Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 5 adult ball pythons that I am trying to get on feed frozen/thawed. I am alergic to live rats and the smell sets off some major asthma attacks. I hope I can get them over to dead or they will have to go.

Well, If they are adults it may be a little more hard to switch them to frozen.

First question...... Where did you get them from? The previous owners should be able to give you advice on their feeding history.

I'm assumming that you must be in a situation where either you inherited/ been left with/ or moved in with someone who has ball pythons.

And really, it's not like the rats are going to be around for long!!!!!!!! I'm sure there are plenty of things you come across that you are allergic too on a day to day basis, but this will not be a constant infiltration on your breathing air if they are only fed once a week. and it would only be in the span of an hour once a week: an hour out of 168. You'll be fine, trust me.

To get them to eat dethawed rats, I recommend an opperant conditioning technique. You will have to start out with live, though.

Get a container that you will feed them in outside of their cage, prefferably a shallow one with a lid. Feed them live mice/rats for a while. This will condition them to expect food in this particular container.

After a couple months, try a warm dethawed rat. Use the container lid/ or tongs to protect your fingers while you wiggle the food in one corner of the container. Don't make dramatic movements, just make the food move.

Hopefully they will strike and eat.

If you can't handle that, I recommend you give them to someone who can.

Ball Pythons are great snakes! You should easily find someone who will want/enjoy them!

Good Luck!

Just in case.

Don't microwave the frozen food. Use warm water from the tap to dethaw, then dump that out, and use more warm water to warm it up. Dry it off with a paper towel, or something else that doesn't smell like detergent/ink.

Also, Use either a glove or towel if you plan on returning the snakes to their cage immediately after eating. The conditioning technique will make them think that anything coming into the feeding container is food. You don't want them to mistake your fingers for food. They are excited and don't know better, 'cause they wouldn't strike if they knew it was you. They don't always see that well.

Read as much as you can, and ask as many questions you can; if you plan on keeping them.

Of course, feed them seperately!