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Just need to rant a little....

T

Thrall

New member
So, I'm relatively new here, but I've owned ball pythons for about two years now. I currently have two bps, and last summer I got two corns. An adult of Kijiji (Think Craigslist, but Canadian) and a hatchling from a breeder.

I love my corns, but bps were sort of my thing - I think it mostly comes down to how heavy bodied they are. I just really like it. But honestly, right at this moment if someone offered me two hatchling corns to trade for my two 600 gram ball pythons, I would trade in a second.

Why?

I'm so tired of all the BS with feeding them. They always eat - eventually. But EVERYTHING has to be just right. The lights have to be at the perfect dimness, the feeder has to be dry, the feeder has to be boiling bloody hot, and on and on and on, and then, MAYBE if they feel like it, they'll strike their food. Maybe it'll stay in with them overnight and then they'll eat it. Ugh...

Normally I don't mind, I sit in there for about 15 minutes until I can get them both to strike their food and eat and I'm happy and content. But today they happened to be fed the same night as my adult corn Aubrey. He will eat his feeder however you wanna give it to him. Hell, I think he'd eat it frozen if I let him. And going from him, and his love for food, to them just kind of drove me off the deep end.

I think in the future I'm just going to keep snakes that actually like food -.-

Rant over. I think.

Sorry.
 
Count your blessings that the balls will even eat FT! I know people swear by a blow dryer to get the mice to that extra-hot, extra-dry state that balls love.

I won a beautiful high white pied ball in a raffle, and although he was gorgeous and amazing, I was just too nervous about the whole feeding strike deal to want to attempt to deal with him. So when Don Soderberg generously offered to trade a male Tessera for him, I was quick to jump on it! (Tis was before the first Tessera price drop!) And that's how I got my Gartersnake.
 
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I have 1 BP and she has given me more stress than all of the other snakes I have owned combined. Okay, well maybe when the milksnake went Houdini on me and escaped for a few months when I was kid and I didn't tell my dad about it, that might have stressed me a bit more.

But anyhoo...my BP is rounding the corner of week 5 without food and goodness knows I've tried to make the princess happy so she'll eat. But NO! She's like a little kid. I swear if she could throw the rat back at me she would. And probably snicker about it too.

So you're not alone. Gotta love the colubrids. You have to be careful not to overfeed them because I swear if I put in a slice of tofurkey in the tank they'd still strike and eat it.
 
I know I'm lucky, I haven't actually dealt with a feeding strike yet. And they're not that bad all things considered, it's just after having such an awesome feeding response with Aubrey and then having Dante and Lilly just be terrified of their food .. I kind of snapped a little.

They're just such pains in the but!! I still love them, but I finally realize how amazing it is that corns actually like food :p
 
I've been considering getting a royal python for a while now but the refusing to feed for months on end things puts me off. I can handle them not feeding because that's obviously just part and parcel of how they are and that as far as I'm aware is due to their instincts because of how long they have to go without food in the wild, its more the money side, I don't mind throwing the odd feeder away but not loads, it would drive me mental. But hey that's the joy of owning snakes :D
 
Well that was a pretty clear message. Left Lily's feeder in her bin .. just went to check on her.. she pooped all over it -.-
 
Thankfully I'm pretty lucky with my BP's :) -my Pastel girl will eat anything at any temp.,my Albino male is the same,he just likes it to dangle a bit from some tongs,my new Albino girl just want her F/T left with her in the tank,don't matter the temp. & my first BP,a normal nonfeeder rescue hasn't turned down a meal in forever(even in blue),just have to make sure I run some almost boiling water on it after it's thawed,they all have their own ways of wanting to do it,but at least they are consistent lol
 
Lol yes, my balls are fed in their rack. I have no interest in moving hungry snakes around xD

It's not a husbandry issue. Their ambient and hot spot are both on thermostats and they have hides in their bins. They're just fussy. Sometimes they strike like mad, sometimes they decide couldn't care less.

Main reason I'm having issues with them right now is I temporarily fed ASFs .. yeah smart idea I know. I was gonna breed them - but then I realized how long it'll take me to get them all to 60+ grams and realized how much easier it would be to go with norways. So anywho, they're back on rats and they're just being bums about it.
 
My ball is my most frustrating snake.. but I love him.
He is nice enough that I can thaw out a rat, put on top of him, and it'll be gone in the morning. lol
 
haha that's exactly what I do to Dante when he won't strike. I just lay it in his coils and leave him alone for a few hours xD
 
The frustration is a complete waste... you need to stop and consider where these animals hail from.
They are small predators in a continent where large predators roam- their metabolism is -built- to be undemanding in order to allow them to feed sporadically.

Feeding -all- the time is basically going against their nature- and it is VERY normal and natural for them to go on hunger strikes.

These snakes take a very long time to lose weight...

What applies to Corns and other faster-metabolic system snakes does not apply here... and the "feed once per 1-2 weeks" line that adorns every textbook is a very general rule of thumb.

"hunger strikes" are a part of a BP's natural behavior and should be considered as such.
I know everyone is keen on getting them to the "right weight" and breed them just as soon as they realize they can... but that's really not the best way for them to be kept.
 
I'm not interested in breeding them - at least not for a few years. I'm aware that it's natural for them to be sporadic eaters, trust me. I know there's nothing wrong with what they're doing - as the title says though - at that point last night, I just needed to rant a little.

I really don't hold them to the standards of my corns as I started with the bps. If anything I look at my quickly growing bps, and then at my lil corn dude, and I wonder what's wrong with him and why he's still so little! I actually thought he was underweight until I signed up here.

My bps get offered food once a week. They've always been pretty good feeders, as I said, they're just being jerks at the moment because I went from ASFs (which they ate like they were corns... just saying xD ) back to rats. Considering some will NEVER switch back, I'd say they're doing pretty well. I just happened to be frustrated last night and needed to vent a bit :)

I appreciate all the replies.
 
I had a pair of BPs quite some time ago and sold them back to the shop after a couple of years. They were no joy to own. The intermittent eating when compared to Corns made me nervous, although they were obviously fine on it (the shop commented on their good condition when I took them in). But on top of that the male somehow turned into an habitual biter - and to add insult to injury, it was a bite-and-hang-on feeding response! Dislodging a determined BP is a wee bit more difficult than it is with a Corn. And a darn sight more painful.

I think BPs are one of those snakes that you either get on with, or you don't. I'm glad I gave them a go, but equally glad that I was sensible enough to hand them on when I did.
 
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