So 2 weeks ago me and my husband got our first snake from a petco and we were told they were feeding it frozen/ thawed but we want to feed her live and today my husband found out that rats are better than mice more healthier but this is our first attempt in trying to feed it a live ratpup but refused to eat it so what do we do ??? Also by any chance would you guys be able to tell us what kind of ball python she is that would b awesome and we were also told by a reptile store that she is a lil under weight so how would ypu go about fattening her up
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She looks like a good weight, to me.
2 weeks isn’t a lot of time to settle in before offering food. New environment, smells, vibrations, unfamiliar humans all contribute to not eating. So do incorrect environment parameters. Make sure you have a proper temperature gradient across the cage with lots of hides(at least two) warm and cool. And water. Do not disturb for anything other than water changes or clean up, if necessary. At least a couple weeks before offering food. Then get 2 or 3 meals into her before any handling.
Yes, rats are a better choice when it comes to nutrition provided they were fed a healthy diet.
The common practice is to offer meals that are slightly smaller than the thickest part of the body or 10% by weight.
Why feed live? If she’s been conditioned to take f/t or p/k stay with that. Rats have strong instincts to survive and can kill or seriously injure a snake. Frozen prey is readily available and easier to maintain.
As far as morph,I would guess pastel or yellowbelly. Not an expert on morph id, btw. Pics of the sides and belly will help with proper id.
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I wholeheartedly agree. If this snake is already used to eating ft then that’s a big plus. Just leave it alone in its enclosure for a couple weeks and then offer it a ft meal…
It looks to be a good weight as well
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I second this, if the snake is used to eating f/t anyway you are already at a good start. The larger the snake gets the larger meals it will need, and the more dangerous the live meals become- I’ve been bitten very badly by adult rats and it is no laughing matter, a bite like that could easily kill your snake with the right placement… oh and the claws aren’t fun either, I get scratched by my rats all the time and the bigger ones hurt.
Just stick with f/t as there is no real benefit to switching to live intentionally at this point.
Avoid handling or bothering the snake outside of spot cleaning and water bowl filling until they are eating regularly without hesitation. The snake looks to be in good body condition so I’d say feed 10% of their body weight in grams every 10 days.
Make sure the snake has plenty of hiding space, they are ambush predators, if they feel exposed they are more likely to refuse food. Feed them at night, they are a nocturnal species and may have a better appetite then.
And lastly only offer food every 10-14 days if the snake refuses a meal, offering too frequently will stress the snake out. If you notice your snake beginning to rapidly drop in weight take them to a vet. They normally can go months without eating and still keep a steady slow weight loss if that helps.
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I have encountered a lot of bad injuries from snakes eating live since I have worked for multiple pet stores to care for snakes and sell food to customers. Injuries happen more frequently than people realize because so many snakes are dark in color which hides minor wounds.
I realized this best when I bought a clutch from a breeder that hadn’t even had enough meals to convert them yet. One if the BELs, solid white with no pattern, turned up with a bite wound on his spine after a feeding that I would have never noticed on his colored siblings. It made me realize just how close he had come to a damaged to severed spine which I had heard if happening from others.
I also had customers with snakes that lost eyes and even one expensive arboreal species killed because the bite had punctured it’s lung during constriction, but it wasn’t an obvious wound so was never noticed until the snake had passed overnight. As soon as the rodent is grabbed, it knows what is happening and will do anything possible to free itself so anything in range is subject to being bit or knawed.
A snake accustomed to food that no longer fights is also more prone to a bad grab because they don’t realize they suddenly need to be a full on predator until it’s fighting back. Live feeders definitely retain a degree of aggression for killing for good reason. Thus pets are better switched to frozen thawed (or at least fresh killed) for their own safety since it’s unnecessary for a captive animal to be required to fight for survival.
You don’t find wild snakes without scars for a reason and it is definitely not all from predators trying to eat them. Their food wants to live just as much.
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Why do you want to feed live when a snake is already habituated to eating f/t? You’re exposing the snake to significant, unnecessary risk for no added benefit. Rats can and will defend themselves. They have very sharp teeth, deceptively powerful bites, and sharp claws. When you feed live, you’re basically putting two animals together in an enclosed space where neither can escape and letting them fight to the death. Just because you think/hope your snake will always win those fights doesn’t necessarily make it true. Feeder rats have seriously injured and killed snakes that were intended to eat them. They can literally eviscerate your snake.
