Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have posted this recently and hate to repeat myself but i would like to hear opinions on this? ok my ball pythons have been of feed and prior to this they were eating live. i hate to feed live only because they dont always hit the rat they way they should. so i want to start feeding them p/k every 10 days. i want to first try to feed them by just droping in the rats and leaving them in there enclosures. i have tried this already and no luck with three of them, one ate. this time i want to make a small slit on the rats head i hear the smell entices them more.so i hear? anyone have any advice? my thing hear is to try every 10 days and if they eat great but if they dont well i will just keep trying. im thinking they will have to take it evntually. what does everyone think? thanks in advance.

To be honest braining has never worked for me - and unless you have the kind of snake that attacks everything in it's cage - just dropping it in and leaving it there won't likely work until they are converted to pre killed foods - they are used to eating something that is alive and moving - you'll need to tease them a little - dance it around the tub - watch your snakes see what they key in on - heat, smell, movement, etc. play around with all of it, once you learn what they key in on it becomes much easier to feed them. You might be able to eventually get them to eat them off the cage floor but you might also have to feed them from tongs for now on.

Good luck!
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Tosha
JET Pythons

It may take a little more time, but tongs work real good. Whether feeding live or p/k.

Good luck.
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Lead us not into temptation. We can find it on our own.

Tongs are great, I got a 18 inch pair, I have several that eat pk,I do not mind it, They usually twitch enough that they nail right away.

well i tried today and no luck? i moved the rat around and no interest? one of them just loves striking but never sticking to it? i tell you im close to giving up this hobby? balls really stink at eating and they are really getting on my nerves!!

Quit trying to force them to eat , just make sure they have plenty of water , they are animlas and they will feed when they get hungry , just consider it alittle break of sorts for yourself, be patient grasshopper these are snakes not dogs
good luck .

Cracking the rat/mouses head open really sounds pretty morbid. Ive heard of it being done before, mostly in reference to Western Hogs I thought...

I twist the P/K's around on long tongs like the people above said and it works good. Save yourself the headache(ha..ha..get it) and dont bother with that braining business,

All that mutalation of prey is pretty sick when all you have to do is place the live prey in the tub and the snake gets it over with faster and alot cleaner simple end of story , quit trying to reinvent the wheel simple done!

First of all do not apologize or try to give aexcuse why you feed ur balls live I do the same thing because for one their is nothing more healthier for my snakes and to the snakes do the best job of killing the prey better thean us and alot cleaner so if you wnat to feed ur balls live prey go ahead this is america and as a disabled Navy man who served ten years its your right. Let me tell you a story of what happened to me today I was forced to got to Petco and purchse a live feeder for almost $5.00 bucks it was a juvenile female rat when I asked for one of the employees to go and retrieve the rat for me she gave this long story about how I should not be feeding my balls live prey the one that many of us have heard a thousand times before , blah, blah , blah , this comes from a person who works at petco her employer who sales live rats and mice , if she really had a problem feeding live rodents sh would not be working there . The only reason I went there is because my local reptile store was closed today for some unknow reason and I only feed live, I would love to breed my own rodents but the woman of the house will not allow me to do it in the house , I can have all the snakes that I want but know rodents in the house so that is the trade off which I gladly accept, Hey just do what you want and continue to feed live thats what I do .

God bless america , go Navy.