Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So many of you may be familiar with my feeding quandries but it's gotten to be a real pain in the rear so here's some updates/questions (sorry this will be long)

I have 2 BPs:

One male (Harvey) 3yrs from Regal Reptiles in RI, always been active & healthy, eats 5-6 adult mice weekly, will only take live & I won't give him live rats.

One female (Dr. Girlfriend) 3yrs rescued, active & healthy but thin, readily taking 1 sm. F/T rat weekly off tongs.

My questions..

Harvey: I've spent years trying to convince him to take F/T. I had success only one time feeding 3 live mice followed by a sm. F/T rat which he took. Since then he will take live mice, refuse F/T (rat OR mouse). Refuses live mice on tongs. Refuses stunned sm. rats (they wake up, I remove them). I've tried all the F/T tricks (soiled bedding, live rat/mouse/gerbil scenting, de-braining, etc.) I ALWAYS prescent the room. No dice. Tips?? If not, any idea where to get weaner rats (some say they bite less..) in the northern MA area??

Dr. Girlfriend: AWEsome feeding response, will take whatever I give her.. Last 2 times she ate, she regurged. The first time was 2 F/T sm. rats, regurged 3 days later, 1 whole rat & the other almost fully digested. 7 days later tried 1 sm. F/T rat & another regurge almost a week later. Temps/humidity are great, & are the same in both tanks. The last time I fed her I wasn't too thrilled with the appearance of the rats.. Can quality be the reason for the vomiting? If so, how can I get quality F/T feeders for ONE snake without getting more than I need?

Thanks for reading.. it's been a tough spring. Any help is GREATLY appreciated!!

-Tami*

I guess I'm lucky, all of mine eat live mice or rat from tongs. I never leave mice/rats in the tank with them but they usually eat pretty much anything..I tried f/t with one of my females when she was little...she didn't want any part of it. It would be alot cheaper if I could get them all to eat f/t though.

you really need to wait at least two , preferrably three weeks before re-attempting to feed a re-gurge critter.
have fresh water present at all times.
if you wait three weeks, feed a smaller than usual meal, and still get a visit from a rat you thought you'd seen the last of,
you may have an intestinal parasite.(not YOU... your snake)
this of course assumes all of your husbandry is fine.
check you animal's environment.
ck

Ok.. I'd always been told one week. Especially since she was cruising around acting starved! Perhaps I should wait longer; thanks for the info.

Also.. I had stool samples from both snakes checked (I work at a vet so it's easy) and no ova seen!

I bet they were wondering why you followed them around with a baggie, lol. Hope they get to eating soon.

So.. If he will eat live mice.. What's the problem? Why does he HAVE to be on rats, if he's eating just fine on mice?

Why are you giving an adult male 6 mice a week?! That's the equivalent of feeding him a large rat, which he definitely doesn't need. Try 2, maybe 3 a week. None of my males fasted through the winter, even while breeding, and they all get 2-3 mice a week to every 2 weeks. Big, fat males are lazy, and lazy males don't breed.

With the regurging female, don't feed for 3 weeks and keep the stress level low. Possibly put her in a tub enclosure or add some more cover and hiding places.
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-Becky Brown, RVT-
1.0 Lemon Pastel Classic Jungle,1.0 Black Pastel,1.0 Enchi,1.0 Yellow Hypo,0.1 100% het Butterscotch Hypo,0.1 66% Poss Het VPI Hypo,3.24 Normals,1.1 Spider,1.1 Yellowbellies(BHB),1.0 100% Het Pied Classic Jungle,1.3 66% Poss Het VPI Axanthic, 1.1 Poss Het VPI Snow,1.1 100% het Genetic Stripe

I kind of agree with HOTregius, if he eats live mice well and doesn't get bit a lot, let him. Have the tongs ready to deflect mouse bites after he strikes them. Unless he is a bad aim, most snakes can live long unbitten lives on live rodents. It sucks, but he is the one who chooses what to eat in the end.
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http://darkbloodwyvern.deviant.com

I feed him 6 because he will eat 6.. After each one he looks for another, until he is full (around 5 or 6). I will not be breeding him, so I don't mind if he is lazy.

He's only looking for another one because he's still in feed mode. Some of my females will eat 6-8 if I let them, but they don't need 2 large rats worth of weight in food. It all just goes out the back end when it's not used. Try 3 and let him be for a week. Once they get out of feed mode, thye go settle down to digest. In nature, Ball Pythons are opportunistic feeders, meaning if they find a nest of rodents, they will consume the whole shebang ONLY because it's there and they don't know when the next meal is coming. Once they realize there aren't any more coming, they calm down. He knows that you'll keep giving them to him.

So! He's just going off of his instincts. If you want him to feed consistently and live a long healthy life without being obese(ever done a necropsy on a snake that was overfed? I have), then slow down on the meal sizes.
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-Becky Brown, RVT-
1.0 Lemon Pastel Classic Jungle,1.0 Black Pastel,1.0 Enchi,1.0 Yellow Hypo,0.1 100% het Butterscotch Hypo,0.1 66% Poss Het VPI Hypo,3.24 Normals,1.1 Spider,1.1 Yellowbellies(BHB),1.0 100% Het Pied Classic Jungle,1.3 66% Poss Het VPI Axanthic, 1.1 Poss Het VPI Snow,1.1 100% het Genetic Stripe