Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi There,

I have recently purchased a male ball python from Ray Hine in the UK. He had been fed on live weener rats but I am trying to feed him on defrosted weener rats. I am warming up the rats by placing them in a bag in warm water and then after a short while removing them and breaking their skull so that there is plenty of scent to get the snake interested. I try and dangle the rat by its tail moving it a little to imitate a live rat but unfortunately the boy just isn't taking it despite showing a good interest and even striking at the rat. oh, and I always try to feed him when it is a bit darker in the evening.

The temperatures are all good and he has plenty of hides to get under and feel secure. I have not handled him as I want him to be eating well before I potentially upset him by getting him out once in a while.

Does anyone have any suggestions as they would be much appreciated?

Cheers

I would try to get him to eat PK first, then try FT. I have had good luck doing it that way.

Hope it helps.

ok, i'm new to all this and I donk know what you mean by pk? But thanks anyway

Pre killed, or fresh killed.

Just get a live rat, then put a rod or something at the base of the head, and give a quick pull on the tail. It's a lot better then just hitting the rats head against something.

Depending on the age of your snake you may just have one that won't switch. When I start to switch an already feeding animal I start off feeding them live food (whatever they have been eating) off tongs. This gets them used to seeing the tongs - I then switch to pre killed off the tongs and then on to frozen thawed. Once they get used to one stage you move them onto another. Sometimes they will step back sometimes they just won't move forward at all. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's a lot of work for nothing. Make sure you have a temp. gun and that you are warming your prey up to about 98* which I think is about 37*C if you are in Europe. LOL.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

So are you saying that if the ball will not take the food it is because you are on metric and it is on english standard?

Last night mine got mixed up with the rat and my hand and split the difference by attacking the tongs. My loving wife then told me to reach in and get them out... she almost got me with that one... I retrived them this morning after the rat was gone and he was asleep. My ig got me over the weekend so I am a bit on the gun shy side right now!
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

LOL, Bryan it's just a little snake bite Bro.

Quig

np
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

LOL Although an iguanas teeth aren't as long, their jaws are certainly stronger then a snakes. That one musta hurt.

Quig

lucky for me it was more of a "your bothering me, leave me alone" bite with not much force behind it.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

Maybe you could try to feed him in total darkness using only a red light. I use this method with some of my picky feeders and it has worked well. The snakes don't seem to be bothered by the tongs or my intrusion so much when I use only the red light. I have one that is a dim spotlight that fits on my head.
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Jared Douglas