Hello Everybody!


So I have had my first ball python, Caesar, for a week now. Everything has gone super well. It's been extremely difficult not to bug him, but I took everybody's advice and have left him be to settle in and not be so stressed. Here is the link to our first post from last week when I introduced the both of us. It has some of my thoughts and concerns (which for the most part have been resolved. Thanks!).

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?175841-Ball-Python-Newbie-Cincinnati-OH

He seems to be doing very well. He is hidden during the day (darn snake lol), and explores at night. He loves his hides as well! Since it has been a week, I decided to try and feed him. Originally, I was concerned because the breeder I got him from fed live food and I like to feed F/T. I had read stories where some balls will only eat live, and other stories where people had success switching over to F/T. I figured I would give it a shot! So I thawed out a mouse fuzzy. I know this is probably too little, but this is what I had today. I figured it would be okay though because I have heard from others that sometimes a picky eater will eat a smaller prey rather than a large. So I dangled the mouse in front of the hide and nothing happened. So I left the mouse at the entrance to his hide. Nothing happened for about 10 minutes. So I went to go get a heat lamp to warm it up a little more thinking it might not be warm enough. I came back and the mouse was gone. He then gave a big yawn . So his first feeding with me was a success. I am very relieved .

I plan on buying a digital scale soon because I am not sure how much he weighs, but I would like to keep track. I also know that the appropriate size food is generally 10%-15% the weight of the snake. I also plan on switching over to rats (most likely pups?..) because I have heard they are more nutritional.

I still have a question about feeding from my first post though. It was mentioned that F/T can be dangerous. I got online and tried looking it up and had no luck. The only thing I found is that the prey could end up being "cooked" if thawed improperly, and that the snake wouldn't be able to digest it. Is this maybe what was being referred to or are there other dangers that I should be aware of with F/T?

Thanks for all of the advice! Everyone on here has been great!