Reptile & Amphibian Forums

but it does have to do with snakes. I have been on this board a lot lately & feel that there are a lot of you with very good experience & advice so I'm wondering what your take is on this. I posted this in the general forum too but thought I'd try here.

A friend of mine was thinking about getting a snake, I talked her into checking out Ball Pythons (sorry...& in a boa forum too!) Anyways, a pet store nearby has a few babies she was looking at and when she was telling me about them she said the guy had told her that he was force feeding them except for one which was eating on its own now (he had to put it in a bag with the pinkies but it would eat on its own). That instantly caught my attention. From everything I have ever heard you should not have to force feed a snake. What I am wondering about is if this is normal for young babies, do a lot of people have to force feed new snakes? Or is this something that would signal that maybe he doesn't know snakes well or take care of them well?
Now, I haven't had a chance to see these snakes myself so I couldn't tell you what the living conditions are, if they look sick or not, or even how old they are. (Although I am interested to see) I have never even been to that pet store myself but I hear they have lots in supplies so I will be going soon to check things out.
Anyways... just interested in your thoughts!
Thanks!!!!
Nicole

Hi Nicole, I breed rainbows, had 83 babies last year and all but two ate on their own no problem. Both of the finicky ones did eat on their own, just took them a while to get started. Balls on the other hand can be finicky but I would ALWAYS recomend NOT buying any animal that is not feeding on their own. Force feeding is not good, can sometimes be necessary but never preferable. Maybe those balls are wc's?

hey,i have a brb and a yellow anaconda idont know too much about ball pythons but from whay i have herd they are trouble eaters, try to find one for your friend that has alwasy been eatting regurly it might be a little hard to find but its better in the long run, you dont want a snake that hasd been forcefed most of its life
i'm no expert but thats my opinion
zack

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1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Yellow Anaconda
1.0 Cat

Nicole,
...Right out of the egg a Ball Python can go many months before taking it's first meal. They hatch with enough fat reserve to last them many months. If they do not get sick they will be fine until they finally get that first meal. If they are sick or stressed they may refuse to eat. At this time of year most of the baby Ball Pythons offered for sale in US pet stores are imports. Some of these imported babies are in good shape and some of them are not. The ones that are not in good shape usually are having problems because of too long a time in waiting or transport in suboptimal conditions. They will refuse to eat because they are sick or stressed. Rather than force feeding them which just adds to the stress the store owner should be trying to figure out what is wrong with them and correcting it. I would advise against buying a Ball Python that is being force fed.
Jeff

>>but it does have to do with snakes. I have been on this board a lot lately & feel that there are a lot of you with very good experience & advice so I'm wondering what your take is on this. I posted this in the general forum too but thought I'd try here.
>>
>>A friend of mine was thinking about getting a snake, I talked her into checking out Ball Pythons (sorry...& in a boa forum too!) Anyways, a pet store nearby has a few babies she was looking at and when she was telling me about them she said the guy had told her that he was force feeding them except for one which was eating on its own now (he had to put it in a bag with the pinkies but it would eat on its own). That instantly caught my attention. From everything I have ever heard you should not have to force feed a snake. What I am wondering about is if this is normal for young babies, do a lot of people have to force feed new snakes? Or is this something that would signal that maybe he doesn't know snakes well or take care of them well?
>>Now, I haven't had a chance to see these snakes myself so I couldn't tell you what the living conditions are, if they look sick or not, or even how old they are. (Although I am interested to see) I have never even been to that pet store myself but I hear they have lots in supplies so I will be going soon to check things out.
>>Anyways... just interested in your thoughts!
>>Thanks!!!!
>>Nicole

Blueeyeddevil,
Personally, I have never seen anything good come from force feeding any snake. I believe, in fact, that it adds to the reason the snake doesn't eat on it's own in the first place. Many petstore owners/managers unfortunately have no idea and no desire to learn how to take care of exotic animals....not all but many are just turning inventory. Force feeding is very stressful to the animal, and if the petstore owner continues to do it he fails to address the problem, if there was one to begin with, that caused it to refuse food in the first place. Tell your friend to check the Kingsnake classifieds, there are plenty of people who still breed normal ball pythons.

Chris O
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www.chrisolsonreptiles.com
Naked I see the camp of those who desire nothing