a few questions for the new snake owner

[AliBe]

so, for my 21st birthday, my boyfriend got me exactly what I wanted-a beautiful female ball python. she is wonderful-very friendly, strong, and a great eater. I just have a few questions...
first, feeding. a disclaimer-please don't try to talk me out of live feeding. I understand all of the risks, but when it comes down to it, ball pythons are hunters, not scavengers. Abelinda is healthy and totally capable of killing tiny little hoppers.
Anyway, what I generally do is put the mouse in a clear rubbermaid container and drop abelinda in. She generally strikes within 3 mintues or so and has the mouse down in another 3. my question is kind of silly-is it better to put her in with the mouse already in there or to drop the mouse in after her? does it really matter?
also, sometimes i feel like she's still hungry afterwards. i guess I can't really confirm or deny if she is or isn't. She's just such a good eater that I wonder if she's starving. I feed her one hopper every 5-6 days and she's about 4 months old. It's probably just because I was raised Italian, where you get seconds whether you want them or not .
how big does the snake have to be before you move up to bigger mice? just curious...
thanks for any help you guys can give me!

[McAdry]

you can just offer her a second one if she takes that then fine you are talking mice correct as we feed all of our snakes rats. How much does she way, and there is no reason not to feed her in her enclousre it is acutally just fine for her.

[Shelby]

Mouse hoppers are pretty small.. you may want to bump it up to a small mouse.. or feed two if you think she's still hungry (cruising around the cage after she's been feed like she's looking for food)

I feed all of my snakes in their enclosures.. ball pythons are ambush predators.. it's more normal for them to lie in wait for something tasty to come along. I guess there's nothing wrong with putting the snake into an enclosure that already has the mouse in it.. if she eats, but it's simpler just to feed her in her cage.

[AliBe]

the reason i don't feed her in her enclosure is because I've been told that she will associate me reaching in to her tank with feeding time and could start striking at me. i handle her a lot, but this is my first reptile so i am still a little unsure when i hold her...so i try to avoid anything that will cause her to strike. the only reason i am hesitant to get an extra mouse is because i also have 2 cats and i know they will drive me crazy if i have a live mouse chilling in the house for a few days.
i'm not sure how much she weighs but she is about 18" long.
one more thing- i've heard conflicting opinions on things like hides and dirt to burrow in. some people have told me that they are unnecessary, others have said they'll get stressed and won't eat without it. should i get her a hide? i think i'm going to need to upgrade to a bigger tank if i do.
how often should i change her bedding? i use dirt bought from the pet store if that makes any difference.

[OhBalls]

the reason i don't feed her in her enclosure is because I've been told that she will associate me reaching in to her tank with feeding time and could start striking at me. i handle her a lot, but this is my first reptile so i am still a little unsure when i hold her...so i try to avoid anything that will cause her to strike. the only reason i am hesitant to get an extra mouse is because i also have 2 cats and i know they will drive me crazy if i have a live mouse chilling in the house for a few days.
i'm not sure how much she weighs but she is about 18" long.
one more thing- i've heard conflicting opinions on things like hides and dirt to burrow in. some people have told me that they are unnecessary, others have said they'll get stressed and won't eat without it. should i get her a hide? i think i'm going to need to upgrade to a bigger tank if i do.
how often should i change her bedding? i use dirt bought from the pet store if that makes any difference.

Her associating your hand with food is an old wives tale and completely NOT true. That said, be sure not to handle her around feeding time.
She NEEDS a hide, prefferable two...one at the warm side and one at the cool side. Hides are EXTREMELY important.
Dirt will only make her dirty and it's not needed. She may ingest it when eating. Please try newspaper, repti-bark or aspen...never cedar or pine woodchips as they can kill your snake.
Hope this helps.

