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Ball Python vent

O

Otter_23

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Just need to rant for a second. My girls are getting frustrating right now. Two of them won't switch to f/t. I have tried everything the last 5 months. The closest they get is they will eat stunned mice. The only thing I haven't tried is starving them for awhile but just haven't been able to bring myself to that point. The only reason I want them on f/t is one the cost difference is almost 2 dollars per mouse and I can't raise my own mice. The other reason is the convenience. I also now have a sub-adult male who got caught up with the peer pressure and won't eat now unless it is live. I have let him go off feed because I figure it was the cooler temps. He has eaten one live mouse about twice a month for the last 3 months. I'm starting to get a little worried about him. He has lost about 60 grams so now he weighs 635 grams. I just wish we could problem solve this out between all parties involved and make my life easier. What do you say Santa?
All right I feel better until I try feeding them again.
Mark
 
Welcome to the world of Regius. There are alot of folks who cry when we tell then live is the best method with these animals, but little do they know, LIVE WORKS.

Keep feeding them and keep offering F/T, if they don't take it, don't worry, as long as they are ating there should be nothing to worry about.
 
Mark,

I hope that I can be of assistance. Try any of the following:

1. Wiggle the mouse in front of them to receive a feeding response, be aware you may need to wiggle it for as long as 30 minutes at a time until it is accepted.

2. Try leaving the mouse overnight with your Ball inside a snake bag.

3. Try dipping the mouse into chicken broth and offer.

Balls can be tricky, so good luck and I hope this helps you.
 
The reality is, many ball pythons, no matter what you do, will never eat frozen thawed food. I have about 150 ball pythons. Some will only eat live mice, some only live rats, some will eat frozen thawed mice, some frozen thawed rats. Once you get them going well on a routine and they develop a feeding response, I'm talking feeding live 2-3 times a week, then the feeding response is so developed that they will strike at anything you offer, BUT many of those animals will at some point in their life stop eating and when they go back on food they will want live.

Pete, the chicken broth thing does not work for ball pythons. It is used for burmese and other snakes that frequent birds in the wild. Ball pythons don't/can't eat birds (they are fat, they don't climb trees well and they are slow, much like me, that's why I like them).
 
where are you getting your mice? I have never seen feeder mice for more than 1.50 unless they are fancy mice from a pet store and they are usually sprayed with flea repelent, which is very bad for you ball.
 
evansnakes said:
Ball pythons don't/can't eat birds (they are fat, they don't climb trees well and they are slow, much like me, that's why I like them).
Click to expand...

Actually, two seperate filed studies in 1998 found the remains of several different species of birds in the stomachs and stool samples of ball pythons. The data seemed to indicate that young male ball pythons were prone to spending some of their time in trees.

-adam
 
And some people eat glass, but not many. You can find an exception to every rule WHAT I AM SAYING is that ball pythons are not arboreal. Ball pythons do not have a base diet of birds. Ball pythons are almost without exception rodent eaters. AND ball pythons born in captivity do not eat birds. You are really just being argumentative. You will not get a ball python to eat frozen thawed prey by scenting it like a chicken. If you would like to cite some obscure research instead of going with practical experience and tried and true success, please be guess.
 
evansnakes said:
And some people eat glass, but not many. You can find an exception to every rule WHAT I AM SAYING is that ball pythons are not arboreal. Ball pythons do not have a base diet of birds. Ball pythons are almost without exception rodent eaters. AND ball pythons born in captivity do not eat birds. You are really just being argumentative. You will not get a ball python to eat frozen thawed prey by scenting it like a chicken. If you would like to cite some obscure research instead of going with practical experience and tried and true success, please be guess.
Click to expand...

Actually, I am not trying to be argumentative. I was just sharing some information. I am sorry that you took offense.

I agree that ball pythons are not arboreal and in captivity do best on a rodent diet. I also agree that the chicken broth thing is worthless with ball pythons. I have a little bit of experience with ball pythons as well and appreciate what you were trying to say.

FYI, in the study (Luiselli and Angelici 1998), young male ball pythons are believed to consume birds for as much as 70.2% of their diet and are seven times more likely to be found in trees than females (although there is some debate about how accurate the authors were at sexing the specimens). Just because you've never heard of the study, doesn't make it obscure. Very little field work has been done with p. regius and this study was actually pretty significant.

-adam
 
Thank you all for responding. I have tried the overnight bag, braining, etc... I have come to the realization that they probably wouldn't switch but I still wanted to vent. I have had a ball python for 9 years but he was a good one and I never had to worry about him eating. I'm just a little bummed that out of 4 I purchased half of them won't eat f/t and they are my favorite 2 girls. Anyway I understand the trickiness with ball pythons I just wanted my way with these two girls. They eat fine on live and continue to gain between 65-90 grams a month.
As for the price of the mice I live in central Minnesota where we don't have a lot of options as far as pet stores go. There are only 2 pet stores within 50 miles of me. One I wouldn't buy anything from and the other one for live mice it comes to 2.66 per mouse as compared to .75 per mouse I pay for my f/t shipped. So you can see why I would want to have switched these girls before they got big enough to start eating 3-4 at a time. It's going to get spendy. The only last option I'm going to try is getting temp gun and checking the temp on a live mouse then try heating a f/t to around the same temp. If that doesn't work then I guess I will just have to like my problem kids for what they are, either that or figure out how to raise mice without my wife knowing.
Mark
 
Here is something you might want to try. My BP won't touch f/t unless it is the right temp. Here is what I do. I put the f/t in a plastic bag and let it sit out for about 3 hours to make sure it is completely thawed. Then I put the bag in hot water to raise the internal temp (I change the water 3 times since it doesn't stay hot very long) then I take it out of the bag and put it under a heat lamp for about 10 minutes then flip it over and heat another 10 minutes. This brings the temp up to "normal rat temp" (around 100 degrees F) I actually make sure the temp is around 110 deg so it will be around 100 deg after he strikes it and gets done "killing" it. I found that if I heated it to 100 deg by the time he constricted it the temp had dropped and he wasn't interested in it because the temp had dropped too much (it was around 90 after he let go and went back in his hide)
So to make a long story short make sure the temp is around 105-110 when you introduce it.
 
I will try that. I'm planning on getting a temp gun within the next few weeks so then I can give that a try.
 
Troy, you are really making things way more complicated then you need to. You have taken a one or two step process and turned it into a home improvement manual. Just put the frozen rodents in a bucket of hot tap water. They will fully thaw and be way above air/room temp, very warm to the touch, long after they are fully thawed. It is a simple matter. I will tell you though, food temp matters to some herps but my ball pythons that eat frozen could care less. Sometimes I get pulled away from feeding for an hour and I go back an offer cold prey and they take it just the same.
 
have you tried offering fresh killed to help start them off on dead prey? that my help if you do that a few times then offer a F/T. Just a thought.
 
I have fed them stunned mice (One week I thought the mouse was dead and checked on the python and the mouse was up running around) and all three of them ate. I did this for a few weeks then offered them f/t and still no luck. I do have one that when fed a cooler f/t she won't eat it but if I warm it up in hot water for a few minutes she is ready to go. I think for now I'm going to just keep feeding the 2 females live until they are bigger and weigh around 500 grams, then I will try the f/k for a weeks and then try f/t. I did read a link provided by Teresa, I believe, that was a discussion with Kevin from nerd. I think the biggest mistakes I have made is 1. the humidity (very cold and dry in Minnesota right now) and 2. 12/12 lighting which both will be taken care of. I'm going to change these get them eating regularly and try some of those tricks again.
Thank you every for your help.
Mark
 
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