Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, long time browser, first time poster here! Really enjoy this forum! This ball python (1.0) I've kept for the better part of a year has been so docile and has fed readily without fail since he arrived. He still eats like a hog; the only difference is he is now feeding on pre-killed rat pups and absolutely loves 'em. My question refers to his lunging at my hand/arm when I go to do maintenance on his enclosure or just change the water. Yes, he is due a shed, but hasn't gone blue yet. However, he has been lunging at me since the new prey items were introduced about a month or month and a half ago. He also has exhibited some interesting possessive behaviour when I jiggle the rats with my 15" tweezers--this snake will bum-rush the tweezers and lie on the rat until he feels like it's safe to eat. Could he now either perceive me as a threat or maybe just as the food source? Before the pre-killed mice, he was on live petstore mice that I would just pour into his enclosure and maybe he didn't realize that it was me doing it. Another guess would be perhaps he is now sexually mature and is experiencing a surge of hormones--has anyone heard of that? Thanks for reading this far and thanks for any suggestions.

I would say that the snake associates your opening the cage to feeding. Start taking him/her out and feed in a different enclosurer. What is happening is that you are conditioning the snake to think that it will be feed when the door is opened. Also start taking him/ her out several times a errk to just hold it then it will remove the idea of eating when you oppen the door. I had a big problem with a retic that would lounge anytime I open the door because I always fed her in the cage and didn't handle her often enough.
Griff

i would say he is ready to be bumped up a size in food. You say you have had him for a year, and he is feeding on rat pups.
My 2 week old hatchlings first meal was a ratpup, a couple of the hatchlings just took their second meal, which were frozen thawed rat pups (first ones were live).
Granted i had very big hatchlings (around 100 gr. each) but still.....yours should be ready for weaned rats or small rats.
He might just be hungry.
I have always fed my snakes IN their cage, esp. Ball pythons, which can be shy and some won't feed if disturbed (taken out of regular enclosure). I never had a snake turn "mean" on my just because of feeding in their cage.
Simply keep doing maintenance (cleaning , waterchanges) and take your snake out every now and then, and it won't expect food every time you open the cage. If you have a Ball Python that is so focused on food (like a Burm or Retic would be) he might really just be hungry, and a rat pup won't fill him up at all or for long....just a thought....
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reps-r-us

I am wondering about the size of mice/rats to feed a snake? I had been feeding my ball adult mice, and I took him to the guy where I get my mice from, so that he could tell me what sex he was, and he said that I should only be feeding him hoppers, because the mice were hard on his digestive system, my ball is about 17 inches long, I dont really know how old he is, I am guessing about 8 months old. Does this sound right? He feeds really well, so the last two times I fed him, I fed him two hoppers. Please advise???

Here is a picture of him if that helps

well, you were told a load of crap!!!!!!
my smallest hatchling took 2 hopper mice and that was a small meal.
I am totally against "power-feeding" but you should at least feed an appropriatly sized meal. Even if that hand in the picture is a childs hand, your Ball Python should easily be able to take adult mice or wean to small rats.
Try to feed pre killed or frozen thawed, at that size rodents can deliver painful bites.
Mice hoppers for that Ball Python is a joke....sorry.
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reps-r-us

How do I pre-kill? I was going to start doing that at one time, and my kids said "nooooooo mom, don't do that". And I don't think he will take frozen, but I haven't tried either. What would be the best way to find out if he will take frozen?

Thanks, reps-r-us. A couple other members also said pretty much the same thing, too--thanks guys. I will definitely be using a Rubbermaid tub to feed my bp in from now on and handling him more often whether he likes it or not. Next question refers to the rat pups I mentioned. They are the size of adult mice--that's the only reason I agreed to buy them. The vendor said he was out of mice at the time. When my ball was still on live petstore mice back in August, I increased not only the number of mice but also the frequency of feeding times. So he went from two mice twice a month to three mice four times a month and of course he never turned his nose up to any of the mice--devoured them with relish. One night, he had a bad case of diarrhea with really loud farting and what little solid feces he passed were filled with undigested mouse bones. I feared he may have not been warm enough or had been eating too much. I increased the temperature on the cool side of his enclosure and laid off feeding for a couple weeks to let him recover, then began with the two mice(now rat pups)twice a month routine again. He's doing great now, but should he eat just a little more? He was due to shed this week, but hasn't--not eating/growing enough? Thanks for any help.
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"...thought the boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest." - Plutarch

feed your snake in a container other then its cage. it will associate you opening the cage with being fed and bite you thinking your food.
deffinatly feed it bigger food. full sized mouse or even better, a rat the size of an adult mouse. and always feed f/t or prekilled.
people say a snake that eats live food might have a bad temper. so maybe thats another reason its aggresive.
hope i helped...