Best way to feed a new BP?

[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.

[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