Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got my hatchling captive bred ball python wednesday, and today (the following sunday) I offered it a small mouse.

I first tried setting the mouse (which is a F/T) on a paper towel in the enclosure, and saw after a while that he had not come out to find it, so I lifted the hidespot he was under and dangled the mouse in front of him for a bit (a poor decision on my part, I see that now...probably stressed the poor little guy out). He struck at it once, but that seemed more like a defensive strike than an 'I want to eat you' strike.

So, I wasn't given much info from the books or the breeder about how long to wait before offering food, but it does seem like 5 days is a bit soon for a snake to settle into a completely new environment enough to feed. How much longer should I let him settle in before trying again? Another week? What would be the best way to offer the dead mouse to him? Will he take it if I just kind of set it in the enclosure, or am I going to have to jiggle it around for him?

Any other info you can give me, a new snake owner, would be great. I have a bearded dragon, a mali uromastyx, a leopard gecko, and a russian tortoise. This is actually my second snake. My first was a desert kingsnake when I was about 6, but I was too young to take care of him properly (couldn't get him tamed down, and my parents were in charge of feeding him and such).

Thanks for any info you can lend me.

i just picked up to captive hatched babies and one didnt want to feed on frozen so i heated it up with a hair dryer a little and left it on a paper towel and covered the cage for security and it ate and is still eating. the other wont eat anything but live he is picky

Wow. right when I read that, I figured 'that's roughly the same thing I've just done'....there's the mouse (that was heated under a heat lamp) sitting on a paper towel in the enclosure, and it's in a dark room, with no light other than his red heatlamp. I decided to go see if anything was going on. Right when I opened the door, I see his little head recoil back inside his hidespot. He never comes out at this time of night....he was probably about to search out the mouse. That's it. I'm going downstairs and reading a book. I don't care if it takes all night, I am not bothering that snake. It's too bad he lives in my bedroom....that's going to make for a tiring day tomorrow Guess my leopard gecko is going to have to go hungry until tomorrow too, since I keep his crickets in my bedroom.

Thanks for the info. I think it's mostly a matter of waiting it out. He's just arrived. I don't think he's even pooped out his last meal (which was a mouse he ate at the shop on...I think either monday or sunday), so I'll just keep doing this every few nights until I start seeing that it's either working, or just not going to work at all.

the key is being patient, throwing a mouse in every day or even every other day can stress your snake out....
i bought a bp on dec5, she was fed the day before a sat, i waited and tried the following sat, they told me if she didnt eat try every other day til she ate..... she refused for a whoile month.
after getting advice from here, i gave her 10 days, then tried... she still refused, i was told from a few people here to only try about once a week...i did she still refused.... so i decided to wait 10 days, then try again.... finally after 2 months she began eating and wont stop.
on jan 7 i bought my third bp, set him up, waited 10 days like suggested here, and tried the first 2 feedings were off a bit but now he is eating and was less stressed.

Thanks for the info. I guess I must be more used to my other reptiles, which seemed to take such little time to get used to the move enough to eat....but then again, my other reptiles have to eat everyday (or every couple of days), so I guess it makes sense that the snake won't eat right away. After today I'll give him a while and then try again. Right now he's in there slithering around the mouse, but not really making a move.

By the way, do you feed F/T or live? How do you feed them?

all my corns eat f/t.........

*durga my first bp will eat either f/t or fresh killed

*devi my second (the one who went 2 months without eating) eats live, im letting her eat live til she eating well enough to make the switch

*puja my third will eat f/t or freshly killed.

the other thing i will say i have noticed is the younger the snake i think the better the adjustment..... just my opinion on that though

I'm Not reading this wrong here is some advise. You can NEVER feed a snake a frozen meal. It has to be heated up or it will drop the snakes temperature to the point that it will probably die. Sorry if If what you meant and what you wrote are different, I just had to make sure.
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I have Balls!

Generally - I recommend waiting a week to settle in before feeding him - but that is very dependant on the snake and how long ago he had his last meal. My first question would be what was the breeder feeding him and on what schedule ? Start with that - after he has settled in and is on a schedule with you then you can start manipulating it to fit your needs (ie switching him to f/t if he wasnt on it before). As it has been previously mentioned - feeding f/t usually requires it being defrosted and then warmed up to about 98* especially if the snake is not used to eating dead food. Usually if you are just converting a snake or have a young one it will take some wiggling and dancing also - once they get used to eating f/t then it will be as easy as defrosting and dropping it in the cage for them.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

11.42.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

After I didn't get any response from Steve (the hatchling BP) by dangling the F/T mouse in front of him, I decided to leave it in the enclosure on a paper towel. I came in a little after 11:00 PM with the intent of disposing of the mouse and going to bed. I was just about to, when I noticed that Steve (BP) was out of his hidespot and avidly searching around his cage. I decided to leave the mouse in the cage overnight (it wouldn't decompose that quickly, would it? For future reference? it would have been under 12 hours had I left it in the entire night uneaten).

It was weird. I woke up at 4:00 AM and saw that the BP was still searching around his cage, but he kept just passing by the mouse everytime, so I figured he wasn't going to eat, even though I'd triggered a feeding response, and I would feed him a week later. I woke up again at 5:00 AM (lack of sleep due to interest in snake ), and to my surprise, the mouse was gone.

I'm kind of dumbfounded by this. By that time the mouse was the same temperature as everything else in the cage. Why did he pass over it so many times before finally indulging? Just because he's still very stressed from a new environment? I figure it's going to take at least 4 more steady feeds before I attempt handling him (though he is a very gentle snake), I'm glad that he accepted the F/T mouse with me having to jiggle it in front of him.

The breeder that I purchased him from had actually fed him F/T and live before. I was a little worried that since he had eaten live he wouldn't want F/T, but he accepted it, after a long while of deliberation I guess you could say it was similar to the paperbag trick, just without the paper bag. I am going to continue him on a weekly schedule for now.