Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone here had a ball python continually constrict a frozen thawed rat but not eat it? Last night I fed my male pied a small/medium rat. Every time I offered it to him he'd take it, atleast 10 times. But never ate it. I thought maybe the rat was too big, so tonight I offered him a smaller F/T rat and he did the same thing. His response was insane, he grabbed it every time like he hadn't eaten in months,constricted it and then spit it out. He's never done this before.

sometimes happens--sometimes i think maybe certain rats/mice/whatever just taste different. i usually just keep giving--wait a week or so and try again
-----
GOOSEBALLS

lamina1982@hotmail.com

some snakes just don't like an audience. give him a couple hours of complete darkness and he may eat it.
-----
Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, an amel tiger retic female, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

I shut off all the lights and left him with the rat over night last night. He didn't eat it.

then feed live, I have never had a snake constrict and not eat. and if it doesn't eat, you aren't out any money.
-----
Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, an amel tiger retic female, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

2 things normally work for me in this situation 1.give him live or 2.f/t mouse. In most cases I go with the f/t mouse since it's been my experience that f/t feeders are more consistent feeders and a f/t jumbo mouse is better than nothing at all.
-----
Dale....dgoins222@yahoo.com
www.LibertyReptiles.com

Just something else to throw out there I have some Balls that will not eat a male rodent ,it doesn’t mater rat or mouse ,live or f/t and I have one that will not eat f/t females ,but she will eat live females but in testing here on this it took me 2 months to get here back on f/t with any consistence . Just thought I’d throw that out there .David

Hello there!

I tried to start out my snakes on f/t.
When they refused, I then had to switch to live.
THEN, one day I tried the f/t., and they ate.

My method: I use a 'feeding chamber'!!!!

I started them off feeding live, in the same tupperware tube. Don't wash it! Let it smell like mice excrement!!!!! (Just let the poop roll out, ha!)

By keeping a "chamber" that they became used too, I was able to "condition" them to "feeding time".

So, morale of the story: Like pavlov, I conditioned my babies to expect food in this "chamber". So one day, I introduced f/t, and low and behold, they think it is the normal rat coming.

Have fun!

I forgot to mention!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, the first time my pastel struck a f/t, he spit it out like a lil' B.
Acted like it was the most disgusting thing he ever tasted!!!!!!

Next time I fed him; I warmed it up more (hotter water & a rat pup), and dried it off very THOROUGHY with paper towels (b/c they are unscented).

He took it like a champ.

Havn't had a prob since.

Again, Good Luck!!!!

The thing is, this male has been eating frozen thawed for a year. He's housed in a rack. I've been keeping ball pythons for 12 years now and 99% of them eat only frozen thawed. It could be that he's a pied. And anyone here who has owned one knows how they can be when it comes to food. One of my female pieds eats great on frozen thawed, but sometimes she won't take a normal rat. She'll want an Afican soft furred.

I don't have quite as many years of experience as you, but I'm just brainstorming some ideas here!

I'm thinking that he is obviously hungry, and with that in mind; the only reason he would spit it out would have to do with taste/texture/smell. Analogous to the obvious example of when we are hungry and bite into something that tastes "off"/ has bones in it/ or has a weird smell.

So maybe trying a pre/killed, or a warmer f/t, or a drier f/t would help?

It's frustrating when they are so picky!!!!

I still like my feeding chamber though!!!! I think it sets the tone w/ the different environment. I almost feel like they'd eat anything in there.

This could just be his way of being off feed for the season - I've run into the same thing with males that aren't quite ready to come back on feed - they'll take and constrict but then not eat.

Other than that - can you run down your thawing, heating and feeding technique - perhaps we can tweak it a bit.
-----
Tosha
JET Pythons