How fast can a baby ball eat

My/first/Snake · 07-03-11, 10:04 PM

O.k. so, I dropped a (supposed to be hopper) It didn't hop, seemed like a regular mouse to me, in with my baby ball. So I know it was starting to get hungry, was on the prowl the last two nights. But I heard some commotion in the back of the tank (blind spot), but a few minutes later I saw the mouse again. Some more time went on, then another commotion. Waiting, looking, no sign of the mouse. It was maybe only 15 to 20 minutes since I saw it last. There is a possible mouse sized lump, but hard to tell, hes all curled back up and comfy looking again. Could he have woofed it down that fast?

stephanbakir · 07-03-11, 10:06 PM

Avoid feeding live. PLEASE, try frozen/thawed. You risk killing your snake otherwise.
And yes, he can eat it in sub 20 seconds.

My/first/Snake · 07-03-11, 10:14 PM

Seconds? really? So walk me through the frozen mouse feeding process. How do you go about defrosting (set it out for a couple hours?) Then how do you get a bashful snake to take interest? I know you already advised me on the frozen, but the breeder said to do it this way to get it to eat. (I guess it was used to being live fed) If it doesn't take it, can you refreeze it or put it in the fridge?

My/first/Snake · 07-03-11, 10:16 PM

give me the gruesome details, and I promise I will give it a shot.

stephanbakir · 07-03-11, 10:19 PM

Taken the frozen prey item and thaw it on the counter, or in water. I prefer counter.
Grab it by the tail using hemostats and wiggle it in front of him. (sometimes heating its head with a blow dryer helps (DONT let it get hot)
You can refreeze them.

Coffee Black · 07-03-11, 10:23 PM

Just leave it out a bit. A hopper should thaw fairly quickly at room temp and even faster in warm water. Do not use hot water and DO NOT microwave . Use tongs or long tweezers ( grill tongs will work if you don't have hemostats or big tweezers.) And tease the snake with it. If your bp isn't a pain then he/she should take it immediately. If the snake IS a pain then there are other tricks.

My/first/Snake · 07-03-11, 10:24 PM

O.K. safety first, I would feel horrible if something were to happen to my snake. Thanks, I will get go some frozen on Tuesday.

My/first/Snake · 07-03-11, 10:26 PM

So far, hes already proving to be difficult. So how long should I wait before I should pick him up after he was fed?

stephanbakir · 07-03-11, 10:28 PM

2 days is the preferred time. I wouldn't touch them sooner.

My/first/Snake · 07-03-11, 10:32 PM

O.k. 2 days it is, good to get that first feed in him. We will have to work on the social aspect, gonna make it hard to fed him hiding in the way back like he does. Got my work cut out for me with this one. Oh well, good night guys. AL

Lankyrob · 07-04-11, 05:16 AM

Good advice on feeding f/t but if you MUST feed live then you should do it in totally controlled situations where you can intervene immediately that the prey turns on the snake - much better if you can get it to eat f/t tho. My method of doing the prey dance is to hold the prey by the scruff of its neck - you can then get it to dance with its feet on the floor whic the snake will pick up the vibrations as well as the heat (i warm the skull of the prey against a hot radiator)

stephanbakir · 07-04-11, 07:13 AM

Also, make sure you can SEE the prey item at all times if its alive, but please please try to switch to f/t

kellcore · 07-04-11, 12:52 PM

Now i have always fed live and dont believe in feeding f/t mainly because of rot and if not properly thawed can be worse than just feeding live.

But what are your reasons to feeding f/t?

And please never walk away when feeding live and dont feed live in the same cage they stay in please move them to a cage that is just for feeding when dealing with live you can create aggressive snakes. And feeding live can be very dangerous if you walk away. I made that mistake with my very first snake as a kid and left the mouse in for days it ended up eating my snakes back up.

Lankyrob · 07-04-11, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kellcore

Now i have always fed live and dont believe in feeding f/t mainly because of rot and if not properly thawed can be worse than just feeding live.

But what are your reasons to feeding f/t?

And please never walk away when feeding live and dont feed live in the same cage they stay in please move them to a cage that is just for feeding when dealing with live you can create aggressive snakes. And feeding live can be very dangerous if you walk away. I made that mistake with my very first snake as a kid and left the mouse in for days it ended up eating my snakes back up.

THe biggest threat to our snakes is us introducing it to scenarios where it is danger for no reason. There are no GOOD reasons for feeding live that i can think of. F/t prey is perfectly safe as long as you are sensible when defrosting it - basically treat it as you would your own food and the snake will be fine. Snakes being attacked by live prey is a totally unnecessary scenario.

whoaxmary · 07-04-11, 01:39 PM

Ball Pythons are expecially timid. Rats are expecially crazy.

I don't suggest feeding live unless you have to - I've only done it once recently just to make sure a new addition would eat in general since I knew he ate live before I rescued him.

There is nothing wrong with feed thawed food as long as you're not cooking it, and it is not still froozen. As LAnky said - be senseable. I just pick my rats up and feel them to make sure they're thawed. A little wringle and squeeze.

Move your python somewhere else, I normally use a large cardboard box. Then I either dangle the rat, if that doesn't work right away, I drag in around in circles not to close to my Ball python, or she gets scared and pulls back (whadda baby; imagin if the rat came running at her to take a chunck? She'd more than likely ball up and let it eat her- look at google it has happened.). Normally by then she's interested enough and I can just leave her be in a moment. Sometimes she 'played with ehr food' rekiling it and thrashing it around. When this happens it takes her up to an hour to eat; but the eating process in general is under a minute.