Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got my first female ball on Nov 12. She started out aggressively feeding, striking hard at anything white. I have noticed, that over the past couple of months her aggressive feeding has become not so aggressive. I started her out on live mice and she would strike from 8 inches away, and she hit so hard, I would jump almost every time. I started feeding prekilled a few months ago, and I would just dangle the mouse in front of her, and bam, she would nail it. In the beginning of Feb, I moved her to a Boaphile 221D, and she still feeds, but it seems like shes hesistant. She wont strike unless the live mouse is like 2 inches away or less. I've had her on frozen/thawed for about a month, but I have to stick the mouse in her hide box for her to take it, and even then it might take an hour before she'll eat. She's gaining about 85g a month, so I'm not worried about her...I just wish she wasnt so timid. Any ideas???

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Peace

Could be the weather - could be that her growth spurt has come to fruition and she is leveling off and not so ravenous - could be that she just knows that there will be a mouse there very week so it's become "routine" she'll eat when she gets around to it. I have some that were aggressive feeders that have leveled off to where they just start swollowing the rat right off the tongs as I stick it in the tub - no more grabbing and constricting at all - have a friend that just dumps the rat in a dog bowl and it's gone in the morning. I wouldn't be concerned unless she quits eating all together.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

6.42.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi)
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
0.0.1 Lizard of unknown origin

My guess is she has gotten use to taking prekilled so there is no need for her to stike and constrict so hard.
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1.2 Het Pied
1.1 Het Lavender Albino
1.1 Het Albino
0.7 Normals
1.0 50% Het lav albino