I force fed my friends BP in order to save him! He is a month old BP who hasn't eaten once! He was bought under "no gaurantee," which the store owner tells me means that there is a fifty/fifty chance that the BP would not eat! Sure enough a month later I could barely recognize the beautiful snake I had seen before. He wouldn't take dead or live mice and he wouldn't take a mouse that had been mingling around in a tank full of gerbils for the better part of a day! I decided to force feed him cause he had lost weight, the skin was loose and back bone sticking out! I must say that the experience was not all that bad as it is made out to be. I held him behind his head gently but firmly, his body wrapped around my forearm and tail tucked in my arm pit. I took a prekilled mouse(the smallest that could be found)and gently coaxed open his mouth. When open all the way and teeth exposed, I introduced the head into the throat. When his teeth clamped down, I unwound him and wrapped him around the mouse! He took it down with no problems! This was the first time I've attempted a force feed and would never ever do it unless it was absolutely necessary! I have read about it and I've also seen it being done, and I'm glad that it went without much stress for either of us