The Christmas python

[Pogie]

Well as some of you know I have this young ball python. I have him all set up in my spare tank.

I've not messed with it since I set him all up. I tried feeding him yesterday. Now I don't want to sound mean but this little guy/girl seems to be a bit on the dim side. At first it wanted nothing to do with the baby rat. So I tried a mouse, he did take interest in the mouse, but acted like he was afraid of it. I started to drag the mouse around in the tank. He finally did come out of his hide to follow it. I could see he "wanted" it but still just kind followed it around.
Then finally he slowly bit it. Then he let it go. So I warmed the mouse up again and tried the dead mouse crawling bit again. This time he did grab it with gusto. Did the whole coil around to kill it bit.

Now the odd part is he didn't act like he knew what to do with it. After about 20 minutes of trying to eat it from the side he gave up. I told my sis I bet he was being fed live food.

Right now I am watching him in his tank. He is out cruising around his tank. I am pretty sure he is hungry since I was told the day I got him was his feeding day. They were feeding him only once every 2 weeks. From what I have read they need food every week when they are babys. Correct me if I'm wrong please.

Don't get me wrong, he looks nice and healthy, not skinny what so ever.

As for the setup, he is in a 40 Gal reptile tank. Has his 2 hides one over the heat mat and one on the cool side. And the heat mat does have a thermostat on it. I have the top covered somewhat to help keep humidity within the range they need. Has a nice big bowl for his water. Actually it's a dog food bowl lol, but it's a good size if he decides he would like to soak in it.

[FWK]

Baby Balls can be goofy, my hatchling Balls dropped a number of rats the first couple of months. Snakes use the odors emitted from a prey items mouth to find the head. So I started opening the mouth of frozen rodents before offering, not only does it help them figure out where to start eating but it can provoke a stronger feeding response as well. Snake dig halitosis. None of my Balls have dropped a rat since I started doing this. I still check on them an hour or so after feeding just to be sure. Since yours in still settling in I'd definitely turn out the lights and leave the room once he takes it so he can eat in peace, just check on him after a while to be sure he ate. Feeding once a week is fine.

[Sylphie]

My 4 months old ball is "weird" too. He'll eat only once every 14 days, so don't worry if you're little one won't eat once in a week. And every time I need to move f/t mouse too, he'll bit it, coil, then leave it... then I'll warm it up again, move it again and that's when he'll bite, coil and eat. And ofc the mices must be really very hot and scented with live mice for him.

And he's soo bad in biting that he often misses his mouse and tries to bite the air/himself