I’m not saying that anyone who feeds live is a terrible monster. There are situations where live feedings are necessary; sometimes those situations are temporary, other times certain snakes may only ever accept live prey. But I’m of the opinion that unless live feedings are actually necessary for the health and well-being of the snake, feeding f/t is the best way to go. It’s just so much safer for the snake, and in most cases is a lot more convenient for the keeper as well. That’s especially true for people who are new to keeping snakes, and who may not know when or how to intervene if a live feeding goes awry.
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Thank you you are the only one who answered all aspects lol instead of everyone trying to judge because my husband wanted to switch her to live food it’s his choice and just feels like feeding it live if it’s a learning process then it’s a learning process…
I really hope you don’t feel that we were judging you. We here at MMC try really hard not to judge. 99% of the time folks are trying to switch from live to frozen thawed for the many benefits it offers. Most people here were probably shocked someone was trying to convert the other way.
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Ooo ok yea my husband just feels like it’s natural to give them live
It might be natural, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s in the best interest of the animal. I would definitely encourage you to have an in-depth conversation about the potential dangers. When feeding live you have to monitor very closely, you can’t just leave the feeder rodent in with the snake, and even with monitoring it’s easy for the rodents to bite and do serious damage to the snake. This is a risk they have no choice but to take in the wild, but in captivity, they do not have to be in danger in order to eat safely. I can’t emphasize how much safer it is for the snake.
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What we feed it wasnt the only question we asked i know for a fact he isnt the only person who feeds their snake live food so can we get past that one question
It’s really hard to make a guess at a morph ID from a single picture. Multiple pics from different angles and in natural sunlight would be best. That’ll give us more insight as to if she’s over/underweight as well. As far as fattening her up, if necessary, more food in less time, same as people.
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Thank you and i will try to give her a little photo shoot so i can get different angles
I am not a ball python person so I can’t tell you what type of ball you have. I am a boa guy. From the picture it looks like it is in good shape. Like others have said some other pictures would be helpful. I do like the color of your ball as I do like the more yellow one myself.
As far as feeding live it’s not a good thing to do. There are some graphic pictures of a boa that was bitten by a rat in the link below.
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We aren’t trying to judge, we are worried about the health and safety of this animal.
If you feel that way then apologies but we aren’t here for that. We want to protect the animals that are shown to us through this forum.
Yes, feeding live is what naturally occurs in the wild, but these are domesticated animals that never had to deal with the brutality and indifference of living a life in the wild. It is not in the best interests to feed the domestic snake live for the reason it can maim or kill the snake.
Yes there are people who choose to feed live for the sake of it and most of us do not conform to it…
Yes there are those who feed live for the necessity of it because their snakes literally refuse to eat anything else. I have snakes that refused to eat f/t or pre-killed and have their whole lives and I absolutely wish they didn’t… they have scars from bites I couldn’t stop and they’ll live with them for the rest of their lives 
So please try to have a serious conversation with your partner about this.
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I’m sorry you feel judged as that is not the intent of these comments, but rather to educate. Many others as well as myself have seen some horrifying outcomes of live feeding gone wrong and want to share our experiences to help you make a more informed decision. Over the years as a member of multiple reptile communities I’ve seen everything from punctured eyeballs, infections, snakes gnawed down to the spine and ribcage and mouth wounds from live feeding. And while certainly (and thankfully) these cases do not represent the average live feeding experience, they do demonstrate very real risk to your snake when things go wrong. Sometimes live feeding is necessary, but it cases where it isn’t and is purely optional. I’d argue it’s better to prioritize safety.
There’s a lot of other great ways to provide species specific enrichment to your snake in safer ways; you can add climbing or burrowing opportunities to their enclosure, add plants and a variety of hides, provide opportunities for cryptic basking and using tongs to do the “zombie mouse dance” with f/t prey to give them a bit of a chase.
As a biologist I always caution equating “natural” with “good” or “healthy”. There’s a lot of thing that are natural - starving to death, spread of disease, infection and poison. If we can do better and prevent those things from happening, isn’t that better, even if it’s not “natural”?
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Welcome to the community. We also started our adventure with a ball python from a big chain pet store.
While most will say F/T or P/K is easier to maintain and more readily available, which is true. Our first BP became very picky with them. We started off with live pinkies about once a week, for about a month or so. Then introduced a larger weened rat and did that for about 6 months once a week or every 10 days. Usually feeding about 24-48 hours after a 
He will be 2 years old in March and is now feeding on Medium to Large Rats every 2 weeks.