Feeding Tongs & Snake Hooks for a BP?

[citysnakes]

hey mykee, not that i disagree with you but if a ball python has been conditioned to eat handstanding rats since it was a hatchling then it wouldnt know any different and probably wouldnt really matter. when i first got into ball pythons i was a "tail holder" like most newBs but my snakes still managed to strike the head of the rat just as well as they do now when i feed with tongs. im not sayin to not use tongs or hemostats because they are great and presenting the prey with them may prevent spooking shy eaters but i think that ball pythons have better aim than we give them credit for and probably use their vision to aim and other senses much more than we think.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by PDXErik

Chuck Norris feeds his spitting cobras with his teeth.

That's nice. Now let the grown ups continue their adult conversation.

[LadyParvati]

One thing I do that may be the reason I've never had a problem--after heating the entire rat, I focus heat on the head & make the head the most obvious heat signature. My BP always goes for the head, so I guess I'm doing something right.

It's funny to be called a newB--we've had snakes for at least 20 years. It's just that I've only fed F/T for 2.5 years, and the previous snake was a milk snake for which we just laid out the prey on a board & he took them at his leisure--didn't even seem to matter if they had gotten cold. This jiggling F/T prey for a picky eater is definitely new,
and of course the BP is new (6 months now). So I'm a newB with BPs & glad you're all here to help!

[citysnakes]

lady, i meant like most newBs im general and was not referring to you in anyway.

[mykee]

Julian, it's not about a ball pythons aim, it's about presenting the food item in a manner that doesn't spook it. You'll not notice this with owning one or two or maybe not even ten ball pythons but the reason ball pythons don't attach themselves to your arm every time you open the cage to handle or clean your ball is because the heat signature from your arm is too large for that snake to consider it a food source. By presenting a rat height-wise, you're creating the largest heat signature possible for the snake, and that can scare the snake into a retreat or defensive attack rather than an offensive attack and coil.

[LadyParvati]

Hey, Julian, I didn't take offense! I was laughing at myself--even though we've had lots of other types of snakes, we've never had a python, so I _am_ a newbie in the sense of BP ownership and feeding F/T prey to a BP. I definitely know that each species has its own personality, food needs, etc., and I'm still learning about BPs--that's why I'm here asking questions!

Now to Mykee's last post--Ahhh, now that's interesting and potentially very useful information. So the head of the rat being significantly hotter than the rest of the rat and my arm doesn't make any difference? Or maybe it does, but as the rat cools, the heat signature of the head no longer stands out and blends more with the larger heat signature presented by my arm. I knew that when the head was nice & hot, the snake struck rapidly & always hit the head, but that as the head cooled, the snake was slower to strike. The once or twice when I think the head was pretty cool, the BP was more likely to hit the neck or shoulder of the rat. After observing that, I always heat the head pretty thoroughly so my BP doesn't have a problem figuring out what to strike.

Now, having thought it through in more depth, I see why the "headstanding" rat and arm above could be problematic in more than one way. This certainly reinforces the idea that feeding tongs are good to use!

[citysnakes]

obviously you dont want to spook the snake and the way you present food to it will be determined by each individual snake's temperment, feeding response, etc but the snake will be able to effectively strike and coil a prey item that is being presented in many different postions at many different temperatures and this shows that its more than just the heat signature that a snake will process during feeding attempts. just like in your arm example, there are also many other reasons why the snake will not show a feeding response when you stick your arm in the tub besides the size of your arms heat signature.

[Wolfus_305]

AHAHAH Chuck Norris is my life!
I would say to try the tips above and then make a personal decision because that's what my understanding of the conversation above is. Everything is always based on a personal preference.
Kenny

[PDXErik]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

That's nice. Now let the grown ups continue their adult conversation.

:P

My BP (that I don't have anymore as I focused on boas for now) would eat anything anywhere anyhow. Never got spooked, but then even primal snakes have personality differences.

[Aaron_S]

Some people luck out that their ball pythons will be burmese pythons but in tiny forms, at least during feeding time. My first ball python never went off feed. This was about 9 years ago, and he was just a pet store purchase.

[mykee]

"just like in your arm example, there are also many other reasons why the snake will not show a feeding response when you stick your arm in the tub besides the size of your arms heat signature"

Such as...

[gonesnakee]

Maybe fear? OMG its the big hand again. Is it going to grab me? I'd better ball up ya that will save me LOL Mark
P.S. or common sense? OMG its Mykee!!! LOL

[mykee]

"OMG its Mykee!!! "

Only living creature that has ever drawn back in fear in my presence or attempted to bite me has been my wife.

As for your arm; what the hell is it doing in your snakes bin? 18" hemostats and a 5" rat and even the tips of my finger are nowhere near the bin virtually eliminating any heat signature and any fear/chance of being bit at all.

[C#@$e]

haha your wife

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by mykee

attempted to bite me has been my wife.

We don't need to know your mating rituals