Feeding ???

I have a question on feeding of balls.
These are babies, have eaten prior to purchase.
How do balls feed? I have experience with boas and they just grab it and go for it. How do the balls feed ?
Should I leave the prey item in the enclosure ? Will they grab as the boas ?
I am usure if they are not hungry or if I am approaching the feeding in the wrong manner ?
I feed F/T, so no live prey roaming the enclosure.
I know this may seem like I'm an idiot, I guess I figured they approached feeding in the same manner as the boas do. Until I went to feed (duh).
Please excuse my ignorance and help if you can.

Thank you so much.

Ginger Ambrose

ball pythons have got quite a reputation for being problem feeders...largely due to the tendency of adult imports to refuse all offerings. this is much less a problem with CB animals, but it can still come into play. you say these babies were feeding prior to your purchase - your best bet is to find out what they were eating, and start them on that (you can worry about switching later). another factor that comes into play is basic husbandry - if they don't take prey items that they had been feeding on (and they are not in shed), you may want to mimic their previous caging setup as much as possible. also, there are a number of threads on here regarding tricks & tips to get them going. good luck with them

Ginger,

You do not sound like an idiot. Remember, the only stupid questions are the ones that you do not ask.

Ball Pythons do often eat like boas but often they are more finicky. And they are all different. Some of mine have taken every single time they are offered, even in shed, and some it is a struggle to get them to take a prey item once a month even as hatchlings.

Everyone has a different method. The key is to get to know your snake and its habits. I offer a young Ball Python a frozen thawed rodent once a week. I leave it in the enclosure overnight if teasing does not work. Some of my adults will not feed off the tong but the rodent will be gone by morning. When I know that is their habit, I don't bother teasing, I simply leave it. Some need a fair bit of teasing to get them interested and I do that if need be. Some that came to me on live never have converted, sadly. One of my adult females has always eaten nothing but live gerbils. If you can avoid using live you are much better off. Most of them will convert to thawed sooner or later.

The key is to be patient and not worry a lot. Many people make the mistake of offering a food item sooner than a week if the snake does not take the last one. I don't do that. I don't want the snake to "think" that food will "show up" so often that they can pass it up.

You are dealing with babies. They are more likely to go for live pinkies or fuzzys (depending on their size) than F/T prey. They are naturally conditioned to eat something that moves although they can be “trained” later to eat dead prey. What has worked for me is housing them in really small containers (slightly larger than a deli cup) with just a small cup of water. The cup of water is secured by the lid of the deli (so they don’t tilt it) and has an opening cut on the side so they can access the water for drinking. Make sure you make several holes to allow in the deli to allow for air exchange. Use paper towels as substrate, and crimped paper for them to hide; leave the fuzzy overnight for them to hide. Here’s a picture of the way I set them up.

Good luck!

Make sure you make several holes to allow in the deli to allow for air exchange. Use paper towels as substrate, and crimped paper for them to hide; leave the fuzzy overnight for them to hide. Here’s a picture of the way I set them up.

Make sure you make several holes in the deli to allow for air exchange. Use paper towels as substrate, and crimped paper for them to hide; leave the fuzzy overnight with them. Here’s a picture of the way I set them up.

If we could only edit...!

Thank you very much for your responses. I will put your assistance to work.
According to the seller they were on f/t hopper mice wich is what I offered.
Since I just got them yesterday, I am going to give them the week suggested to offer again. I will update you on their progress.
Once again thanks !

Ginger Ambrose

Ginger,

Don’t forget to check the temperatures as it is of utmost important for them to eat and digest the food properly. If you are going to keep them in small containers this is even more critical, as there is no chance to provide a temperature gradient inside. We usually have one temperature probe in one empty container that is maintained exactly under the same conditions as the other’s that house the babies. We usually have them at 80-85 F measured inside the deli. There are several ways to achieve this. The simplest for us has been to put the delis on top of a thermostatically-controlled Flexwatt with usually only 1/3 of the deli in contact with the heat tape. Remember that is excessive heat and not cold what will lead to sudden death in reptiles!

Best of lucks!

I did everything you all suggested and
lo and behold my little female has finally eaten !
However my little male is still holding out.
I will try him latter this week, I am getting
concerned as he seems to be losing weight.
Not much but enough to notice, for me anyway.
Once again thanks for the help. I will update
when I can get this little guy to finally eat.


Ginger Ambrose