Odd Feeder

[Gungirl]

So I have a ball who is about 9 months old..He has been in my care for 4 months. I have switched him from eating live to eating frozen!!! The odd thing is he only will take the food if Me or my fiancee is holding him! The first few times I was moving him into a feeding bin that had the food in it he took the food before I was able to put him down and I never thought anything of it. He recently went on a strike and refused for almost 5 weeks. I was putting the rat into the feeding bin after I put him in. Well last night I put the rat down into the feeding bin and was holding him and he took it right away... such a spoiled brat he is! I am hopeful that next week I can get him to take it without me holding him. It seems that he is very shy when not in my hands but when we hold him he acts like a big tough guy.. lol

[Lankyrob]

Have you tried feeding in his own enclosure? He may feel more secure in there?

[stephanbakir]

Have you tried feeding in his own enclosure? He may feel more secure in there?
^^^
And its risky to be potentially in the line of fire of a feed more reptile.

[whoaxmary]

I've never heard of a ball python doing this. ;/
It's how my corn eats though. But like a said, ball python vs corn = big diff. My little girl just scoops down, picks it up and quickly eats it. No striking out or anything.

[Gungirl]

I have tried to feed in his viv and he ignored it.. I left it over night 3 times. idk I dont want to let him go long with out eating seeing as he is only 390grams and when he went 3 weeks without eating he lost 20grams... I am going to start trying other ways of feeding him slowly over time.. I don't want to have to try and feed him while holding him when he gets any bigger!

[NennaMeerkat]

Well if you are holding him and then the rat/food item is on the ground then maybe you can just deal with the oddity. To me it is whatever it takes to get him to eat!

[TeaNinja]

when i started feeding f/t my bp didn't want to eat outside the enclosure either. if they feel that they need to strike and kill the live prey it activates them more. if they just see the dead prey sitting there they are less inclined to eat, in my experience. i've been feeding my bp his f/t in the viv ever since then. he and my other snakes never miss a feed, except my adult dum when he went off for breeding season.

[snakesRkewl]

Funny story....

I sold a friend a black pastel male and a month later gave him an asf to feed it and told him to be careful, asf's are hoppy lil turds. Did he listen, not a chance.
So the Asf gets loose behind his dresser where he can't get to it without moving the whole dresser, so he grabs the snake, holds onto it with one hand and reaches behind the dresser with the snake in hand and the snake snatched up that asf from the corner. H then puts the snake with asf in it's jaws back into it's tub to finish it's meal. lol

holding a snake while it strikes at it's prey is pretty awesome, as long as it's strike isn't at you all good :P

[stephanbakir]

Sadly, I've done that. Freaking cat brought a live bat into the house and I couldn't catch it, it flew into a cabinet so I sent the snake in.
Only time in years that I've fed live. The darn thing was annoying the crap out of me though.

[Lankyrob]

Funny story....

I sold a friend a black pastel male and a month later gave him an asf to feed it and told him to be careful, asf's are hoppy lil turds. Did he listen, not a chance.
So the Asf gets loose behind his dresser where he can't get to it without moving the whole dresser, so he grabs the snake, holds onto it with one hand and reaches behind the dresser with the snake in hand and the snake snatched up that asf from the corner. H then puts the snake with asf in it's jaws back into it's tub to finish it's meal. lol

holding a snake while it strikes at it's prey is pretty awesome, as long as it's strike isn't at you all good :P

Pretty awesome until the snake crushes your hand and or decides to attack you as well.

[Gungirl]

Lol ok, thats pretty funny but I have to say that I would rather not have to hold the snake while it eats.

[snakesRkewl]

Pretty awesome until the snake crushes your hand and or decides to attack you as well.When is the last time an 800 gram ball python crushed anyone's hand?
I'm pretty sure I can fend off an attack and save my family from certain doom :rolleyes:

Thanks for your concern though:)

Lol ok, thats pretty funny but I have to say that I would rather not have to hold the snake while it eats. Of course not, I have done it but it's not something I want to do either, but when you need an asf from a tight corner and the snake will happily oblige then why not?
Unless of course your ball python crushes hands and attacks you...

[Lankyrob]

I had a similar situation where and adult CORN grabbed prey whilst still in my hands moving him to the feed tub and he managed to crush my hand and damage couple of the bones - am pretty sure a BP can crush harder than a corn - and what i meant by attack you is the fact that it is gonna be in feed mode and is likely to bite anything thing with a decent heat signature - i am not implying he will eat you and your family as i do have some sense.

[snakesRkewl]

i am not implying he will eat you and your family as i do have some sense.I wasn't implying that you had no sense, please don't take it that way.
After you've been bitten by 3000+ gram females sitting on eggs an 800 gram male seems pretty innocuous.
I'm not afraid of getting bit by any ball python(unless it's in the face obviously) but a bite from a hungry 800 gram male usually makes me laugh unless it ended up hurting his teeth.

OP: As long as the snake eats and nobody gets hurt in the process it's all good.

[KD35WIN.AS.ONE]

I wasn't implying that you had no sense, please don't take it that way.
After you've been bitten by 3000+ gram females sitting on eggs an 800 gram male seems pretty innocuous.
I'm not afraid of getting bit by any ball python(unless it's in the face obviously) but a bite from a hungry 800 gram male usually makes me laugh unless it ended up hurting his teeth.

OP: As long as the snake eats and nobody gets hurt in the process it's all good.


Ive take one to the face from a BP... not going to explain why hahaha

[stephanbakir]

I wasn't implying that you had no sense, please don't take it that way.
After you've been bitten by 3000+ gram females sitting on eggs an 800 gram male seems pretty innocuous.
I'm not afraid of getting bit by any ball python(unless it's in the face obviously) but a bite from a hungry 800 gram male usually makes me laugh unless it ended up hurting his teeth.

OP: As long as the snake eats and nobody gets hurt in the process it's all good.

You do know there are multiple kinds of bites right? and most of them the snake releases instantly.
If the snake is in FEED mode, he will bite and constrict to kill. An 800 gram snake can royally push your...pebbles? in if he wants to.