First time feeding woes

Pythons Ball Pythons
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I just got my ball python on Saturday. The seller said she was usually eating on Tuesdays, but recommended I set a schedule, so I decided to try Wednesday. Said she was already on frozen/thawed rats. Her chart said 139g, so I looked online and it seems fuzzy rats are the right size.

I decided to try putting her in a tub to feed her. I took her hide out of the enclosure, then I took her out. Put her in the tub. Put the rat in front of her and she struck and wrapped it. I went out of the room for a few seconds to rinse off the tongs I used. Then came back in to put her hide back in its tank. Unfortunately, since the tub was right next to the terrarium, it startled her. After that, she didn’t want to eat.

I think I can change the order of operations. I also will likely move her to a different room (because her terrarium is in a bit of a higher traffic area). I do have a few questions, though:

  1. How long should I wait before trying again? I was thinking Friday (2 days).
  2. How long after I feed her should I wait to move her back to the terrarium? I know you’re not supposed to handle them after feeding, but at some point if she’s in a tub, she’s going to have to go back in.
  3. Does this look like the right size for her? It seems big compared to her head and neck, but seems the right size for her body. (It’s my first snake so I’m not 100% sure).

Thanks for any advice you can give me. She’s a beautiful snake and I hope I can do well raising her. So far I haven’t done as well of a job as I hoped.

Oh, and her name is Penne (but pronounced like Penny).

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First off, you’ll need to remove the feeding photo. Its against Community Guidelines to post feeding photos/videos… people who are against the hobby use them to slander reptile keepers and the hobby in general.

• Now that is out of the way, I’d definitely recommend against removing the BP from the enclosure to feed it. Removing them may stress them out enough to keep them from eating… in fact try not to change anything about their home at all while feeding until you know what she is comfortable with.

• How often is the BP being offered meals? She looks pretty well fed and if they are fed too often they wont take meals every time… they should be fed 10% body weight every 10 days as a general rule of thumb. So if she’s 139 grams she should eat 13 gram meals until her weight goes up. That being said its not going to really be that bad if she does miss a meal or two since she is on the more hefty side in appearance.

• Give a 5-7 days in between each feeding attempt until she takes a meal. Doing it too often will stress her out.

• Don’t remove her from her enclosure to feed her…

• Again, her prey items should be about 10% of her body weight. At that measurement the prey items should be the same width if not slightly wider than the thickest part of her body.

• Try leaving her f/t prey near her favorite hide overnight.

•Try feeding her at night if you don’t already.

•Keep movement outside of her enclosure at an absolute minimum if you can, or you can try covering exposed areas of her enclosure with something like a blanket or towel.

•Turn off any external lights that may be present around her enclosure to keep it calm and dark.

If she doesn’t take meals for a while I wouldn’t worry too much unless she starts losing weight rapidly or has sudden and/or concerning behavioral changes.

I’ve also found that the few picky eater BPs I’ve had will prefer live prey over f/t prey, some I have managed to get transferred from live to f/t over time but 2 of my adult females will only take live no matter what I do :confused:

Hope that information helps :slight_smile:

I’m sure there will be others that will chime in to help as well!

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Totally agree with everything above.

Ball pythons are known for being fussy. It can take a bit for a new snake to get comfortable enough to eat and shifting them out of the enclosure can make it much worse. It’s an old practice that imo can cause more harm than good.

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If I leave it outside of her hide, will it cool down to where she doesn’t really notice/want it anymore? I thought you needed to feed it to them right after warming it up.

This is the first time I’ve offered her food. She struck and wrapped it, so I think she was planning on eating, but when I startled her she let go.

I’ll give it 5 days and try again on Monday.

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Its perfectly fine to leave them with f/t prey overnight, just be sure to check on it and take it out first thing in the morning if they didn’t eat.

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I’ve had a couple shy BPs who would take dropped food that way. Weirdly both males. Typically it’s a behavior I see more in colubrids or Retic pythons.

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Any advice on enticing them out of their hide when it’s time to eat?

I at least want to give her the chance to “hunt” if I can.

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You can try sticking the prey item directly in the mouth of the hide and she may hunt from there, but honestly, some prefer to just be drop fed. It’s also entirely possible that she may start coming out for food more once she’s been with you a few months and feels more settled.

Also thirding what was said above about feeding her in her enclosure and not moving to feed. :slight_smile:

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@skribs If she struck and wrapped at the first feeding attempt she should do the same again. This time leave her in her enclosure, lift the hide off her if she’s in it and offer the warm rodent to her with tongs until she accepts it. Then walk away for at least 20 minutes keeping the noise down.

Also as previously mentioned feeding in the evening usually works best…….

She may have dropped the first rodent because she is going into shed…….

Edit to add: Try not to stress and overthink things. You are on the right track. Feeding is not as difficult as you think. Relax. The both of you will make it through this little hurdle. It will be fine! :blush:

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Ball pythons are ambush predators, not active hunters. They feel safest when the food gets delivered to their hide like door dash. Your best bet is to offer food when they’re peeking out of the hide

Being out in the open is why they dropped the prey before. They were too worried about a threat to eat.

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One of my BPs will gently grab the rodent from the tongs, but it cant be wet and she takes a while sometimes. I got an AMK that ate the first day i picked her up from FedEx and shes been a good eater ever since. Its so cool how different snakes are both as specific species and as individual snakes.

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There are three things that BPs key off of to know it’s food:

  • Heat signature
  • Smell
  • Movement

So even if you leave it overnight, at least it’ll still smell like prey.

But your best bet may be to use all three keys your advantage. If you can’t get a feeding response after a few minutes of trying then drop it and let it sit overnight.

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Mine will grab theirs when I lift their hides and present the rodent to them but maybe I have some weird bps! :joy:

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Its my champagne that is hard to get to eat. She’ll eat but it takes her a minute and shes not into wet rodents at all.

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They definitely have different styles/personalities that’s for sure! :blush:

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So so true! That’s why I like keeping more than 1 species! :blush:

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Eventually they will get into ur rythm for eating iron man and flame dont come out a ton unless its close to feeding day and if he isnt awake i can tap the side of the tank (the plastic part) with the tongs and he comes out (i ring the dinner bell lol) same with flame they both know the sight of my tongs now and will activly follow and track them if i accidently drop the rat going in i have them follow the tongs from the outside of the tank to where the rat fell (iron man will bite me if my hands in there and hes in food mode dont want to get bit for the 1st time hense the follow the tongs outside the tank) otherwise i have the rat just by their enterance to the hide and when they poke their head out “walk” the rat to the other side of the tank for a “hunt” sometimes they follow it out sometimes they get halfway there before freezing and i have to bring it back to them then they eat it then theres flame wo will strike at the food but if i turn the lights off wont eat it little weirdo lol iron man doesnt care what i do as long as he gets food and cinnomon (my newest) needs me to play tug of war with her after she strikes of she looses interest