Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys. I know you all have heard this question about a trillion gazillion times, but I'd rather ask people who know what theyre talking about,then people who act like they do. So here goes my story:

I work in a petstore and was planning on getting a Ball Python for awhile for my bro,16. anyways, yesterday was finally the day where i decided to bring one home,and he became mne rather then my bros.currently i have him in a 20 gallon long aquarium with a basking light at one end of tht tank,and a heatmat underneath as well. The warm side of the tank is about 90 degrees constantly and the cooler about 80. I have some jungle mix dirt in there, a big bowl and two hides,one on each sid eof the tank(ones a half log,the other a teracotta flower pot) and some fake plants. He doesnt move around much, occasionally he will after i put him back after handling briefly. (sorry for talking about him, im just really excited i finally got one) ANywyas,he wa sbrand new to the sotr,and I'm not sure of his last feeding. I am goign to the hamburg reptile show tomorrow, and plan on possibly yrying to feed the snake tomorrow night when he is awake. Now i Would really like to get him started on prekilled or thawed rodents. Preferablly rats, but i know most stores,including the one in work in dont breed rats. Either way, I dont really see lie food as an option,not that i mind, but i have seen what rodents can do to an animal when theyre being attacked. We just lost a Burmese this week because the mouse hurt him so badly. I dont want this to hapen at all. soi want to chop out the middleman. How can i get the snake to start eating prekileld food? If i start him tomorrow should i offer live or dead prey? What if he doesnt eat the dead one? Shoudl i try live? Then what if he doesnt eat that! ack. Im sure youve heard this a million times, but thank you so much for any help you can give me. I really really appreciate it.

Well as many people will tell you the easiest way to do it is to first offer the snake a F/T mice/rat that is heated up (depending on the size of the snake) If he takes it then good!!! If not then try a live. A good way to do it is to offer food that is a small meal. Then shortly after he finishes the meal offer a heat F/T mouse/rat. This has been very successful for us in converting 3 of our bp. Hope this helps.

Steve & Rose

Well, I was reading this exerpt from Melissa Kaplins website on some tricks to feed my baby ball because he wouldn't take the dead fuzzy infront of me. What works especially well for newly bought snake if your not sure since last he was fed is to take him out for a while for about 20 to 30 minutes; then put the completely thawed frozen pinkie or fuzzy in the cage and put him back. THe reason for taking the snake out is that not to let it associates food with people's hands reaching in to grab him or whatever. I would wait for at least 1 to 2 weeks before trying this to let the snake acclimate to the new surrounding because it can possibly regurgitate the meal which is bad for the health of your snake. Snakes can go for a long time without food, particularly the balls that can go for one year if fed well and healthy...and they don't eat that much either. Full grown only eat every 3 to 6 weeks depending on the snake ofcourse. If it looks fat I would gradually increase the time interval between each feeding or if the snake is to thin vice versa. For hatchlings I would feed it every 7 to 10 days, or every 2 weeks depending on the snake. I would do this until I know what feeding schedule works well for my snake to keep him at the right weight. Never feed prey item bigger than the snake widest part of the body or the widest circumference. You can feed several small pre-killed rodents to the snake though...although, I think it's more convenient to go with just big one. Overfeeding can lead to kidney problem, it interferes with the reproduction, and among other things. Something for you to remember: it is important to keep reptiles warm...they rely on external source of heat to maintain body temperatures. So provide it with a temperature gradient with one end, the basking spot, at arond 90-95 degree, and the rest of the cage should be at a constant of 80-85 degree. The night temperature can drop to 75-80 degree providing it has a basking night light. It is important as well to let your snake cool down at night as it is important to keep the cage nice and toasty during the day. This can be simply achieve as turning off the incandescent bulb early in the evening. You will also need a heating mat to provide it with belly heat. Anyway their are plenty of good books out there like "The Ball Python Manual" by Philippe de Vosjoli and "Pythons" by Barlett and Wagner. Or if you tight on cash visit Melissa Kaplin's website. She has written a very good book on a detail intructions on how to care for the Green Iguana. Here is her website...I find it very useful.
Melissa Kaplin's Website

I personally wouldn't even offer anything or handle him for a couple of weeks. Offering food when they are stressed is just gonna stress them more and make them less and less likely to eat.
Then, assuming this is a baby, I would leave him a prekilled or frozen thawed fuzzy mouse outside his hide right before bed. No peeking or bugging til morning and see how he does.
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Sonya

i agree with Sonya, this is how it worked for me. he wouldn't eat, until i put him in a seperate box with the mouse and left him alone in my room all night ( i even slept at a friend's house). i checked the box in the morning, and the mouse was gone.