Best way to feed a new BP?

[GotBalls?]

Hey all,

Just curious, but HOW exactly do you feed your BP's? Do you just put the pre killed feeder in the enclosure at night and hope for the best or?

My guy is very active at night and I'm sure he is hungry as it has been a week since he last fed, i put an adult mouse in for him yesterday, he was interested but didn't touch it. I thought I would try again tonight, with a different one of course... but I wanted to know if there was a better way to do it?

Thanks

Nicole

[elevation24]

Some of mine will eat if I just leave it in the enclosure, some won't. The ones that won't I use tongs and dangle it in front of them or the hide they are in and usually they go right for it.

[Weather1]

My ball eats anytime of the day. I feed her out of her enclosure. I put her into a smaller rubbermaid. Then I add the rat with foreceps. She usually strikes it and eats.

Try feeding her in another enclosure.

[eyespy]

How new is new? If you've had the snake less than a month, it's not a bad idea to go slowly with the feedings. High stress hormone levels means they don't metabolize their food very well so waiting a week after they refuse food isn't a bad idea as long as the snake is in good condition.

[jfmoore]

Hi Nicole –

If I just thawed a rodent and left it in one of my ball python’s cages, whether the snake was 20 years old or 2 months old, I would be willing to bet you a hundred dollars that the food would still be on the cage floor in the morning. Your mileage may vary.

Most experienced herpers who feed frozen-thawed food offer it to the reptile on long tweezers or hemostats. Kitchen tongs will work just about as well. Thaw the rodent however you choose. Heat it up (or at least heat its head up). I do so under an old lamp with a circular reflector. Some people put the rodent in a zip lock bag and then into warm water. Pick up the warm rodent with your tongs and bring it near your python’s heat pits. Bam! Sometimes their initial reaction is to jump away or hide their heads until they get a sniff of what that warm object is. Then, bam! I saw the photo you posted of your new snake – it is definitely used to feeding! Just remember, tongs, warm rodent, make warm rodent move a little bit. Sometimes warmth isn’t necessary; sometimes rodent movement isn’t necessary; but some sort of long holder like tweezers or tongs should always be used.

-Joan

[GotBalls?]

Thanks Joan,

he was feeding very regularly before I bought him, eating adult mice and baby rats. I got mice just cause rats from the local pet store are $$$ and I dn't want to support them in any way, but until I can get some from the local mouse guy I was hoping they would do.

I waited a week, and he is very active in his enclosure at night, constantly looking for a way out LOL.

I tried dangling it in front of him and he was far more interested in just climbing up it and out of there. Doesn't seem to really appeal to him at all, he is much more interested in climbing up my arm. So should I just quit for now and try again in a few days?

Nicole

[morph]

I'm not sure if you did but heat the rodent up esp. around the head and he will probably strike it. Doesn't sound like it was warm enough


scott

[morph]

ooops I just read Joans reply man I should really read all posts before I reply

Scott

[GotBalls?]

I thawed it in warm water then tried to warm it up near a light bulb... not sure if it was warm enough...how warm should it be?

[morph]

use your hair dryer and just make it hot too the touch around the head and offer it head first. This is my best results getter.

Good luck
Scott

[GotBalls?]

hehe I don't have a hair dryer

[jfmoore]

See, this is why buying from a local breeder is such a good thing. You should immediately telephone the breeder (no, wait until, oh 3:00 A.M) and pick his brain for lots of tips. Like, maybe he was only feeding black hooded rats on Tuesdays between midnight and dawn. It’s possible. Maybe the snake is now imprinted on a male food supplier. Maybe the little guy misses the smell of his clutchmates Or maybe not. :D

Okay, so seriously? Well, you sure aren’t going to hurt him by waiting and trying again later. One of the few generalities I feel safe in making about feeding ball pythons is that once I’ve tried for a few minutes and the snake shows absolutely no interest in taking the dead food I’m offering, then it’s usually a lost cause for me to keep trying right then. Try again tomorrow, maybe under subdued lighting. Meanwhile, why not describe for us how you have him set up, your temperatures, and how exactly you’ve tried to feed him thus far?

[morph]

Hey JF why don't you post your # for us too call when we have a problem ;)


Scott

[Tim_Cranwill]

Give Jeff a call... I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help. :)

[GotBalls?]

well fortunately for Jeff I won't call him at 3 am LOL.. I emailed him some questions though and hopefully will find out exactly what he was doing with him feeding wise so i can recreate the situation.

