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 #1848092


Jarjarbinkza
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 Feeding ???

Ok I fed out of tank, my 7 month old BP, last week and she took 2 small/med. mice. She can take large, but the pet store didn’t have any.

The first one she taged and took just fine. Now the second tag looked good until I relized that there was blood, so as she is killing I am looking her over(from a distance) to see it the mouse has got her, but couldn’t see anything. When she was done I took her out and looked her over and saw no wounds. Her mouth was a little swolen, though.

Due to this(this wasn’t the first time she got hurt), I decided to do prekill. So that she will stop getting hurt.

Now feeding time was yesterday, and she had a large mouse.
1. She looked at ti like how dare I that the her fun of killing away.
2. She acted like she was scared to eat it.

She did eat after 30 min.

Now I just want to know (IYHO) do you think there is something wrong, or are BPs just stupid when it comes time for killing food, or can I try something else with her????????

PLEASE let me know what ya think.



08/31/08  05:47pm

 #1848155


Jyson
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   Message To: Jarjarbinkza   In reference to Message Id: 1848092


 Feeding ???

The swollen mouth could be serious, it could be mouth rot or something else.

Prekilled is definitly the way to go. Also dont feed your snake anything larger than what it should eat, because that is an easy way to get your snake injured.

Also the blood may or may not have come from the rat. But I would definitly take your bp to the vet for the swollen mouth.



08/31/08  07:21pm

 #1848281


Jarjarbinkza
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   Message To: Jyson   In reference to Message Id: 1848155


 Feeding ???

Her mouth was only swolen for a few hours, and looks fine.

She is only eating mice.
08/31/08  09:56pm

 #1872955


Mrs istre
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   Message To: Jarjarbinkza   In reference to Message Id: 1848281


 Feeding ???

"well she is very beautful. Gorgous BPython... About her mouth being swollen, did she ever go to bite and hit the glass, a friend of mine had a snake that kept doing that and her snake ended up messing up his mouth, she took him to the vet and his mouth got better after a few days, Im not sure what she did, I wasent there, but I can find out for ya if you want. But Ide take Jyson’s advice, he really seems to know alot about BPs..."
10/02/08  05:12am

 #1872965


Rabernet
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   Message To: Jarjarbinkza   In reference to Message Id: 1848092


 Feeding ???

Their mouths sometimes have a swollen look to them before they re-adjust their mouths after they’ve eaten, so I suspect that’s what it was.

The blood was also likely from the mouse, and not from her.

I feed all 50 of my ball pythons live, and never pre-killed, and I’ve never had an injury from the prey. I’ve calculated that’s well over 4000 prey items in the time I’ve been keeping ball pythons (and that’s a conservative guess).

I’m sure she’s fine, and she may just prefer live. Good luck with her - she’s very pretty!
10/02/08  05:36am

 #1873284


Rick247
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   Message To: Rabernet   In reference to Message Id: 1872965


 Feeding ???

I feed mine in the cage. I would try not messing with her. If you want go pre kill use tongs to wave it in her face but not to close. Just wiggle it a lillte bit. Or she could just prefer live.
10/02/08  05:27pm

 #1873336


Isabela
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   Message To: Rick247   In reference to Message Id: 1873284


 Feeding ???

I’ve found that dragging the mouse around on the floor works better than wiggling it in the air for my BP. Emulates the real thing more I guess.

Also, I’ve gotten MUCH better feeding responses when using a hair dryer to heat up the body and head. The few times I haven’t used one (because I was too lazy to borrow it from a neighbor) my snake still ate the mouse but with much less vigor. Tons of people recommend using a hair dryer to heat up f/t (after they’ve thawed) and its worked great for me.

Heat up the body nice for a minute or two and then give the head a nice 30-second blast directly before feeding.

Hope this helps,

-Dennis
10/02/08  06:42pm

 #1874216


Jarjarbinkza
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   Message To: Isabela   In reference to Message Id: 1873336


 Feeding ???

Thanks all.

So here is what has happened. The swelling in the mouth only lasted a few hours. I didn’t think that it was just her jaws still out, I had watched her to make sure that she yawned. But her mouth was still swollen(looked puffy). I stayed up as long as I could, but by morning the swelling was down and didn’t see any other signs of injury. I checked her mouth the best that I could, and didn’t see anything wrong. She has gotten bitten a few times by the mice. So now I sit next to the feed tank(feed in a 10 gal tank), and am ready with a hook to hold back the mouse/rat if needed. I feed at night when my kids are in bed. The snakes like it quiet. I do this with all 4 snakes that I have. 3 BP’s and 1 RTB.

I feed her a prekill the next week and she refused to take it. Week 2 after injury she took the prekill, but hated it. Week 3 again she refused to eat. Week 4 I feed her live prey and she loved the hunt and the kill. I just feed her on Wedn. small rat, and again she loved the hunt.

My red tail did the same thing(refuse prekill). But she has never had any problems.
Thanks again to all for your help.
Jarjarbinkza
10/03/08  09:24pm


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