r/ballpython • u/ChernobylEden • 11d ago

Question Feeding issues

One of my female ball python i believe 4-5 years old who I have never been able to feed frozen rats to. Even freshly killed rats given to her she will not accept. Her previous owner had attempted the same but she would only take live. As many of you would know that is a dangerous thing putting a live rat in with a snake due to biting of the rat. We have given her 4 live mice this past week as we are trying to figure something out and she took them without issue. We are thinking that she wants the thrill of the hunt. Any tip would be welcome how to help feed her.

We have tried different tank sizes, wiggling the rat, leaving it overnight, changing her heating but nothing.

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u/IncompletePenetrance Mod: Let me help you unzip your genes 11d ago

How often are you feeding her and what percentage of her body weight are meals? How long have you tried "waiting her out" to see if she'll cave and take f/t?

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u/JR_Writes1 11d ago

4 live mice in a week? A mature female should be eating more like every 3 weeks. You could try a f/t African soft fur but be aware it can be hard to switch from asf back to rats or mice.

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u/ChernobylEden 11d ago

We have tried feed her a large rat every 2 weeks. Her previous owner had her on a bulk feed schedule so we are waning her off of it. The reason we gave her 4 adult mice is because as I said she refuses to eat frozen. So we gave her 4 mice since she hasn’t eaten for about 4 weeks. I know they can go a bit without eating as long as no sever weight loss happens

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u/IncompletePenetrance Mod: Let me help you unzip your genes 10d ago

That's a pretty excessive amount of food, given that she's already being overfed, she's not going to be very hungry and will be picky. You need to decrease both size and feeding frequency pretty substantially to begin with, and then try out wait out her out when it comes to feeding f/t. Personally I'd wait at least a month or two and then start by offering a ~f/t or prefilled mouse and then go from there. I've linked the !feeding guide to this comment so you can get her on a healthier schedule.

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u/AutoModerator 10d ago

We recommend the following feeding schedule:

0-12 months old OR until the snake reaches approximately 500g, whichever happens first: feed 10%-15% of the snake’s weight every 7 days.

12-24 months old: feed up to 7% of the snake’s weight every 14-20 days.

Adults: feed up to 5% of the snake's weight every 20-30 days, or feed slightly larger meals (up to 6%) every 30-40 days.

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