I know for a fact that he has been eating both fuzzy rats and adult mice.. Jeff gave me his feeding schedual when I got him. He was eating once or twice a week, so he wasn't a problem before thats for sure.

I have him in a 26L rubbermaid, warm side is 94, cooler end is around 80. He has two hides, one on each end, the rubbermaid is being heated by a human heat pad. He gets natural light in my room from about 8am to 4pm, he is in my room so there isn't alot of activity in there to disturb him.

I tried yesterday to feed him a mouse, but I know how that it probably wasn't warm enough. I just put in the enclosure and he totally ignored it.

Today I actually got to try feeding him while he was out and about in his enclosure, and at first the mouse probably still wasn't warm enough.. I tried wiggling is around in front of him and stuff,, and if I moved it subtly along the ground he would slowly follow it, but he would lose interest pretty fast and just try and climb up my arm. He did one time open his mouth and adjust his jaw while he was looking at the mouse.. not sure if that means anything...

[morph]

I mean JFMoore not Jeff favelle man that little smart *** joke could have blown up in my face :medclown:

Scott

[maiden_canada]

try to drop the warm side to 88-90. just keep bugging jeff, ball pythons are picky eaters too you know, maybe you got him at an unlucky time hehe

[TannimBP]

When feeding my BP she gotta so that unless its dark she just runs away from it even after warming the rat to room temp then running hot/warm water over it Funny thing is That now after all this time its like she suddenly become afraid of all thing PINKIES the pinkie will move towards her and she just either ignores it or runs away from it. I feed her outside of her cage in a seprate enclosure. I still find it funny that of all things to be afraid of she is afraid of pinkies....

[GotBalls?]

actually Jeff was the one who told me to have it that warm on the warm side...

[Tim_Cranwill]

TannimBP, bp's don't really eat pinkies (not that they don't but they might not recognize it as food)... unless you mean pinkie rats... aka rat pups.

They usually like food with fur though. :)

[MajickSprings]

I feed my BP in a seperate enclosure as well. She lives in a 55 gallon aquarium and I feed her in a rubber maid container. I'm not sure what size it is but it's not big enough for her to stretch out. I tried feeding her in the bigger one that she could do that in and she would have nothing to do with her meal. I put the rat into the container first and then put her in it, close the lid and put the container in my closet where it's nice and dark. 15 to 30 minutes later the rat is gone.

[sideshowbob]

I had my ball for a month before he ate, but since I found the right temp (warm to the touch) he strikes every time usually once or twice a week now, I use tongs and feed him in a copy paper box too
but yea right temp and a little dangling and bam every time! usually feed him at night too.

[jfmoore]

Originally posted by morph
Hey JF why don't you post your # for us too call when we have a problem ;)


Scott


You betcha! You folks can call me ANYTIME at 613-992-4211.

And what's with that JF stuff? Don't be so formal. Please call me Joan.

[Tigergenesis]

I had the same problem. Seemed interested, climbing everywhere but no strike. I think my problem wasn't it just wasn't warm enough. I thaw in a baggie sitting in warm water. Once it's warm to the touch I lay on the light fixture for awhile. then I flip it for a couple of seconds, put it in with tongs, dangle it (he's really more interested the warmer it is) and if he doesn't strike right away I let it drop and the stimulates him to strike. I just don't think I was getting it warm enough. I tried the hair dryer and a heating pad but I think in the short time it took for me to then get it to the tank it cooled too much. Good luck!

[jfmoore]

By the way Nicole, just one question regarding your temperatures. When you say the warm end is 94 degrees, do you mean the air temperature gets that high, or there’s a small spot on the cage floor that gets that high from your heating pad?

Many breeders keep their animals in tubs in racks and provide heat by running heating products in strips down the back of the entire unit. So that could mean, for instance, that just the surface of the small back wall on a snake’s container gets as hot as 94 degrees. And the snake might rest up against it or very close to it. But a ball python would not often choose to rest its entire body on a floor temperature of 94 degrees for long. And, most assuredly, it wouldn’t tolerate an internal body temperature of 94 well. See the differences? Sometimes even when someone gives you specific numbers it’s not totally clear what they’re referring to.

When I measure the surface temps of my hatchling and juvenile ball pythons, I usually find they’re choosing to maintain around 83, usually never higher than 85 when digesting a meal. The situation is somewhat different for adults.

-Joan

[Syco]

Hey Joan! Do you live in Southern Illinois?
Just wondering if you are close to me.

