I received a 66 percent het pied female for free from a breeder off of craigslist. The breeder said she was healthy, but she would regurge after every meal. He had documents to show a clean bill of health from a reptile vet who had examined the snake for external and internal parasites, so i believe him when he says this snake his "healthy" other than the regurge problem. I took her home and tried a small rat pup for her first meal after giving her a week to adapt to her new home (my quarantine room) I went in the next morning to find the rat regurged and cleaned everything up. I waited 3 weeks before feeding again, i figured her digestive track could use a break (the breeder said he tried feeding weekly and couldn't get her to keep it down). After three weeks i tried feeding her a hopper mouse and she ate it with ease, and kept it down. The next week i fed her 2 hoppers, she kept both down. Last week i fed her two medium mice and she kept both down, shed and defecated. Now my question is, would you guys try switching her back to rats, so that she might be able to make breeding weight by the 2011 season (she's about 600 grams now) or would you play it safe and keep feeding her mice, just to keep her weight steady. I'm open to any and all suggestions, just please no posts about me taking a sick snake into my collection. She's still in quarantine, and will be until she seems to be healthy. And let's be honest, with all the feeding problems, i gotta believe this girl is a het pied, haha.
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question about a picky feeder
Replies (3)
Now, WHAT THE HELL... Just kiddin'! I'd try comparible sized rats and gradually work my way up in size!
I would continue with mice and gradually increase size of them to adult mice. Then increase the number of mice per feeding. After time and success with mice, then try rats. Your main goal now is to get some nourishment into a snake that has been regurging for an unknown amount of time.
Could this ball python possibly have a food intolerence to rats? Just a guess in tha dark....
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Brian Hettinger
480 Pythons
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