about wild snakes is that letting the snake miss a COUPLE of feedings in attempts to get it to switch is not going to end its life.

My vegetable and McDonald's analogy only served to suggest a bit more vigilance from people to switch and I like it because certainly I would not compromise the health of my child in that process. I'm sticking with it.

For inexperienced keepers, sometimes jumping to live is just easier for them. Sure we could sit and explain various methods for enticing a BP to eat, but none of the methods are guaranteed and it might take weeks to see results. Inexperienced keepers are often overly worried about their snakes not eating so getting them to eat ASAP is a priority for them. If it means feeding live at the next feeding, then so be it.

It all just comes down to preference. Neither answer is right or wrong. Do what works for you and keeps your animals healthy!

[rabernet]

I have heard of the ferret thing. The difference here I would say is that the food item is the same -> if they imprint on a rat they're still getting a rat.

AK - I hear people say that in these threads. I haven't seen a single person confirm your claim (beyond very small hatchling snakes). The closest I've heard is what Slim just described which, while inhumane from a domestic pet standpoint, is sustaining the snake's life. My pewter was 150g and a year old when I bought it and it has no permanent effects and is now gaining weight rapidly.

They have the know-how to sustain life. They have genetics telling them to eat food BY OPPORTUNISTIC MEANS that is millions and millions of years old. They eat dead things in the wild if they need to. In captivity, we simply measure NEED differently. I don't disagree with that notion.

If I ever get a multiple refusal snake I will most definitely feed it live. Here's the thing, though. My 4 snakes are all on F/T now and haven't skipped a meal. If at some point they choose to do that, I'm going to wait until they take F/T again to feed them. Why? They know it's food and they know what to do. They're not THAT stupid.

I've never seen this documented. Not saying that it's not true - I've just never personally seen any credible writings about that. Can you point me in the right direction?