Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a ball python for my boyfriend for his birthday. We've had her since July maybe...we were feeding her live rats and she was eating them very well. In November we tried our hand at frozen rats. Since then she's only eaten once and we've tried SEVERAL times to feed her, the only reason she even ate one is because we got a smaller mouse to put in there and she went to strike at it and we placed the frozen one in the way, she constricted and gobbled it up. I've heard the stories about what live ones can do, and seen horrific pictures of balls that have been attacked. So, that is the main reason we decided to try and convert her. Another being, we live about an hour and a half away from our closest pet store, and the gas to get there was outrageous, so we figured it would be much more economical and safe this way. But like I said she's only eaten once in about 2-3 months. She used to eat a rat every other week and was growing quite well. I got her for him from my cousin who got her from a pet store, he's always fed her live rats. She's always been a nice sized snake, she's in apparent perfect condition & is about 3 feet long now. But I am concerned at how her eating habbits have changed. We've used the tong "wiggling" technique, thawed the rats, put them under a heat lamp, so they are indeed warm when we try feeding them to her, but she shows no interest!!!! My boyfriend knows much more about reptiles than I do, as he has been the lifetime hobbyist, not I. He thinks she is just not hungry enough yet. I however can not quit worrying, this is the first time I've ever been around a snake. As of a year ago I was scared to death of them, but he's shown me they are not the vicious monsters I used to think they were. And I've grown very attached to this ball, someone please tell me if he's right we should just wait a while (if so how much longer?!) or if there is something else we could do to introduce her to frozen better. Also, a couple nights ago she put her head to my hand, opened her mouth and lightly closed it around my hand, she left no marks, and immediately let go, But shes never done this before to me or him or anyone for that matter. He says she was just "testing" me and there is nothing to worry about. I'm wondering why? Is it because she is hungry? I was not handling rats prior to this so it couldn't be that she smelled one. Is that all it is? testing? Will she continue to do this? Again I am the beginner here and he is more experienced. But if any others could give me their opinions on this I would REALLY appreciate it!!!!!!!

Because it is wuinter it is quite possible this has nothing to do with frozen food at all. Often in the breeding season snakes go off feeding, in fact many breeders stop feeding in November. The rule of thumb is if the snake is maintianing weight and appears in good health, do not panic they can do more than a year without food...I recall the record on the books was about 2 years. The move to frozen is wise, but hard with many snakes. There are some good articles out there on the frozen provider sites, ralph davis has one on his site...basically it may invovle some trickery to get it to convert, and there are agreat resources out there. Basically you can put her in a brown paper bag with the dead mouse, and staple it shut and put it back in teh tank, overnight that way. You can let her eat a live small one to get her going and immediately offer this dead one...there are many techniques. Be patient.
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Mike and David at 3-D Pythons
www.3dpythons.com

Thanks Mike, looks like I was wrong after all. But what about her "bite" is she hungry? Is this normal?

Saw your post on the other general area too, and think the responses were dead on. Usually a fear strike is very quick the neck goes back and shoots teh head forward fast, you get hit with some teeth most times and they pull back before you know what hit you. The I'm hungy strike is pretty similar though there you usually get it in their enclosure you go in, they seem to coil back and track you a bit, then whammo. I have never had one do a slow open mouth and bite no teeth before. This is odd but these great guys always surprise us. For sure I'd keep an eye on the overall health, to make sure this isn't some indication of a health problem...and work the feed per those articles and be patient. I can tell you we had one mauled terribly by a small rat...it is mortifying.
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Mike and David at 3-D Pythons
www.3dpythons.com

i would deff not worry at all...my ball has consistently gone off of food for the winter since it was 3 years old...although earlier when i wasnt used to this it actually ate once in january out of nowhere....but now i dont even waste the money during the winter...as long as it keeps good weight...and they do pretty easily over that short of time
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