Long Time Feeding?

[EMSPrincess]

I was curious if it was okay to try and feed a bp for 10 minutes or more. When we got ours the owner hadn't been able to get him to feed for a month and a half, and the night we brought him home we were able to get him to eat - but we had to try for almost 25 minutes. I think the guy before us had just been throwing in mice and waking up the next morning to see if they were gone. But I've had to feed my bp for really long periods of time and I didn't know if that would affect their inclination to strike, their inclination to eat (knowing that the food will be there no matter how long they wait it out), or anything else that would be bad to make a habit of attempting to feed for such long periods. Thanks in advance!

[alejandrosantana0420]

First, you need to know that ball pythons are opportunist feeders. This means that they WILL eat food whenever they can get it, because in the wild they would not find prey that often. They don't know how to regulate their food intake sometimes. They will just keep eating, and you as their owner have to only supply them with food when they absolutely need to eat.

You need to be sure the prey size is correct. At a year old, this snake should be onto medium rats, not mice. Even a hatchling ball python can eat small feeder mice. Switch to rats, and be sure the prey is the same size, or 1.5 times bigger than the THICKEST part of the snake's body. It should leave a noticeable bump in the snake's belly, and should take about 10 minutes for her to eat it.

Feeding more than once every 7-10 days is not recommended unless the snake is severely under-fed or underweight. This is called power feeding and will lead to a ton of problems down the road. Over-feeding wears out the kidneys and other organs and hugely decreases the lifespan of the snake

[JoshSloane]

First, you need to know that ball pythons are opportunist feeders. This means that they WILL eat food whenever they can get it, because in the wild they would not find prey that often. They don't know how to regulate their food intake sometimes. They will just keep eating, and you as their owner have to only supply them with food when they absolutely need to eat.

You need to be sure the prey size is correct. At a year old, this snake should be onto medium rats, not mice. Even a hatchling ball python can eat small feeder mice. Switch to rats, and be sure the prey is the same size, or 1.5 times bigger than the THICKEST part of the snake's body. It should leave a noticeable bump in the snake's belly, and should take about 10 minutes for her to eat it.

Feeding more than once every 7-10 days is not recommended unless the snake is severely under-fed or underweight. This is called power feeding and will lead to a ton of problems down the road. Over-feeding wears out the kidneys and other organs and hugely decreases the lifespan of the snake

Although correct info, this isn't what the OP was asking. In response to your question, yes it is OK/common to have to coerce a bp to eat. Some people do the "zombie dance" as discussed in a different thread. Ive had all ranges of appetites in snakes, some who I can barely get the tub open before they are coiling the rat, and others with a seemingly more discerning palate who inspect the rat forever before striking. I also have some boas who just lazily find the rat and eat it without coiling. BPs are super idiosyncratic, and what works for some probably wont work for others. If you find a method that works for you, stick with it. The only thing I would refrain from doing is pushing a rat in their face for an extended amount of time if it seems to stress them out. If they are interested in the rat, and aren't retreating you should be fine. You want to avoid spooking the snake or trying to press the issue too hard. The fact is that the snake knows the rat is there likely the instant you enter the room with it. Their physiology allows them to detect the scent of the feeder much sooner than you think. Point is: If you find a tactic that allows your bp to eat on schedule, just do it.

[EMSPrincess]

I do feed him rats! I get the medium size, we don't know how old he is but he is full grown. We feed him one medium every two weeks. It was the past owner that fed mice:/ Alright, so other than being annoying it's a-ok to let him take forever to eat? It seemed to me he was getting lazier and lazier with eating, wasn't sure if that was the reason