Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i purchased a male het 03 ball on 5-15-04,he has eaten F/T mice for me 5 times and a live rat fuzzy.last week i offered a F/T rat which he refused.i have not been able to get him to eat F/T unless i tease feed him,which is no problem he usually nails the feeder in 10 seconds or less.tonight i lifted the hide/water dish and he had just shed,one piece with eye caps.when i dangled the F/T mouse he kept missing the feeder,like 6-7 times.i would hold the feeder motionless 3 inches from his head and he missed right and left.finally we both gave up.he picks up hand movement from the side and his vision seems normal.any ideas.

Smaller Bp,s have worse aim than larger ones. Mine always miss unless it's right in front of them, but they will make me bleed from 6" away everytime...LOL. Nothing wrong with him, and if it was a live warm rodent, I bet he would hit it first try almost everytime.
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CB

"I post because I'm bored"

k

i put the rodent under my desk top halogen lamp for a few minutes,and as i slid the tub open (the ball is in the hide) not even a inch he came out of his hide and nailed the rodent in my hand.this is my first ball,certaintly not my last.

Is hand feeding a good thing to get started? Why not use tongs or something safer than your hand?

One thing I do is use a paper bag. I read that Balls spend all day in holes and at night they come out and search holes for food. So when I buy my feeder(s) I leave them in the bag the shop owner placed it in and I rool back the top of the bag and I lay it in the cage around evening time. This way the snake can search for the food on its own.
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0.0.2 Bearded Dragons(Ziggy and Stardust)
0.1.0 Royal/Ball Python(Not named yet)

i don't hand feed,i use 16" hemostats to tease feed.the story i related was that the snake was in his hide and could not be seen,so i was intending to slid open the tub and throw the feeder in front of his hide,and like lightling he bolted out and grabbed the feeder from me.a little heat makes a lot of differance.i would not do that again,i don't want the nickname "lefty".

Oh ok my mistake. You had me worried there.
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0.0.2 Bearded Dragons(Ziggy and Stardust)
0.1.0 Royal/Ball Python(Not named yet)

The heat almost always works for me to...Good deal.
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CB

"I post because I'm bored"