Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings
I'm a new Ball python owner, though I have admired them for a long time. A week ago I acquired my first, a 7 month old normal female who's been feeding on live adult mice. I've been trying to switch over to f/t with not much luck. First I placed it on a dish and left it overnight, and it was ignored. The second time I tried leaving one all day (about 7 hours) and it was also ignored.

According to the breeder (who feeds only live) she last ate on 1/29, and isn't about to shed... Is it possible I need to wait a bit longer for her to get acclimated? Humidity is 40%, temps are 90/80.

My other snake is a male Mexican Black King who has the legendary MBK feeding response. Of course, a vastly different animal.

Any tips are appreciated!

Typically when getting a new snake I leave them alone for 1 week to get acclimated. No interaction at all. After that I try to feed an appropriately sized f/t rat regardless of what they have eatten prior to me owning them.

I set out our f/t rodents in the morning and let them thaw in plastic bags in the herp room. About 2-4 hours before we are going to feed we open the bags and let the room get a bit of the "scent".

I offer at night, usually well after sundown. And typically I also heat up the rodent either by using a heat mat, light bulb, or the microwave for just a second or two on defrost (too long and it's way too hot to offer).

I have had the best success using tongs or hemostats and "dancing" it around the cage after shaking the warmed rodent in the baggie with some fresh rodent bedding. If that doesn't get a strike I'll either lay the dead rodent on top of the coiled snake, or leave it in their hide overnight.

If it's not gone in the morning I give them another week break and try again

After 4 attempts and no response I'll usually offer a live rat or mouse until the snake eats and then I go back to trying f/t for another 4 weeks.

Usually at somepoint they switch....but sometimes if you get an older snake they are alot harder to switch over

Hope that helps!
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John Dague
M.W. Reptiles
www.mwreptiles.com

I should have probably asked....how old is this snake?

The time period before offering live really depends on its age as well as its health and weight upon getting it.

If the snake seems like it could use a meal or two and doesn't eat the f/t right away the first time I would suggest offering live immediately after trying f/t every week until he/she seems to have a good healthy size.

If it's a hatchling the 4 week wait without live is too long, I'd wait at most 2. But then again hatchlings usually are the easiest to switch over . Anything over about 500g and with healthy size could go off for 3-4 weeks and be fine.

Best of luck!
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John Dague
M.W. Reptiles
www.mwreptiles.com

oops...not how old....how much does it weigh?

>>I should have probably asked....how old is this snake?
>>
>>The time period before offering live really depends on its age as well as its health and weight upon getting it.
>>
>>If the snake seems like it could use a meal or two and doesn't eat the f/t right away the first time I would suggest offering live immediately after trying f/t every week until he/she seems to have a good healthy size.
>>
>>If it's a hatchling the 4 week wait without live is too long, I'd wait at most 2. But then again hatchlings usually are the easiest to switch over . Anything over about 500g and with healthy size could go off for 3-4 weeks and be fine.
>>
>>Best of luck!
>>-----
>>John Dague
>>M.W. Reptiles
>>www.mwreptiles.com
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John Dague
M.W. Reptiles
www.mwreptiles.com

I'm pretty sure she's 480 grams... I'm at work at the moment, so I'm not positive, but that number comes to mind.

Thanks for all the great feedback! I think I'm going to feed live this weekend and switch when she's better acclimated. She has a few hides and she's situated in a quiet room. So based on what everybody has said it looks like it's just a matter of patience and comfort.

Like the previous poster said, these guys need quite a bit of acclimation to get comfy enough to eat.

I usually wait at least a week (again, like the previous poster said) before offering any food. My primary concern is usually to get the snake eating what it was eating before (because then I know I am keeping the snake at least as well as the previous owner was), so I offer whatever the previous owner was feeding. If the snake doesn't eat live food within 15 minutes, I remove it and try again in a week. If it doesn't eat F/T or prekilled overnight, I try again in a week.

Right now, the best thing to do is try and minimize stressful things in the snake's life, because stressful things are usually the reason the snake isn't eating. Make sure it's in a quiet room of the house, that it has a few places to hide (on both cool and warm sides of the cage), and don't handle it until it's eaten a few times for you.
If everything else is fine, then all that's left is to wait out the snake.

Just be patient and stick to offering food once a week until it eats.

~jenny
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"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

Try African soft furred rats.

Ball pythons are hard to switch over to F/T. I tried to switch all mine over, and eventually gave up. I feed them all live now. My adults get one small rat each week. Hope this helps.

A bit back I did the EXACT same thing with my male ball, he was 7months same as yours. I gave up on him but a few tricks that normally work according to forums and what not are these:
Try feeding a small mouse and then sliding the head of the thawed in while he's finishing the other
The other trick I'd heard worked for my friend, dip the thawed mouse/rat in chicken broth...Dunno why it works but it did for him, he did it the first 3 times his snake ate for him and then no longer needed to...hope this helps a bit

I used to have 2 ball pythons, now I only have one, but I had tried to switch the male over to F/T for the longest time without any luck. I tried every trick that I have heard of and he would still not eat it... although, he would strike and constrict, just wouldn't eat it, but did get with live. I don't believe my experience is uncommon, I have heard many others having a hard time switching BP to F/T when they are used to live.

Forgive me if I am about to echo other people's answers. I would, like others have said, let the snake be for about a week... don't handle it, just leave it alone. Personally, I would feed live for the first feeding, only b/c that's what the snake is used to and everything else around her is already different. Don't want to stress the snake. When you do offer the F/T, make sure the mouse/rat is at a warm body temperature, just as a live rodent would be. I use feeding tongs and grasp the tail of the rodent and offer it to the snake. Sometimes, if you move it around, you can trick them into thinking it's alive.

Again, I'm sure I have echoed, but that is my 2 cents worth
Good luck with your new BP! They're great!!

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Ball Python
Great Basin Gopher snake
California Kingsnake
Corn Snake
Western Hognose

I didn't read the other posts, so hopefully I'm not repeated anyone. I recently switched one over. I kept offering it f/t rat fuzzies but it refused. If it's used to live, I doubt it would take a dead one left in it's cage. I never did leave them in there, and since yours refused i don't think it's interested. After a few attempts I gave mine a live mouse. Kept trying f/t again. Eventually it took a f/t mouse it killed but didn't eat, and then started taking rat fuzzies for me. Try feeding at night, limit movement, play the rat infront of the snake with tongs to try and make it seem live, and warm it up. I find soaking in warm water warms the rat but I think it washes some of the scent off because my feeding responses I got from those warmed in water were far less than those warmed with a hair dryer. Try that out, and remember, patience.