Babe's first meal

[monks98]

We have 4 wee snakes and they have yet to take food. They had healthy hatching experiences, have shed once, ample fresh water, live in a rack and the room is temp and humidity controlled as well as thermostat controlled tape in the rack. They just hit a month old. Food has been offered twice but other than to strike all pissed off they have zero interest.

How old were your baby snakes when they first took? What was your method?? What did you offer?

*note* live is NOT an option. Live rats are illegal where I live so starting them on F/T from birth is best.

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[PythonBabes]

So I guess if you have a baby who refuses f/t, which is extremely common, it would just starve ??

Many babies will ONLY take live as their first meal, and from then on can be gradually switched over to f/t.

Those babies want live food, that's is why there is no interest. A ball python will starve itself and it is your responsibility as the owner to provide it whatever it needs to thrive.

[Zincubus]

We have 4 wee snakes and they have yet to take food. They had healthy hatching experiences, have shed once, ample fresh water, live in a rack and the room is temp and humidity controlled as well as thermostat controlled tape in the rack. They just hit a month old. Food has been offered twice but other than to strike all pissed off they have zero interest.

How old were your baby snakes when they first took? What was your method?? What did you offer?

*note* live is NOT an option. Live rats are illegal where I live so starting them on F/T from birth is best.

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Hi ..

For some Royals / Ball pythons the mouse HAS to be warm !


Simply excuse the next bit of copy and paste if you have tried offering them WARM mice.

This method WORKS if done properly ...
I wait until evening as they're nocturnal of course . I let the rodent thaw out in the reptile room so they get the smell ..
Then I warm up the mouse / rat with a hairdryer and offer with tongs IMMEDIATELY whilst still warm . If refused simply repeat the heating and offering as many times as needed. .
A couple of mine will only strike feed from within their hides so I dangle the warm rodent in front of the hide's entrance - usually works but if it fails simply reheat the rodent with a hairdryer and immediately offer again whilst it's still warm continue until it's grabbed ...




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[hollowlaughter]

There's also braining/splitting the FT rodent, BPs and other snakes go for the blood/brain matter smell.

[cchardwick]

Are these ball pythons we are talking about? You didn't mention it in the post. Some snakes will only take fish or lizards for their first meal. If these are ball pythons you can try mice or rats, I'd try medium sized mice, all my snakes prefer mice over rats when they get picky. If the snakes are striking out of anger you may be pushing them too hard, personally I'd offer rodents every 2-3 days and just for 30 seconds or so. Don't chase the snake around with the rodent or they can get scared / defensive of it. I'll usually just hang it by the tail about an inch from their nose for about 20 - 30 seconds and then give up, usually no longer than a minute or so.

So it's illegal to have live rats? Where do you live? I couldn't imagine not having my breeder rat colony. I've found the easiest thing for picky ball python baby snakes is to put a rat pup in with them overnight, they almost always will eat live rat pups. And it would be really easy to feed dozens of hatchlings that way.

[monks98]

We have 4 wee snakes and they have yet to take food. They had healthy hatching experiences, have shed once, ample fresh water, live in a rack and the room is temp and humidity controlled as well as thermostat controlled tape in the rack. They just hit a month old. Food has been offered twice but other than to strike all pissed off they have zero interest.

How old were your baby snakes when they first took? What was your method?? What did you offer?

*note* live is NOT an option. Live rats are illegal where I live so starting them on F/T from birth is best.

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Yes honestly. Where I live there are many many many ball python breeders and the babies don't starve because they don't offer live. It is ZERO percent a need or die.

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[monks98]

We own 18 other BPs. So how to feed isn't an issue it's just getting them to grab that first meal that I was hoping for tricks for

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[monks98]

Are these ball pythons we are talking about? You didn't mention it in the post. Some snakes will only take fish or lizards for their first meal. If these are ball pythons you can try mice or rats, I'd try medium sized mice, all my snakes prefer mice over rats when they get picky. If the snakes are striking out of anger you may be pushing them too hard, personally I'd offer rodents every 2-3 days and just for 30 seconds or so. Don't chase the snake around with the rodent or they can get scared / defensive of it. I'll usually just hang it by the tail about an inch from their nose for about 20 - 30 seconds and then give up, usually no longer than a minute or so.

So it's illegal to have live rats? Where do you live? I couldn't imagine not having my breeder rat colony. I've found the easiest thing for picky ball python baby snakes is to put a rat pup in with them overnight, they almost always will eat live rat pups. And it would be really easy to feed dozens of hatchlings that way.

They strike anything...I guess fear was a more appropriate word then anger. I clean tubs and they strike at the front of thier tub if they can see me. They strike when water is filled, paper is changed. We have a friend who breeds 500 to 800 clutches a year and he said it's totally normal. We plan to ask him for tips too when we pick up our next feed order (he also supplies us with dead rats) but figured I would ask on here first We don't chase them or over offer. Luckily we have enough BP experiemce in general to know they are like spiteful toddlers when it comes to food haha.

Yea if you get caught with a live rat where I live it's a $500 fee PER rat. Also roaches. I own tarantulas and getting caught with a live roach is the same fine. I have 18 BPs. So if none of them ate F/T and I thought it was smart to sneak that's $500 X 18 = $9500 in fines! If you can find a live wild rat within the province borders they pay you $50 for it Haha. We DO have them but they are few and well hidden. Im 31 and have never seen a live rat in my life!

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[Kcl]

If it's Alberta or has similar laws, aren't mice legal?

[monks98]

If it's Alberta or has similar laws, aren't mice legal?

Yes but starting live just makes a head ache later on. As well live mice are quite expensive. Each meal would be about $15 to $20. So each week eating means about $75 to $100 a month. Plus live feeding and ASF feeding sell for a considerable amount less and are harder to sell. I know starting them on F/T is possible. But it may just be perseverance is the trick and there are no nifty helpers

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