Husbandry help

[chrid16371]

I have tried live after he refused the first 2 times. He didn't eat it. I don't want to try live again. I have a friend that bought a ball that was eating f/t and he switched to live and I asked why and he said bc his bp liked them better. I told him its not about what he likes and that he could get seriously hurt. Well his beautiful ivory now has scars and is fasting. My friend now says he wishes he would of never switched him back to live.
I have tried prekilled also. He has only ate f/t for me so that's all I'm going to offer. Since he is eating every 2 weeks it seems I'm not ready to try mice yet. What is assist feeding? I've heard of it but never read up on it. I don't think I'm at that point either though but would like to know if it ever comes down to that. Would trying smaller prey like rat pups or weaned rats be worth trying? I've been feeding small rats.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Bottom line anyone not willing to do what it takes to get their animal to eat (when passed a certain point) whether it mice or live should not own a snake or at least not a BP.

I have fed well over 20000 live preys never had an issue.

It's about being knowledgeable and responsible.

If you are not willing to try it's fine it's YOUR snake, and if it does not want to eat than let it be, it will either resume one day or starve itself.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[chrid16371]

I guess I should of added that I don't ever want to feed live again but I will if I need to. That would not be my first choice though. I've tried braining and get a better response but still no strike. Eating once every 2 weeks isn't perfect but at least its something. I will do whatever I need to do to make sure he is happy and healthy, just like all my pets, even feeding live or mice but like I said I don't think he's at that point of needing that yet. He has lost no weight and gained a little but not much. I just weighed him today and he's 15 grams heavier than when I first got him. Is that a lot? No but its better then -15 grams.

[ReptiMoto]

Feeding live is NOT ALWAYS a step back. My bp would feed f/t one week then refuse 3 weeks f/t then eat again. So I fed him live for a month. It was in my case a step foreword because it got my bp's aggression for food higher. From there I pre killed mice for about a 2 months then finally got him to switch to f/t. It's not fun to feed live, and it's not fun to kill a mouse or rat with a knife and crack it's neck. But you gotta do what ya gotta do.

[Scottywelsh]

Bottom line anyone not willing to do what it takes to get their animal to eat (when passed a certain point) whether it mice or live should not own a snake or at least not a bp

I think live is more dangerous than assist so that's me doing exactly what you just said. What it takes !! .

As for your 20000 live feeds. As always it works for some not for others. Iv known bps injured and killed and known people to never have a problem.

[Scottywelsh]

If you are not willing to try it's fine it's YOUR snake, and if it does not want to eat than let it be, it will either resume one day or starve itself.

And please don't suggest I don't care for my snakes and would let them starve !!! . That is not at all what I have said and have not given that impression at all ! Quite the opposite infact !


But anyway . . .
Maybe your snake just prefers to eat every other week.
Maybe try him every 10 or 12 days instead of every week
Try and find his sweet spot where he will take every meal.

Sorry to kind of hijack your post there for a bit with opinions being thrown left right and center but I suppose that is a good thing to get everyone's different opinion and see what works for you and your bp

Good Luck.8

[chrid16371]

He just ate! I took the advice of putting cardboard on one side of the front glass and trying during daylight hours. I shut off his light so it wasn't as bright and pointed my electric heater toward the open side of his cage while I heated the rats head. He didn't come out but as soon as I put the head of the rat inside his hide he struck it. I'll try next feeding the same way. I still think its weird he refused anytime I tried black rats. Every time he has ate has been white rats. Including today. I'll just keep trying white rats and if he keeps eating them then great. He has never refused a white rat.

[ReptiMoto]

Congrats! I still remember the feeling getting my ball python to eat the first time. Hopefully it's not a weekly struggle to get him to eat. Good luck

[chrid16371]

Congrats! I still remember the feeling getting my ball python to eat the first time. Hopefully it's not a weekly struggle to get him to eat. Good luck

Well its not his first time but every feeding is a guessing game of if he's going to take it so I always get excited when he does. I always think he's going to refuse but when he strikes its totally unexpected.

My killer bee also had no problems eating her large mouse. The pet store I bought her from was feeding her small which was 2 sizes to small for her so I bought large and this is her second feeding with me and she took it no problem. It took her a little longer to get it down but that's expected from such a change in prey size. Afterwards she was slithering around with the tip of the mouse tail hanging out of the corner of her mouth, it was almost like she didn't even know it wasn't all the way down yet.

[chrid16371]

I also took the advice of having the same hot/cold hides and ordered 2 small reptile basics hides for me killerbee and 2 medium for my super pastel. Hopefully they are the right size. For the price you can't beat them.