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Offline wicked

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tring to get ball to eat
« on: September 26, 2009, 05:20:52 AM »
 :devil74: i just got a baby ball and im tring to change it over from live to frozen does anyone have any ideas ive tried heating up water and letting the mice set in it till there about normal temp. any ideas on what to do   :lizard:
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Offline Donnie_K

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Re: tring to get ball to eat
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2009, 09:29:42 AM »
lots of things to try, I'm sure this thread will get plenty of repsonses. A couple tips. Feed it after lights out because that's when they're most active. Use long hemostats or tongs that gets your hand's heat signature well away from the food item. Make sure it's warm enough. and get it used to eating 2 live mice, then one live mouse fallowed by a fresh killed mouse.... then two fresh killed mice, then one fresh killed followed by a frozen thawed.... then just frozen thawed. If I were you I'd move away from the mice and get rat pinks ASAP... or that'll be another switch you'll have trouble with later.
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Offline Southern_Boa_Gurl

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Re: tring to get ball to eat
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2009, 09:54:22 AM »
Quote from: Donnie_K on September 26, 2009, 09:29:42 AM
lots of things to try, I'm sure this thread will get plenty of repsonses. A couple tips. Feed it after lights out because that's when they're most active. Use long hemostats or tongs that gets your hand's heat signature well away from the food item. Make sure it's warm enough. and get it used to eating 2 live mice, then one live mouse fallowed by a fresh killed mouse.... then two fresh killed mice, then one fresh killed followed by a frozen thawed.... then just frozen thawed. If I were you I'd move away from the mice and get rat pinks ASAP... or that'll be another switch you'll have trouble with later.

 :agree: :yeahthat:

I had to switch my adult boa from live to f/t and it worked like a gem doing what Donnie said.  Also had to switch both of my young bp's the same way and haven't had any problems.

As far as thawing, different people have different methods.  I thaw mine out in the sink in a plastic mixing bowl with constant warm/hot water.  After about 30-60 minutes, I dump all water and put more warm/hot water in and continue to let it set for 30-60 minutes until I can feel that the whole body is warm.  Then right before you get ready to feed, dump water again and run HOT water over/in the bowl for 5-10 minutes so that it's higher than body temperature and use the hemostats/tongs to feed to the snake.  Wiggle it in front of the snake until it strikes and coils like normal.  Hope this helps!!
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Offline Bree

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Re: tring to get ball to eat
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2009, 09:59:00 AM »
Quote from: wicked on September 26, 2009, 05:20:52 AM
:devil74: i just got a baby ball and im tring to change it over from live to frozen does anyone have any ideas ive tried heating up water and letting the mice set in it till there about normal temp. any ideas on what to do   :lizard:

Quite honestly, I think with a baby ball Donnie has it outlined really well  but here are a few additional tips:

Since you say this is a new snake for you AND a baby.  Its most important to establish a good feeding pattern with it first. Do you have any idea what its feeding history is?  If you got it from a pet store it may not have eaten well or at all yet. Do you know what it was feeding before you got it if it was eating?   Remember you have the triple whammy here of this being a ball python (renowned picky eaters, a baby (also picky at times) and a new snake (they can be timid or shy about eating in front of others or just outright refuse to eat...just cause!).  So think of this as a human baby in some ways-  you wouldn't switch from strained applesauce to grilled steak in one day.

So...once you've established a solid feeding program with pinky rats (I agree with Donnie here on this) or your chosen prey item:

The most common problem in making a switch from Live to F/T is not allowing sufficient thawing time AND not to allow the snake to develop a solid eating pattern(I know i repeat myself but its important!).  Let it thaw completely to room temperature THEN warm it up further -- I notice that you placed you let it get to about 'normal' temperature.  You want the feeder to be something your lil guy is going to identify as moving, warm and yummy!   

I won't go into further detail on the switch here yet, til we have a lil more info about your snakes eating history and age. 





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Offline snakebite33308

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Re: tring to get ball to eat
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2009, 11:14:27 AM »
also another thing to try, do what donnie said but use asf rats instead of our american ones, yes they are smaller but they are like crack to a ball python the smell of them drives them nuts.  asf rats are on the natural menu for python regius in the wild.
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Offline Southern_Boa_Gurl

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Re: tring to get ball to eat
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2009, 11:19:24 AM »
Quote from: snakebite33308 on September 26, 2009, 11:14:27 AM
also another thing to try, do what donnie said but use asf rats instead of our american ones, yes they are smaller but they are like crack to a ball python the smell of them drives them nuts.  asf rats are on the natural menu for python regius in the wild.
I've heard that they are more expensive than regular rats, is this true for everyone??
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Offline Bree

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Re: tring to get ball to eat
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2009, 02:20:26 PM »
Quote from: Southern_Boa_Gurl on September 26, 2009, 11:19:24 AM
Quote from: snakebite33308 on September 26, 2009, 11:14:27 AM
also another thing to try, do what donnie said but use asf rats instead of our american ones, yes they are smaller but they are like crack to a ball python the smell of them drives them nuts.  asf rats are on the natural menu for python regius in the wild.
I've heard that they are more expensive than regular rats, is this true for everyone??
They are illegal in my state so no clue what they cost but you used to be able to get a breeder colony for a small amount
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Offline Donnie_K

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Re: tring to get ball to eat
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2009, 02:27:07 PM »
Now why in the world would anyone want to get a snake hooked on anything that's harder to get than your average rat? save the asf's for a snake that is in danger of starving to death.
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Welcome... To the Dark Side

"Did you hear the word about me playing the game?
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Offline Bree

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Re: tring to get ball to eat
« Reply #8 on: September 26, 2009, 03:58:16 PM »
Quote from: Donnie_K on September 26, 2009, 02:27:07 PM
Now why in the world would anyone want to get a snake hooked on anything that's harder to get than your average rat? save the asf's for a snake that is in danger of starving to death.
I agree and honestly its a pain in the arse for those of us who can't get them when we receive a snake that is only ASF fed.  I've had a few and it stretched my patience thin with trying to get them to switch...and also influenced my decision whether to buy from those breeders again.  Its not worth the trouble to me.
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Offline wicked

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Re: tring to get ball to eat
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2009, 11:20:23 PM »
 :Spider: i got one of my balls to eat frozen i heated it up and and he struck at it rite away with no problem but this stubern lil snake wont do nothing but strike it but wont eat it thank you donnie ill try that ive been told that by a few of my breeder friends any oppions cant hurt i can use all i can get the more better for me to learn as i always say
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