[OhBalls]

You can also read the care sheets provided by this site. LOTS of great info

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=59

[West Coast Jungle]

the reason i don't feed her in her enclosure is because I've been told that she will associate me reaching in to her tank with feeding time and could start striking at me. i handle her a lot, but this is my first reptile so i am still a little unsure when i hold her...so i try to avoid anything that will cause her to strike. the only reason i am hesitant to get an extra mouse is because i also have 2 cats and i know they will drive me crazy if i have a live mouse chilling in the house for a few days.
i'm not sure how much she weighs but she is about 18" long.
one more thing- i've heard conflicting opinions on things like hides and dirt to burrow in. some people have told me that they are unnecessary, others have said they'll get stressed and won't eat without it. should i get her a hide? i think i'm going to need to upgrade to a bigger tank if i do.
how often should i change her bedding? i use dirt bought from the pet store if that makes any difference.

Snakes associate food by scent and heat. Feeding in the enclosure is best. I would start to feed her rat pups or rat crawlers. They are larger and safer. The problem with the theory of feeding out of the enclosure is if this is true they are gonna think everytime you take them out it's feeding time. Snakes react to scent and heat signature, not a change of scenery. Most of my snakes come out of their hides to eat when I walk in the room with rats, they know it's feeding time now if you stick your hand in there and they are expecting a rat you might get hit because you have a heat signature and they smell rats. Thus the rule never handle a snake after handling rodents, you may get mistaken for one. Since they are ambush predators they like to feel safe before the ambush, taking them out could make them insecure and not feed. I used to think the same thing and took my first out and eventually it refused out of fear. Some info we read or hear is OLD and outdated but still circulating. Thats why the forums are great you can get up to date info and the lastest sucessful husbandry tips

Oh yeah hides are a must even if it just crumpled up newspaper she can hide under(for now)

[Shelby]

I feed 38 snakes in their enclosures every week.. I can also tell you that it's just an old wive's tale. None of my ball pythons (I have 7) have ever bitten me.

I'd also suggest switching to rat pups/crawlers..

[kc261]

Everyone has given you great advice.

Since you asked specifically, and I didn't notice an answer, if you decide to continue feeding your BP outside its enclosure, it is probably better to put the BP in the feeding area, then add the mouse. BPs are ambush hunters, so this would be a closer approximation to the BP laying in wait and a mouse coming along.

That said, there really isn't need to feed her out of her enclosure. As has been said, if there is the smell of food on your hand or in the room, you need to be careful no matter what your feeding method. Otherwise, I suppose it is possible if the only time your snake sees your hand is feeding time, then it might make the association with food, but even if you don't handle your snake a lot, you should be getting in their enclosure to clean and give fresh water and such. So that should not be an issue.

There aren't very many people here who will try to talk you out of feeding live, so no need to worry about that! You are right that your snake is totally capable of taking down her own prey (and that includes stuff a lot bigger than little hoppers). The only real danger comes when it is not done properly. You do need to supervise the feeding; not necessarily watch every second, but just make sure the mouse or rat does get eaten. Never leave a live mouse or rat in with your snake. If the snake doesn't eat, take it back out.

A 4 month old BP eating only a mouse hopper every 5-6 days probably is hungry still. BP hatchlings can handle mouse hoppers for their first meal, and hopefully she's grown a lot since then. So, either switch her to bigger prey, or offer her a second one.

You definitely need to get her some hides. I'm not sure what kind of "dirt" is sold at a pet store, but more commonly recommended substrates for BPs are newspaper or aspen.

[ChrisBowsman]

Wait until it's big enough for a live small (adult) rat. I just had my first experience with that tonight

Until the snake is fully grown, I'd advise that you use stuff like cardboard boxes (appropriately sized, of course) for hides. It's kind of a fine line as to what is the right size and what's too small (they like to feel the hide on all sides of their body) and BPs grow fast. You'll go broke trying to buy those little fake caves or whatever every time it gets bigger.

FWIW, I "borrowed" a few unused office wastebaskets from work, cut off the bottom 6" of them, cut a door hole, and my 4' bp seems to be quite happy with them.