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my ball will stike a rat and sometimes let go after a quick second? and other times miss like two or three times than get it? it drives me nuts!!!!

>>my ball will stike a rat and sometimes let go after a quick second? and other times miss like two or three times than get it? it drives me nuts!!!!

It's like asking why my baby ball keeps trying to eat her rats sideways - balls are not exactly known for their brain power!

How old is yours? If it's younger (less than 3 years old) it's probably still just learning coordination. Kinda like how when you were younger you couldn't tie your shoelaces as well as you can now.

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

i would like to belive that but my others are the same ages around 2 years old and they strike with accuracy. thanks.

I've always considered it might be that the snake is not all that hungry. In the wild a snake has to take every opprituity to catch food. Because of that thier instincts tell them get the food but here in captivity we feed our snakes so well that maybe at the same time another part of the brain is saying no.
If the snake still eats the food don't worry about it if the snake is a little over fed then a self inposed hungry strike will take care of it.

It happens. I have a great female, mouse eater. She took a rat once, but my roomates scared her, and she brought it back up, hasn't touched a rat since...but anyway, back to my point...

I feed in a seperate tank, and she knows it. Once in the second tank she becomes very alert and once I put the mouse in their she will go right after it if she sees it. Other times, she gets the scent of it and simple stabs in the general direction of the smell. She has missed on many occasions, waiting till the second or third strike to finally locate the mouse.

So yea, it just happens. Sometimes they show me how smart they are, and other times...not so much. Just don't worry as long as he IS eating

-John

I had attempted to feed both my ball python and my western hognose on the same day and my baby ball took her fuzzy rat very quickly. My hoggie's been on strike for quite a while though so I decided to leave her pinky mouse alive for a day and try again. I have a small bucket I always feed my hog in and I put her in it with the pinky and set it on the top of my ball python's cage for a bit. When I came back to check on it my ball python was holding her body up vertically right where my hognose's tub was. My hognose hadn't eaten her pinky yet, so I gave it to my ball as a snack, since she seemed to want it badly, LOL.

She's done it before too, but it was when the feeding tub was 2 or 3 feet away on the top of my hognose's cage. She was pacing the edge of her tank with her nose to the glass then. Silly girl.

It's funny how some are "smart" and some aren't.

Mine is pretty good at the whole striking and killing part, but as far as eating... I've sat and watched her try and eat the mouse from every side before finally swallowing the head first. Her record is 45 minutes to figure out which end's the head.

Everyone else knows which end to swallow first...but Periscope? Naw...

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

Found the one picture I managed to take the last time Periscope tried eating her rat feet first. Crappy quality, but it was dark and I was laughing.

~jenny
-----
1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)