Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My bp ate after refusing 2 mice. I gave him a large adult and another small adult. I found though that now he will not strike or begin to swollow if there is any light in the room. I must have all lamps off and the blinds closed for him to eat. He has never done this before. Does anyone else have any balls that are very picky about the conditions when they feed?
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1.0 ball python (vakker)
0.1 dogs
2.1 cockatiels
1.1 chinchillas
Coming soon... 1.1 corn snakes
0.1 axanthic ball python

lol! I just came to make a post with the same topic line. Although my circumstances are a bit different.

I just got my snake Friday, and fed him for the first time today. I went ahead and fed him live and in the enclosure for the first time, to be sure that I got a feeding response. Like you said, I turned off all the lights and closed the blinds, but I did that anyway just to play it safe, I hadn't tried any other way.

It was pretty exciting, he took down two adult mice. The first one, I grabbed by the tail and dangled it in front of the entrance to the hide he was in. I did it for a while, and didn't get a response. So, I dropped the mouse in and waited.

I waited and watched for a couple of minutes and I finally saw his little head poking out of the hole. Finally, the mouse wandered back over to that side of the tank, and....WHACK. Got 'em.

I left him alone for a little bit to get it down, and left the other mouse in the box on top of the screen lid. By the time I came back, he was already hunting for the other mouse. He made pretty short work of that one.

Overall, it was very exciting, because I was definately worried about the first time. Especially because the snake is underweight in the first place.

WACHA!
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1.0 ball python (vakker)
0.1 dogs
2.1 cockatiels
1.1 chinchillas
Coming soon... 1.1 corn snakes
0.1 axanthic ball python

Was it a live, prekilled, or frozen/thawed mouse? I've got a picky eater and am open to suggestions.

Thanks,
Mark

My bp will only eat live food. He totally ignores f/t though I am trying to get him on to it.
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1.0 ball python (vakker)
0.1 dogs
2.1 cockatiels
1.1 chinchillas
Coming soon... 1.1 corn snakes
0.1 axanthic ball python

Thanks! That's the only thing I haven't tried yet (I've been trying to feed pre-killed). Guess I'll give it a try/

Mark

You might want to move from live to fresh killed, then to f/t. That's worked for me in the past.
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1.1 Ball Python 0.0.1 corn snake 1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish 1.2 cats 3.1 kids 1.0 husband and now...
0.0.1 Pink Zebra Beauty Tarantula