My ball python is about 180-200mg and has been eating live young rats every week consistently for the 6 weeks I've had him. This week I got a rat hopper and didn't notice it was a little bigger than usual but didn't look too big for my ball python.
I live feed inside of the enclosure and my enclosure has two hides, a hallowed log underpass, and fake vines. I scent the room first and then let the rat out in the cage.
Usually the feeds go quickly. Unsuspecting rat sniffs around, meanders into the python's area, gets taken out. For this one, which I tried last night, my python struck but missed. The rat now knows this is a predator. So it actually went to the other side of the cage and made a barrier with the substrate. I took out most of the objects in the cage and the python tried multiple times to go after the rat and had it in a curl once, but the rat got out. The python came inches from the rat some time after this and turned away, so I'm wondering at this point if its wary of the rat. Python went into its hide and I took the rat out.
I've read here that in-cage feedings are best. So how should this work when you have a busy cage (which is 'busy' because I thought pythons feel safer/more comfortable with a lot of cover)? Should I be sticking to really small rats that are less mobile like fuzzies and offering multiple of them?
I still have the hopper. Would trying again later today be too soon? Any advice on how to avoid this in the future? I know ball pythons sometimes don't eat just as their nature but this wasn't a lack of interest, just failed multiple attempts.
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