Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am trying to get my snakes to eat prekilled. i kill them by co2 then put them right in the tubs. so far only 1 ate it with no promblem. but my other two are giving me hell. i tried the first time just putting them in moving them a little and leaving them in overnite. and no luck. then i tried really moving them around and again leaving over nite and no luck. by the way they really smell when left over nite. im really nervous feeding live and nothing would make me happier then being able to feeding prekilled. i also warmed them up and no luck. i try every 7 days. i usually feed my snakes in the morning or early afternoon the only thing i can try is next time i will put them in later in the day. anyone can share with me there personal experience with this kind of promblem.

First off BP's are normally most active at night and that is when you should try to get them to take the prekilled if that is the route you want to take. Personally I think that feeding frozen or pre-killed is way over rated. If you feed the propper sized meal and observe there is very very little risk to your snake. We feed almost 100 rats per week and the worse thing that has happened ever, in over 15 years of keeping snakes is that a weaned rat slightly bit an albino while it was trying to breathe. The bite was sooo minimal that you could not see a mark or messed up scale the next day. Yes I know that an unsupervised rodent can kill a snake but that's why you don't leave them unsupervised. Well that's my 2 cents and btw most of the really big breeders feed all their multi-thousand dollar snakes live, it just takes too much time and effort to get hundreds of snakes to eat prekilled with such a small benefit.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons:::

1.0 striped vanilla
1.2 Citrus Ghost and hets
1.2 Albino and hets
2.3 het Pied
1.1 Pastel (male has additional gene going on with him)
a bunch of female holdbacks and several rescue normal males

0.1 columbian boa, she's a feeding monster, controls my
over production of rats, lol
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa, another rat eating monster
1.1 corns

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

I agree with Josh. I'm by no means a big breeder. Hell, I own eight snakes and only three of them are balls. Two of those I've had for 15 years and they have ALWAYS taken live with NO incedents. You simply MUST observe while attempting to feed. Do it at night and wait till they come out and look to be searchin for something besides a way out .If they aren't eaten within the first 20 minutes or so drop the rat, or whatever, back in it's cage and try again in three or four days. No dead stinky to toss out the next day. As long as you keep an eye on what's goin' on you shouldn't have any problems JMO.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

well thats comforting to hear but my promblem is i have my collection away frm home and im not there at nite nor can i really go back at nite. what i can do is try as late as possible. but if im going to continue live i have always fed them pretty early and they pretty much ate. do you think i should still try late as possible? there about 850 grams a small is appropriate? i always watch when i feed live i also i have them in a rack system and they have hides. i just got a pastel aug 5 and he really wasnt eating for weeks and i left a fuzzy over nite and he took it. then i tried a prekilled small rat and two times he ate it. now i know he wont go for the live so i guess i will continue this way for him. he is also 800 grams. thanks for your help all.

try taking the snakes that wont eat and assisting them...firmly hold the snake then place the mouse or rats head into the snakes mouth you need to push somewhat...the snake should take over at this point...if not be patient and try again!

paul

good luck
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R.I.P Steve "croc hunter" Erwin Sept 2006

Do you have hide boxes in with your animals? My experience shows that they are more comfortable with a hide. Also in 20 years of keeping pythons, I have found only 2 animals that would take a dead animal if just left lying in the cage. Movement is a trigger for these creatures. Use a pair of long tweezers or hemostats to mimic movement with your pre-killed food. Good luck.

Depending on the age, you could just have a ball that won't eat prey that isn't live. The prey imprinting thing can be a real hassle. I prefer frozen and actually refuse to deal with live. They're so much better to deal with for you and the snake.