Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my ball is doing good with f/t mice, i feed him once a week. at first he used to strike at the food, now he just picks it up gently and starts to swallow.
i want to feed him a live mouse, at least once, can a fuzzy really hurt the snake?
and how would i stop the mouse from biting my snake ?
if he didn't show interest in the mouse, what do u do with a live mouse ?
is a cardboard box ok for a hunting ground ?

thanks for the help

If your snake is feeding on F/T, why do you want to switch it to live. F/t is the method of choice and if you have one feeding that way, you should stick with it. As for your question, a fuzzy will do very little damage (if any) to your snake. Good luck, Scott Sullivan.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
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i just want to see him catch and kill his prey, at least once. if i do get him live prey, will it be hard to switch him back to ft ? even if its just once !

>>i just want to see him catch and kill his prey, at least once. if i do get him live prey, will it be hard to switch him back to ft ? even if its just once !

so rent a video or watch animal planet....That is a silly, selfish reason to endanger your snake. Think about what you will do if the mouse bites your snake, who is now used to prey that doesn't fight back and either damages it warranting a vet visit, infects it, punctures an eye kills it or simply scares it badly enough that it stops eating all together or, on the reverse, then won't eat anything but live. And saying you will be right there to stop it is silly....if you were that fast you would never get bitten yourself. It is not possible to catch a mouse that fast.
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Sonya

Why would you want to switch to live when the gold of every owner is to try to feed their balls dead ones. If you are having problem feeding your balls dead or frozen mouse then you are not alone. This is a common problem with the wild caught ball pythons. And no you don't have to worry as this species can fast for a long time without any ill-effect. If you want to know some tricks...here is Melissa Kaplin's website.
Melissa Kaplin's Site

It sounds like this is more for you than your snake. I highly recommend against it. Your snake eats FT and that's a great thing. After a live meal your snake may decide that's all it wants. That puts your feeding program a step back.

Find a friend or go to a pet store to satisfy your curiosity.
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Jay A. Martin

this why i love snakes, i like to see them hunt ... but i'll stick to f/t mice.

but is there a way i can get him to strike at it ? i hope that doesn't piss off some people here !

thanks for the tips ! i'm still a newbie with snakes.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you said that you drop the thawed prey into the cage and leave it? If you want him to strike you could try thawing the prey, then dangling it into the cage by holding the tail with forceps (or a freezer cooled glove). This is what I do with my ball and he always strikes.

>>this why i love snakes, i like to see them hunt ... but i'll stick to f/t mice.
>>
>>but is there a way i can get him to strike at it ? i hope that doesn't piss off some people here !
>>
>>thanks for the tips ! i'm still a newbie with snakes.

Some snakes will never strike their prey and others always will. My Children's Pythons will strike and wrap with a vengeance....in fact the one little snot tried to eat my arm last feeding. This is funny with a two foot long snake that is smaller than my corn snakes. Killer responses...don't care if it is live/fresh killed/ stone cold dead or f/t....My BPs NEVER strike. All three of my BPs are WC and I had a devil's time getting them to eat. Eventually they all started, but only on totally dead, left over night. No constriction, no strikes...just slowly push them around and sniff and methodically eat.
My friend has a young BP he started that only took live fuzzys, dangled. Now she will take prey, any form (and she is on fresh killed 'cause his wife is NOT having rodents in the freezer) and his snake bangs them out of his hand every time.
So, if your snake will take dangled prey....you could get some hemostats and dangle the prey and see if yours will hit it.
But be careful what you wish for.
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Sonya

I feed mine in a cardboard box every time. It retains the smell of mouse well, so he knows when he goes in that it's dinner time. A hopper mouse probably will not harm your snake. My opinion, if you want to feed your snake a live mouse once or twice, go for it! If he doesn't eat it, whack it against something solid (I use the edge of my bathtub) and freeze it for next time. If it's eating F/T so well already, I seriously doubt that it will refuse it in the future. Believe it or not, there are some people on the forum that prefer feeding fresh killed, or live, and not frozen. It is a personal choice for you and your snake to make.
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1.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 corn snake
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish
1.2 cats
3.1 kids
1.0 husband