Previously a live feeder or just a picky eater?

[Jamiesniper]

Hi all,

A bit of the back story on this girl,

Back in March 2015 I bought a 500g female from Hamm reptile show in Germany, I was told that she took frozen,

I got her home, let her settle in for 10 days then offered her food, straight up refused and started hissing so I figured she was still settling in, 14 days later I offered again, same reaction. I started offering her food every 14 days and 4 months later she finally took a defrosted rodent, 7 days later she started refusing and didn't eat until 3 weeks later.

During this time she wasn't handled apart from when I was spot cleaning and deep cleaning her tub. Temps were all ok and she was gaining weight, shed and was doing all she should,

From the time I got her until now, I've managed to get her to eat 8-10 suitably sized rodents and she has gained weight and has kept weight on.

Do you think she was a live feeder previously and I've just been lucky for her to take a few frozen?

I'm not new to keeping bp's but this is the first time I've encountered such an awkward feeder

Thanks for reading!

[Jamiesniper]

I forgot to add, in the time I've had her I've tried offering rats, mice, asf's, chicks, gerbils. Also tried, smaller tubs, bigger tubs and also different substrates but with no luck


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[Bigfish1975]

Sounds like you got one of those headache BPs that people sometimes talk about. I've really only had a couple of mine do these extended strikes. One of my big pieds went 9 months with out eating. Mind you she was 3600 grams at that time so I wasn't to worried. She finally ate and now crushes everything in sight. I feed all live rats and have never changed. I'd say you're definitely doing your part. You may just have one of those picky ones.

[piedlover79]

Sometimes I think with ball pythons they just change their mind whenever they feel like it. I have a male that was previously a great feeder on f/t rats...now it seems he will *only* take live mice (took him losing more weight than I was comfortable with to try that). I have periodically tried him again on f/t (rats and mice) no go, I have even trialed live mice sized rats...nope. He's seven years old and suddenly a live mouser. WTF? My hope is that he will go back to the f/t rats (last time I tried a f/t mouse he did bump it with his nose a few times).

[Jamiesniper]

Sounds like you got one of those headache BPs that people sometimes talk about. I've really only had a couple of mine do these extended strikes. One of my big pieds went 9 months with out eating. Mind you she was 3600 grams at that time so I wasn't to worried. She finally ate and now crushes everything in sight. I feed all live rats and have never changed. I'd say you're definitely doing your part. You may just have one of those picky ones.

She's been a headache to say the least haha! Cause she's not losing weight, apart from when she passes urates, so I'm not too worried.

Finding live rats here in Ireland is a nightmare cause of the 'is it legal/illegal' issue but I've got a friend that's started breeding his own feeders, do you think I should try her on live or just keep trying to persevere with frozen?

[Jamiesniper]

Sometimes I think with ball pythons they just change their mind whenever they feel like it. I have a male that was previously a great feeder on f/t rats...now it seems he will *only* take live mice (took him losing more weight than I was comfortable with to try that). I have periodically tried him again on f/t (rats and mice) no go, I have even trialed live mice sized rats...nope. He's seven years old and suddenly a live mouser. WTF? My hope is that he will go back to the f/t rats (last time I tried a f/t mouse he did bump it with his nose a few times).

When she decides to eat, she smashes it! I've tried every trick in the book and every prey item I can get my hands on apart from live :/


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[Bigfish1975]

I'd say that being as consistent as possible would be the best bet. My girl never lost weight either and she had plenty to hold her over. So I stuck to my guns and figured she'd eat when she got hungry. Luckily I have a big enough collection that the rats didn't go to waste. The idea of thawing, refreezing and thawing didn't sound like a good idea to me. However, if she starts losing like Piedlover79 had happen then try switching it up a bit.So long story short, I'd stick with what she ate "The best" for you.

[piedlover79]

Unless your snake loses a bit of weight I'd stick to the f/t and just catch as catch can when it comes to food. Once they are on live it's so hard to get them to go back again and I wouldn't have even tried it if he hadn't started sliding backwards on the scale.

[Jamiesniper]

I'd say that being as consistent as possible would be the best bet. My girl never lost weight either and she had plenty to hold her over. So I stuck to my guns and figured she'd eat when she got hungry. Luckily I have a big enough collection that the rats didn't go to waste. The idea of thawing, refreezing and thawing didn't sound like a good idea to me. However, if she starts losing like Piedlover79 had happen then try switching it up a bit.So long story short, I'd stick with what she ate "The best" for you.

She is just getting offered rats before I feed the rest of my collection so I never actually defrost anything for her, I don't like the sound of refreezing food either, I wouldn't do it to my own food so I don't do it to theirs haha

She's now at just shy of 1200g so she has some weight to her and looks quite plump.

The best she ate usually took some persuasion but eventually struck and coiled. I'm glad that I now have access to live feeders if I need them, if I knew that she was a live feeder, she'd get live, I've no issues with feeding her live if that's what she wanted


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[Jamiesniper]

Unless your snake loses a bit of weight I'd stick to the f/t and just catch as catch can when it comes to food. Once they are on live it's so hard to get them to go back again and I wouldn't have even tried it if he hadn't started sliding backwards on the scale.

That's why I'm thinking she was a live feeder previously, if I knew that she was, she'd get live now that I have access to them


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