Hi i just got a ball python and .............

Question

its a baby ball python it eats live mice its only a few months old can i change its habit and make it eat freach dead or frozzen mice or is it to late

thank you

Answer 1

Chain feed the animal. To Chain feed you will take a live mouse and a dead mouse(only if it normally eats at least 2 mice!) Once it starts to eat the live mouse press the nose of the dead mouce to the live(or once was live)mouse and the snake should eat the dead one too!

Answer 2

its not too late. All you do is take the frozen mouse... and a thaw  him out in warm water. make sure he is in the water least 10 to 15 min so he is totally thawed in the middle and everything. Take the snake out of his home and put him inside a bag or a cardboard box... and put the mouse in there. he will find the mouse and eat it.

I feed live, and he is doing well. My snake is almost 2 years old. he is 2.5 feet long the last time i measured him. he eats 3 mice a week. I prefer feeding him live. i do monitor him and make sure he catches them properly so they do not injure him. I have healing aid and a vet to take him to that he has seen before so he knows my snake and my snake knows him!

Answer 3

As mentioned in other answers... you CAN make the switch. Feeding fresh killed is an easier switch from live. As bad as it sounds, flicking the pinkies and fuzzies in the head to knock them out does work. Get some feeding forecepts and hold the dead mouse by the tail to make it wiggle a bit. You want your snake to think the mouse is still alive. Be patient. It may take a couple days and your snake may have to get extra hungry. Another gross but helpful trick... slit the mouse's head open with a sharp knife. The smell will attract your snake.

I have 3 Ball pythons (one is an albino and was very difficult to feed) and a Bernese python.  They all started out eating live food, switched to fresh killed and now all will eat thawed (except the albino and he has reverted back to only eating live food) .... Can't will 'em all.    

Answer 4

sure it can,first off you need to decide weather you are going to use frozen mice or use live mice and kill them just before you feed them. personally i like to use freshly killed mice. Whenever you freeze mice they can lose Allot of vitamins and nutrients, and also if they are still frozen, even a very small amount in the middle, they could regurgitate. or if you nuke them they could be to hot in the middle. all you have to do to kill them is hold them by the tail and flick them in the back of the head, it sounds cruel but after awhile you get used to it. you can also get a pair of long forcepts to hold the mouse by the tail so you can move it around in front of the snake.

heres a link to one of my vids of me killing them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTnb_Raxj...

Answer 5

They can be trained by giving a live small one and then a small dead one, the most logical one I've heard is get a live one and kill it then feed it, after that for a while the switch to thawed should be easy. I feed live because I breed my own mice and rats so I dont know from experience but its what I've heard

Answer 6

you should be able to switch, wait a day or two longer than you normally would, then feed it, if its hungry it will it even though its dead, if it doesn't go for it right away, don't give up, keep trying

Answer 7

nope you can still feed it frozen, it is not too late is not not too old and has not gotten used to live yet, and won't care as long as it gets food

Answer 8

I just got a baby ball python about five weeks ago.  She was eating live mice when I got her.  I decided to try a frozen/thawed with her.  The first week she did not take it.  The next week I put the frozen mouse in a thick plastic bag (one that wouldn't melt easily) and put it in a bowl of almost boiling water for a minute and then removed and made sure it was warm to the touch but not too hot.  She ate it with no problem and is continuing to eat f/t mice.  It's worth a try.