Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My brother told me that you should leave a live mouse over night with a picky eater Ball python because they are nocturnal. Is this true? Ive always heard to NEVER leave a live rodent with any snake over night. Whats your opinon?
-----
Got Balls?
Josh Molone

NEVER leave a live rodent in with a snake without keeping an eye on it. Mice have been known to begin eatting the snake and can kill your snake.

Josh, this is my opinion . If you have a picky eater try feeding them with the lights out. But don't leave a prey item alive with your snake for more than five minutes . Claude

Most of the time a snake that won't eat is not eating because it is stressed out. If you leave a prey item in too long, it is just going to stress the snake out more. Hope this helps.

Me thinks yer brother needs a kick in the crotch . The previous posters are correct. A mouse in the enclosure overnight is asking for trouble. The death of your snake being worse case scenario.

Stress may well be the trouble. Leave it alone for a week and try again. If you're going to feed live, only leave it in there for 15-20 minutes and be there to watch that nothing happens. If he doesn't take it in that amount of time remove the mouse and try again in a fewe days. If no go that time you might want to try the sack (paper bag) trick. Put him and a prekilled mouse in a sack and fasten it so he can't get out. Leave them overnight. The mouse should be gone by morning. All of this should be tried after lights out. Just some thoughts.

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

Sometimes you have no choice to leave food in overnight to get a snake to eat, we have had it happen before, it's not recommended but sometimes for a real picky feeder its the only choice.

That said, only leave a lg. fuzzy mouse for a small non feeding baby, and a rat PUP for anything larger. A fuzzy mouse and rat pup are both eyes closed with no teeth, so they cannot cause any problems. We leave a lab block in the cage for worst case scenario.

We have never had a problem with getting picky feeders started this way, that is how we start our c.h in the spring and we have had excellent (95%) feeding success with them by doing so.

Every one has a different opinion on what to do, this is what works for us, find a way that works for you and go with it.
-----
J&J REPTILES
www.jnjreptiles.com
sales@jnjreptiles.com
(207)479-6658

Like everyone else said - live rodents can and will seriously hurt the snake. However, a trick that has worked at the store I work for is to prekill a mouse/rat, then place it in a paper bag in the snake's cage overnight. This works almost every time for the ground dwelling snakes, and may be worth a shot for you if you haven't tried that already.

Otherwise, keep it separate, leave it alone, and offer food again just once a week!

My personal opinion is that if you want to leave something in overnight, just prekill a rodent rather than leaving a live one. There is always a chance, however small, that an adult live rodent can seriously injure your snake.

~jenny
-----
"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

I guess you really need to define picky eater - leaving a live feeder in over night would only be used as a last resort for a non feeder.
-----
Tosha
JET Pythons

Musta had a brain fart earlier. Was this just a question for the sake of opinions or do you have a situation? If it's the latter, I hope you remember adults DO go off feed this time of year.

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