Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello, my first post, been reading alot i have 2 captive born BP hatched from CB parents, these guys are eating great, they are 1,5 feet , largest diameter of the body i would estimate a 3 inches, they eat great, here is my question i read bp's rarely bite, but i am new to snakes and eager to be educated properly so here goes

i remove with hook, wash hands, feed in separate tank, i just dont trust the one as much as the other she seems to be looking for more food, could i maybe feeding to small, they eat pinkies for snacks and hopper no problem, every 2-3 days if i let them , if i feed larger, will that lessen my chances of being bit, or mistaken for food,, thank you for reading my post

My first post too. I got my first ball pythons six years ago and bred them last year for the first time. My only concern is your food items. If you've got them eating thawed food that's a great start. My suggestion is to go at least to small adult rats, and if they gobble those too easily go to mediums. Pythons need big pieces of food to keep that body mass up, and adult rodents are more nutritious than babies. Moving them to separate cages for feeding is a great idea. Make sure you've got hideboxes, a big dish of water, the temperatures under control and all the usual stuff in your cage and you should be fine.

got everything you mentioned in order from all the educated posts here, but not the sound advice on the rats, i will do that forsure, thank you very much, all advice helps, my 3 year old nephew got me into this, he is a sponge and loves to learn, the daycare was teaching about snakes and he was fascinated so i dove in , he has handled the one but i think i need to learn more and better able to read their body language so i can let him handle more in the future, i wont be letting him handle again for a while just to be safe wouldnt want him to have a bad memory of such beautiful creatures,, thank you

Feeding them in a separate cage should keep them from associating you with food which is one striking problem (and the worst of the two--ouch). The other striking problem is defensiveness; this can be avoided by not making sudden movements within range of the head. Unless they are obviously nasty (wc) creatures you should be able to pick them up by hand. Some hissing is to be expected when you disturb them in their cage; it's the position and movement of the head that's important. Also remember that pythons can sense your body heat as well as see and smell you. Make sure they're good eaters before you really start playing with them, and don't allow small children near a python's unrestrained head.

I have read that you shouldnt handle them for a few days after a feed, so when you feed in a diffrent enclosure, how long do you leave them before you put them back in there normal enclosure. Also, when do most of you feed? I have read that its good to feed them at night, but do any of you feed during the day with the lights on?

i feed in a separate container for both of my balls. as for the letting them sit thing, after they have swallowed their rats, i let them sit for about 30 minutes. i then just gently pick them up and put them back into their cages. the not handling thing comes more into play such as having them out for a long time and letting them crawl all over ect. i then leave them alone for two days before i will take them out to hold them.

as for the light issue i have had some amazing luck with my two balls and feed them normally around 3 or 4 in the after noon. my girl will always strike right away for her p/k rats. my boy on the other hand is a bit more picky. day or night (i have tried both and it doesn't matter which one) he likes it if his feeding box is placed over his heating mat and the p/k rat to lay there for about half an hour, i think he likes the rat to be warmed up a little bit more than it would be normally. this is my speculation and i could be wrong, but i think it's that he likes the warm rats.
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~dana~

1.1 ball pythons (hailex and roxy)
1.0 cat (whiskers)

a good rule of thumbs for feeding your balls is to give them a food item that is a little bit larger than their girth. so if they aren't big enough for adult rats maybe weaned rats would be a good size, that's why my two balls ate when they were about the size that you described, i'm assuming you meant 3 inches in circumfrence and not diameter, that would be a really short fat snake
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~dana~

1.1 ball pythons (hailex and roxy)
1.0 cat (whiskers)