Baby Ball problems eating. - Page 3

RIBBIT · 08-17-07, 04:30 PM

mines two months and im feeding him large fuzzies and hes 16" just try large fuzzies

fionak · 08-17-07, 05:09 PM

She's round about 12 - 13 inches long so I think fuzzies are maybe just on the big side for her yet. I got a load of pinkie mice free when I got her so I'll use them up first. I've got some smallish fuzzies in the freezer I'll try her on in about 2 weeks time. By that time the pinkie mice should be eaten. The Pine/Bullsnake eats small mice or rat pups. Couldn't get any rat pups as the shop had run out but I had plenty of small mice.

Got more snake food in the freezer than human food

Barbequed mice anyone?

mykee · 08-17-07, 07:41 PM

Well, I'm going to have to disagree. I've actually acquired maybe 50 balls in the last 7 years or so from other breeders, aside from the few hundred I've produced myself, save for my first two from a pets store. Since I've been doing this seriously though, I have actually asked breeders whom I was getting snakes from to not feed for a week before shipping to me. Half of those 50 were sent via air, and as soon as they get home, I get a meal into them, and they do just fine.
If I were talking about 1 or 2 balls here, maybe it could be chalked up as coincidence, but certinaly that many.
Though I do agree that a week without food is a piss in the bucket for a ball (I've got two adults that haven't taken a meal in almost 2 years) I've had GREAT success feeding as soon as they come in. NEVER a regurg.
Sorry you've never tried it. I find with a full belly, life is just a whole lot easier......

fionak · 08-17-07, 07:53 PM

Interesting comment - "Sorry you've never tried it. I find with a full belly, life is just a whole lot easier......"

I did try it (read my post again) and I ended up with a baby Royal that refused to eat for nearly 3 weeks! The advice I've been given, both from breeders world-wide and here in the UK is not to feed a Royal for the first week. Advice I've followed since then and so far I haven't had any more problems.

mykee · 08-18-07, 12:07 PM

Guess I'm just lucky 50 times over then......
Reptile husbandry has come a LOOOOOONG way in the last 25 years. If the "pioneer" reptile keepers did what they they heard or read, we would all be housing our ball pythons in fish cages, using an overhead UVB for heat, and feeding them live gerbils and hamsters.
It's good to try something new and not just "status quo" it.
You might just find something that works for ya'.
I'm was just offering up an alternative that has worked for me.

fionak · 08-18-07, 03:14 PM

Sometimes I wonder if things have come anywhere at all.

Last year we got a rescue Cornsnake who had been kept in an old fishtank. No hides, filthy Aspen substrate and not even fresh water. His water bowl was bone dry

Worse still he had an unguarded household lightbulb for a heatsource, not even on a thermostat (so he was either too hot or too cold) and the inevitable had happened. He got badly burned. The burns were healed up by the time I got him but have left deep scarring all down one side

He's a lovely snake - beautiful colours and very friendly. He was also underweight so the previous "owners" (if you can call them that) obviously couldn't be bothered feeding him either.

Happy to say he's well looked after now and really quite stunning despite his scars

My Boas were fed within a couple of days of us getting them and they ate no problem. It's just Royals I'm a bit wary with because they can be so easily upset.

I don't follow the "status quo" all the time - I'm one of the few people who think snakes can and do form relationships with their owners (in their own way). Now that's my head on the chopping block LOL.

mykee · 08-18-07, 03:58 PM

I understand what you're saying. I like to mix it up sometimes because balls are so varied in their personalities and behaviors that what might work for one may not work for another.
I just figured I would share my success with experimenting on feeding immediately as, like I said, it has worked for me. I'll keep all the failed attempts to myself though....

fionak · 08-18-07, 04:25 PM

Royals most certainly have different personalities. Our rescue, Bobby is quite shy on initial handling but settles down after a few minutes. He also seems to prefer sitting on my husband rather than on me.

Byron my Royal (had him since he was a baby) is very bold, not a bit shy. He has some really strange quirks. One is when I take him out he rubs his face against my face and will "kiss" me. The other strange quirk he has is he refuses to eat off tongs. I have to hand feed him (holding rat by the tail). Even if my hands have been warmer than the rat he's always struck the rat and never even come close to hitting my hand. It's almost as if he knows the difference. When I've tried feeding him with the tongs he backs away from me. I could swear he gives me a hurt look LOL!

Rosie our baby Royal has a very similar temperament to Byron (when she's older I think they'll make a very good pairing). However, I feed her with tongs as when there's food around she turns into an eating machine.

A few weeks ago I was asked to do a demonstration at our vet's open day with a couple of our snakes. We took Byron and one of our Boas, Zag (our girl). Our other Boa, Zig (our boy) was in shed so we couldn't take him. It was the first time they'd ever done anything like this (and us too). I did worry that it might put Byron off feed. Both of them were stars and behaved beautifully despite many people, young and old coming up to stroke them (some touching a snake for the first time). I needn't have worried about Byron. He fed no problem a couple of days later.

One quirk Bobby has is he's a great weather-forecaster. Every time we get a thunderstorm, a few hours before Bobby will come out of his hide and sit on top of it. He forecasts thunderstorms with 100% accuracy which is really useful to us because our dog is terrified of thunderstorms and once almost chewed her way out the back door causing quite a lot of damage. Now when we see Bobby sitting on top of one of the hides we make sure the dog is not left on her own.

Clever snake

mykee · 08-18-07, 07:53 PM

Wow!!! when I said "personality", that's not what I meant.........

Raven22 · 08-18-07, 08:28 PM

try just leaving a dead outside its hide all nice and ready for it?
My book has that as a suggestion to get a relctant feeder to eat.

fionak · 08-19-07, 07:22 AM

Do that too. Don't need to with our Royals - they know good food when they see it LOL.

However, we have a Snow Corn that is a reluctant feeder and we did just that. Worked very well. He's a shy feeder and won't strike at the food like the others do so we put his food just by the entrance to his hide. He eats no problem now.

A lot of it is knowing your snake. When I first started keeping snakes another very good piece of advice I got was to learn the snake's body language. At the time I wondered how on earth do you do that but by literally watching the snakes I learnt very quickly.

They are indeed fascinating animals and a joy to have as part of our family