Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have always been around snakes growing up. Now that I can own my own....I have 2 cornsnakes and recently just picked up 2 adult ball pythons. I don't know how to sex them, but supposedly the bigger is the male around 5 years old, and the female is around 3 years old. I was told they were eating 1 mouse a week each and they were feeding pre killed. I have frozen fuzzies that are rather large from feeding the corns. It's been a week and I have tried to feed the pythons twice and they slither right over the frozen thawed fuzzies and act as if they aren't there. Are they not eating because they are still nervous about being in a new home, or does the size of the mice affect their eating habits? They kids have been home with me fro almost 3 days now...any help or suggestions would greatly be appreciated...

first off let the new snakes settle in for at least a week before trying to feed them. Second I don't even feed my newborn balls fuzzy mice. Adult ball pythons should be eating at very least small rats, but more than likely medium rats. Hope this helps and best of luck with them.
-----
Josh Hutto
J&K Reptiles

2.3 het pied (RDR, alan bosch x 2, BHB x 2)
1.0 Spider Ball python (Ballroom pythons south)
1.0 Vanilla Ball Python (Gulf Coast)
0.1 High Contrast Albino (Gulf Coast)
1.1 het albino (ben siegel, Gulf Coast)
1.2 het citrus ghost(Gulf Coast line)
1.0 citrus ghost (Gulf Coast line)
1.1 graz pastel female
Alot of normal BP females (some not so normal)
2 various corns
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (alan bosch)
1.0 american pit bull terrier
1.1 taco dogs (ankle biters)
1.0 grey cat
0.1 columbian red-tail boa

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

I know they should be eating larger. I buy my frozen mice online. Since it's 50 dollars shipping, I wanted to wait until I needed to buy for all the snakes. I was hoping that I could just feed them a few large fuzzies until I needed enough to order again. I don't know any place near me that has frozen mice or small rats and I don't want to feed the snake live. I don't want the snakes to be bit. Thanks for the quick response =0)

Michael

It could be either 1. that they are still a bit stressed from shipping/new home. 2. The food item is so small they don't see or recognize it as a food item. 3. The item is not warmed or moving to their satisfaction or 4. They are just "bad" feeders.

1. I've had snakes that have taken over a month to get settled in before they started feeding and some that feed just a few days after arriving. Best to just leave them be for a week or two before attempting feeding.

2. If these are adult balls and they were only eating 1 mouse a week then they are probably underfed (IMO) I would suggest several mice a week or small rats. An appropriate meal size for a ball is about 15% of their body weight per week. I understand that you don't want to place a new order right now - if you can't find f/t near you, I would suggest picking up a couple of small live rats, pre-killing them and seeing if they will take rats before you order their food. If not then pick up some live mice and pre-kill those. It would work to your advantage to get them established feeding wise and switched to rats - before you order - but be aware that some balls established on either live or pre killed will only take live or pre-killed and won't touch frozen thawed.

3. From what I gather - corns will eat anything that is put in front of them (I don't know this to be true I don't work with corns - but it's what I've heard) the same is not the case for some balls. If you are feeding frozen thawed you'll most likely need to warm it up to about 98* before they will even look at it - some will take it sopping wet off the cage floor once they have been trained to do so, some need to see a little movement in order to strike - and size does matter if it's too small they could pass it up unless they are really desperate.

4. Bad feeders happen - it's just something you have to work with - hopefully you have the resources to do so if they turn out to be not the best of feeders - if the previous owner was feeding these adults only one mouse per week it doesn't sound like they were being fed appropriately or that's all they will take - they may take some working with to get them feeding properly.

Hope some of this helps -- best of luck with them!
-----
Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

6.34.0 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 Lizards of unknown origin

thanks a bunch. appreciate it =0)