[lilyskip]

well, it's not too hard to make sure it's warm enough...just touch it. it shouldn't be hard (i.e., frozen) and it should feel warm. you can also try prekilled, because you KNOW that those will be a decent temperature (that's how I got my bp to take his first rat). Mine will definitely not eat if I leave it on the floor of his enclosure. I need to wiggle it around a little, or he'll lose interest.

you can also try tapping your bp on the side of the body with the food. that seems to stimulate some kind of aggression/feeding response, and they strike. once they've got the food in their mouth from the strike, though, instinct usually kicks in and they eat it.

pythons determine an item is food via heat and movement. keep that in mind. :D

[Soul_Reaper]

What i do with mine mostly is, i take off the top of the enclosure and lift her burrow up, then using the foreceps i slightly dangle the pup in front of her nose (not touching it) for about 10-15 seconds, then i put her burrow down and leave the pup right at the entrance of her burrow (half body in/half body out) and that works like a charm.

It usually doesn't take her more than 2 minutes to come out smelling it then she retreats, 2 minutes later you can see the pup being slowly dragged into the burrow.

It's quite cute to see actually, she's so shy! lol!

[joshm]

If its been eating rats then that might be what it wants, sorry if someone siad to try this I just skimmed through the thread. Sometimes when a snake gets imprinted on a certain food it won't take anything else. Just a thought. Good luck
Josh

[jfmoore]

Originally posted by Syco
Hey Joan! Do you live in Southern Illinois?
Just wondering if you are close to me.

No, I'm all the way at the other end of the state. Southern Illinois is a great place for herping, though!

-Joan

[AshleyL]

my little bp won't eat unless i thaw the rat in hot water. I tried thawing it with heat lamps, but no dice. ah well the water is good for her. i put hot tap water in a tupperwear with the rat for 5 mins before i offer it to her and that seems to do the trick. makes it nice and toasty. Also, if she's part-way in her hide and I dangle it in front of it she'll dive out and bite it eventually. I guess they feel more secure on their own turf.

[GotBalls?]

Thanks everyone,

Joan~ the temp of the bottom of the rubbermaid, under the Orchid bark, is 94. The air temperature is around 80, and on top of the orchid back is alot cooler than the actually bottom of the rubbermaid which he is actually only touching if he burrows under the bark.

i got some tips from Jeff about what he used to do, said he would feed them when they were in thier hide with thier head stickin out, not to try when they are out exploring.. problem is I can't seem to catch him when he is doing that. He is either all the way in, or all the way out LOL.

Nicole

[elevation24]

If he's in his hide and you dangle it in front there's a good chance he'll pop his head out and strike :) It's kind of a pain in the *** when you can't even see their head because you can't really see them when they are getting ready to strike at you, a bit startling usually.

One of my males almost never came out of his hide for the first few weeks I had him, unless he was coming out after I went to sleep (which is usually 12:00 - 1:00AM). I never saw him anyway. He was in a shed when I received him that went bad most likely on his overnight trip here (since the little bit of skin that was gone was in the container he was in), but he was an awesome feeder. He'd start striking like crazy almost instantly after I dangled rats in front of him.

Now that he's coming out and about and exploring every night he's been harder to feed!!! :p

[GotBalls?]

yeah, my guy didn't come out until I was asleep the first couple days but now he's almost never in his hide! he is very curious and is always out and about so It is very hard to try and feed him when he's in it. The hide he prefers though has a very small opening so it makes it even harder to feed him. I'm wondering if I should make the opening bigger...

[morph]

Small opening is probably why he likes it so I would just leave it. Balls really like a tight spot the tighter the better.

Scott

[morph]

Note too self proof read before submitting.

Sorry kiddies

scott

[GotBalls?]

LOL.....that post really puts ones mind in the gutter doesn't it....

[morph]

It's weird how you don't notice when you're typing but as soon as it posted and I saw it !!!!

Scott

[ballpython101]

i change the hide spot to a cereal box and that night i stunt the mouse, then i place the mouse in the tank right under the heat lamp.... she wont come out for a while but when i take pics u can see she gets closer n closer..... then i fall asleep like 2am then i wake up to go to the bathroom n the mouse is gone.... she will be in her hide box for the whole day wont come out until the next night... but i check to hide box to see if she ate ! try it n see ! keep the tank hot like 91+...... i feed her mice !

[IMO]

I feed mine in a shoebox size rubbermaid box. It has never failed. My snake will usually strike within 2 minutes or sooner. I ususally keep the lights off. Mine will eat most anytime.