Discouraged ball.

[Wish fire]

My baby ball has been feeding off live adult mice fine for over a month, but yesterday when he started to constrict the mouse the mouse fought back and bit him, now he wont eat... he's petrified of mice, he wont even eat prekilled....anyone have any suggestions to get him eating again?
-wish fire-

[Tim_Cranwill]

That's too bad... but it only happened yesterday. Give him a week or two to settle in and he will likely eat again. :)

[sapphire_moon]

and that is why everyone is so persistant about switching to p/k or f/t. Lucky you were there to get the mouse before it really did damage.

[annieb_mice]

Unfortunately, this is the problem of feeding live prey. :( I'm sure others can offer great suggestions for switching snakes over to pre-killed prey, and I really don't feel all that qualified to say anything. But next time, maybe try offering a "stunned" mouse... if it is still twitching, your snake should have no problems taking it. :)
Take care
Annie B. <:3 )~~

[nita]

When mine were eating live that happened also. The only good that came of it was that after she didnt' want live but if I wiggled a dead one she would take it. She ate 2 weeks after the incident but she was shedding inbetween which is why she missed a week.

[Invictus]

It really sucks if you've tried everything in your power to get a BP to eat prekilled prey, and they just won't. We even have one that went on a hunger strike since November of last year, and just took her first meal last week - but we had to give her live mice. If you haven't done so previously, please try to get your snake on to prekilled prey. If not, a safe option is severely stunned - whack them just hard enough so they still twitch, but can't fight back.

[Vengeance]

I've got sorta the same problem, except my ball get's dicouraged when the dead prey fights back, lol. I put a F/T rat in my balls cage the other night and usually I leave it overnight, so after i stuck the head of the rat inside his hide I was walking away and I heard a large thump. My ball struck but he missed the rat completly and hit his head on the side of his hide. He wasn't very hungry after that, lol. But try again next week and I'm sure he'll try for it again, but like everyone suggested, try and get him on prekilled do prevent something like this from happening again.

[knoerr3232]

I have tried everything..( as some of you may know). My snake was feeling kind of bony so I gave him a live mouse, he ate it within 5 minutes. I have a huge fear of him getting hurt as he grows and needs larger prey, but Im afraid he will starve before he gets to that point. Can those of us who have fussy snakes feed a few small mice a week as opposed to one rat, or whatever, once a week? I know its a little more costly, but if its ok, I would rather spend the money. Any oppinions would be helpful.

[sapphire_moon]

if your snake is losing weight like that then you should probably get a fecal done or take the snake to the vet.

A "few" mice a week would be more like 8 mice a week for an adult bp, maybe more!