Guess What?

[NicoleRussell]

Remember the new ball I just purchased?
I didn't read the fine print (actually it wasn't so fine---I was just not paying attention) and the reason the snake did not take the F/T rat (Eddie) is because (duh) it is on LIVE food.
I have never had an animal on live food.
So now I would like get him on F/T. Does anyone have any serious experience with this because I am all ears.....do I give him his first meal live or make the switch to dead immediately?

	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.

[thetupak]

i'd just switch immediatly just soak it in hot water till it gets nice and soft and is warm to the touch and wiggle it with something it wont know the difference

[NicoleRussell]

Have you done this Tupak?
I tried feeding him like 24 hours after I got him (it sounded too soon to me too but the breeder said to do it)....and then again a few says later---THEN I realized something was wrong.
I know balls are a pain sometimes---but something was very different here.
The snake has never eaten anything that didn't run from him !
I'll be back later...any advice is appreciated.

[eddie]

Sounds like thats been tried

Many ways to get it swapped over, such as...

Grasping the rat on its back with tongs and making it 'walk' around,
Tapping the snake gently on its side with the food,
Placing the snake and food in a tote overnight,
In a paper bag, folded and stapled, with small air holes, overnight,
Poking a hole in the rats head, to get some blood and brain scents exposed,
Dipping the food in chicken broth,
and combinations of the above.

The biggest key is patience.
And not to give up.
What doesn't work today, may work the next time

[thetupak]

ya my first one im sad to say i use to feed live and didnt know better but now all i feed is f/t and they really dont seem to ntice the difference but mine is a rtb iv heard that balls are picky sometimes but if it refuses to eat it just wait sooner that later it will eat the f/t you just have to trick them
when was the last time they said it was feed and how big is it?

	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.

[JuliusSqueezer]

I'm fairly certain that none of the many wild snakes I have caught and brought home have ever been fed f/t. However they never seem to mind eating things out of my freezer. I firlmly believe that a snake could care less how it's meal met it's demise nor do I believe that they can even remember whether or not they killed it anyway. Some snakes do seem to require a bit of movement and some seem to require movement AND privacy from you (this can be a problem) For these snakes, I put them in a tote with a solid colored lid and crack it open as little as I have to and slide the rat in on tongs keeping out of the snake's view and wiggle. Sometimes I give up and let the rat just lay there for awhile and come back and wiggle it again later by going through a very small opening with the tongs and again staying out of view from the snake. There is no denying though that on rare occasions live prey provokes a feeding response from very stubborn snakes where dead prey does not. For these, I recomend feeding 2 smaller prey items AFTER several failed f/t attempts. Feed a smaller than normal stunned (pretty much dead from a good head whack but still kicking just a little. Once a feeding response is invoked it usually lasts well beyond the actual feeding so take advantage of the hightened enthusiasm to feed and offer a f/t rat after the stunned one is down the gullet. Please keep in mind that this is rarely ever necessary and also beware that very often a very stunned seemingly mortally wounded rodent will spring back to life in a very foul mood. For this reason, I recomend this as an almost last resort just short of forcefeeding.

[Reptiman]

While I am not very experienced at all with Balls, mine took more than one try(about 3 weeks) to get it to eat pre-killed, almost bit me in the process(need to get forceps). It still wants nothing to do with thawed yet but it takes fresh killed with vigor now. Just keep trying. I had to hold the mice by the tail and jiggle and wiggle them to get it to take them. Now, finally, I can kill them put them in front of it's hide and a few minutes later it comes out and eat. Are you trying to feed at night? Thanks to folks here I figured out why mine was nippy when being handled during the day. It's just fine now, as long as I wait for it to come out of the hide.

[thetupak]

dude are you crazy feeding it with your hands better hurry and get some tongs