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  1. #1
    Registered User MontyP2016's Avatar
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    Can my baby bp eat live mice?

    I recently got a young ball python for my birthday. I've had many snakes growing up and two other pythons some years ago just for a couple months but this python I got from the pet store is less than 6 months old and has only ever eaten Frozen pinkies. He is not much smaller than my past pythons who ate live mice but since he has never eaten live before I have been trying to do as much research as possible so that I don't feed him something too big that's going to kill him. I have a very small female Mouse that I want to feed him tonight, any suggestions? Also, if I put the mouse in his cage and he doesn't eat it within a certain amount of time, should I take it out?

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    BPnet Veteran Dezoruba's Avatar
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    Re: Can my baby bp eat live mice?

    If he's taking frozen thawed, don't start him on live. It's much more dangerous and expensive to feed live, and once they start eating them it's very difficult to switch them back to frozen.

    If you decide to do it anyways, DO NOT LEAVE THE MOUSE IN WITH HIM. If it doesn't get eaten within 5-10 minutes then he's not going to eat it and you need to take it out. Make sure you watch the mouse the entire time. A live rodent can KILL your BP if you leave it unattended.

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  4. #3
    BPnet Senior Member cchardwick's Avatar
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    When I feed live mice I usually watch very carefully and if he doesn't get it on the first strike the mouse usually figures out the snake is trying to eat him and will bite the snake soon afterwards or totally avoid the snake. Usually if they miss on the first strike I'll take the mouse out, gas him with CO2, then feed fresh killed. They usually always take it since they get fired up from seeing it live. And if they get it on the first strike I usually watch to make sure the mouse isn't biting the snake too bad, some times the snake won't get a good hold and the mouse can do some serious damage. It's better to watch the whole time. A mouse can take out a snakes eye, that's the worst. Better to feed a live rat pup with the eyes still closed, or a small mouse compared to the snake, one he can easily overpower.

    Some of my snakes will only take live, I'm slowly moving them over to fresh killed but it's taking awhile. I'd say you can try feeding live but be sure to supervise. I usually have a stick handy just in case you see the mouse biting the snake you can guide his mouth away from the snake until the snake does his thing. Right now I've decided not to ever feed a live mouse if I can help it, not worth the damage to the snake. I do all fresh killed and they if they don't take it I'll go to a rat pup with eyes closed. A rat will get as big as a jumbo mouse before it opens it's eyes, that's the best way to do it. But always try frozen thawed or fresh killed first, it's safer for the snake. Also, if you do a fresh killed and the snake doesn't eat it you can always freeze the mouse and try again with a frozen thawed. That's the way I like to do it, you don't have to throw out a frozen thawed mouse if the snake won't eat it the first time.

    By the way, I've also tried live pinky mice and pinky African Soft fur rats that are smaller than a ball pythons head. They totally ignore them, seems like it has to be a bigger size meal for them to even consider it.

    I do feed a lot of live to my small king snakes but they are all pinkies with eyes closed, no danger at all to the snakes.
    Last edited by cchardwick; 07-24-2016 at 11:14 PM.


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  6. #4
    Registered User MontyP2016's Avatar
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    Re: Can my baby bp eat live mice?

    I didn't see these comments til this morning, still trying to figure this thing out. He didn't like the mouse AT ALL so I took him out. I had 2 balls in the past, both ate mice but I then switched the bigger one to rats. I know most people like frozen or fresh killed but I like the whole natural process of nature-predator&prey. Thank you guys!

  7. #5
    Registered User Enirei's Avatar
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    Got a baby BP (about 2 months), that eats live mouse hoppers though I'm hoping to switch him to frozen soon. Though if they're already on frozen I say stick to it and just move up to hopper size or larger (not sure how big your baby is). One less live mouse you have to keep track of.

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    Re: Can my baby bp eat live mice?

    If he is eating f/t just keep him on that. It's cheaper and safer. Most of mine are on f/t, only a couple will only eat live.
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  9. #7
    BPnet Veteran LittleTreeGuy's Avatar
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    Re: Can my baby bp eat live mice?

    Quote Originally Posted by MontyP2016 View Post
    I know most people like frozen or fresh killed but I like the whole natural process of nature-predator&prey.
    This is my OPINION....

    Live prey is how these animals survive in the real world, because they have no other option. Yes, these snakes are killing machines and have no problem with that. On the other hand, why subject them to a possible bite, scratch, loss of eye, etc... if you don't have to. I'm sure there could be a 1000 page argument on what is best, but unless you have a good reason to feed live, I wouldn't. If you just like to watch a snake kill something, you may have a snake for the wrong reason.

    So, what is a good reason to feed live? Only a few that I can think of...
    1. Your snake is in the less than 1% that will only eat live. (Yes, I think it's really that low).
    2. You're a breeder or keeper with a LOT of snakes to feed, and you just can't realistically thaw that much prey. I've seen keepers with 30 snakes still feed F/T.


    Ultimately, you're going to do what you want, and nobody here can change that. I just hope that for your safety and that of your snake, you're cautious of the risks involved.
    Last edited by LittleTreeGuy; 07-27-2016 at 01:36 PM. Reason: typo
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  11. #8
    Registered User Enirei's Avatar
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    Just FYI, in some places around the world it has been deemed illegal to fed live rodents to pets. It is considered it a cruelty to animals crime (in this case the rodents). They do make exceptions for when it's proven that a specific animal will not take already dead food.

    Since you've been doing it for a while with your other snakes I'm assuming you don't live in one of those places or else wherever you got your feeders from would've mentioned it.

  12. #9
    Registered User LanceM's Avatar
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    Re: Can my baby bp eat live mice?

    Quote Originally Posted by MontyP2016 View Post
    I recently got a young ball python for my birthday. I've had many snakes growing up and two other pythons some years ago just for a couple months but this python I got from the pet store is less than 6 months old and has only ever eaten Frozen pinkies. He is not much smaller than my past pythons who ate live mice but since he has never eaten live before I have been trying to do as much research as possible so that I don't feed him something too big that's going to kill him. I have a very small female Mouse that I want to feed him tonight, any suggestions? Also, if I put the mouse in his cage and he doesn't eat it within a certain amount of time, should I take it out?
    I fed my baby BP live weaned rats and is aliittle over two months old takes less than ten seconds for it to strike at it eating live is in their nature and if you can find a local rodent breeder it's cheaper than feeding frozen/thawed.
    Last edited by LanceM; 07-27-2016 at 06:51 PM.

  13. #10
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    I'm suprised to see so many people saying that frozen/thawed is cheaper than live feeders! I wish my city had your prices!
    When I first got my little normal girl, she did fine on F/T. However, my two butters I order from XYZ Reptiles have only ever been fed live, and so when I offered f/t, they weren't having it. Eventually I had to pick up a couple of live hoppers.
    That being said, my husband and I are now beginning our own colony of mice (and will progress to rats when the time comes), and both of our female mice are pregnant. The initial investment wasn't bad at all, and now we'll be in total control of production and animal quality.
    We've also moved our f/t girl to live and she loves it.
    For us, live feeding is going to be cheaper by far than buying a pack of f/t feeders from our petstore, or even ordering online, since you usually have to order by the 50 or 100 pack from what I've seen.
    Interesting...

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