Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,Ive just aquired a 3 year old male Ball a week ago.Now I would like to offer it a meal.I have misplaced the previous owners contact info,so I am wondering,should I offer a pre-killed mouse?And also I have read that I should NOT feed my snake in his home,that I should use a seperate feeding box.Any truth to that?Looking forward to any assistance to can offer.Cheers.

You can try pre killed or frozen thawed, if you are not sure it will eat those forms of food. Feed a prey item that is about has wide as the largest girth (unfed girth of course) of your ball python.

to me, feeding in a separate container really isn't necessary, as long as you do handle your snake between meals once in awhile, so the snake doens't associate opening the cage as feeding time. Then again, don't see how that is any different than taking the snake out and putting him into another container, snake still knows it's going to be fed. The other reason some snake keepers feed in separate containers is to avoid loose substrate from being consumed accidently.

Thanks for the tip.I ended up feeding my Ball a thawed rat and man did he appreciate that!!I left him alone for a little over a day to digest his meal,and noticed that when I looked in on him he would come out of his hide box and start smelling the glass sides.He did not seem to do that when the wife or kids looked in on him.Do snakes recognize their handlers scent?I did end up leaving him in his enclosure when I fed him.No problems.Cheers..