My ball python takes all the fun out of everything.

[KGWatkins]

I know that the forum has a link to another forum for reptiles, but I just wanted to share my good news and that be that, I don't want to have to join another forum to tell people one thing.

My ball python, Artemis takes all the fun out of everything.

Everything I read on ball pythons said that "they are difficult to switch from live mice to frozen mice, and some may NEVER switch"... Mine switched in 2 weeks, which is 2 feedings, the first time she was afraid of the tongs and so I just gave her a live one, the second week she didn't care and just went for it.

She'll eventually get too big for mice and the next issue that *apparently* a lot of people have with ball pythons is that they get addicted to mice and don't want to switch to rats......... Artemis took a frozen rat fuzzy the FIRST try.
Is it too much to ask for a LITTLE bit of a challenge??!!?!?.... Oh well, I'm just glad (really glad actually) that she's on the good stuff now and I don't have to worry about her anymore, haha.

[jaded1313]

I'm kinda a reptile person too. I think some of the bp's they are talking about (or WERE talking about- as this is where the 'sayings of old' come from) are the old wild caught ones that were once very common. Now THOSE could be hard to switch (and often died quickly of disease). So now with the CB, it THEORTICALLY shouldn't be that hard, but as babies they can often be quite picky. Congrats on getting her(?) switched over!

Sometime I'll have to tell the story of how I got my pet rats...Anna (foxersartist) knows it...maybe she'll tell...

[LovelySydney]

You should be happy it was so easy to switch. Or friend's went 6 months without eating because it would only try ONCE for the mouse. After that it would just give up, defeated. When that snake eats they are HAPPY!!

[KGWatkins]

Well, I LOVE mice and rats, which is ONE of the important reasons I had to get her switched to frozen, I didn't like seeing her kill them, but I wanted a snake for SO long I am SO happy I have her, it took literally EIGHT years of begging my parents to allow one of their most hated creatures into the house. I always was fascinated with them and thought they are some of the most beautiful animals on earth, they are so simple and yet so complicated (ONE LUNG?!? except ball pythons have 2 I heard) anyway.... I love mice and rats too, want some pet rats, as hypocritical as that sounds.

Another reason is the danger of Artemis getting attacked or getting a disease from the live ones. And It's just easier to pick up 6 frozen ones and not have to go to the pet store EVERY SINGLE WEEK.

[KGWatkins]

Oh, i AM happy, that post is sarcasm, lol, this is the best BEST news for me, lol... I just thought when I was reading about them "oh the challenge might be fun" but so far... WHAT CHALLENGE?! haha.

[Ashling]

*covers Vlad and Lucian's eyes*
It's not hypocritical. Some animals are meant to be eaten, it's the 'luck of the draw' really. Rats are great pets, like little puppies. I love snakes too they are beautiful and misunderstood creatures. The biggest thing I'd worry about, and I see you've already mentioned, is the danger to the snake. I know from experience that rodents can inflict nasty bites, and reptiles can be prone to infection. It's illegal to feed live animals to pets in Australia, I think that's a good law for Aussie rodents and snakes :)

[jdlilfan]

I love snakes too they are beautiful and misunderstood creatures.

Agreed!

I'll never own a reptile because I don't think I could deal with feeding it live food...bugs, rodents, etc. I'm afraid of bugs haha. I can just admire them from afar.

[KGWatkins]

I wish more people here in the states would stop being just plain blood thirsty. I've seen a lot of youtube videos of people feeding live mice to adult iguanas (so many things wrong with that, i won't even go into it or i'll go livid with anger) and the poor little mouse suffers a LOT of injury and pain before the end, because iguanas aren't natural hunters, they don't know a good way to do the deed, so they end up prolonging it and causing lots of harm before the mouse is out of it's misery.

People here (the states, not this forum) also assume since I DO own a snake that I'm some kind of sicko and wouldn't trust me with any small animal, but I can guarantee I could care for them better than they could. I take care of my mom, I don't have a job or a life or friends, I spend 12 hours EVERY day on pet forums like this and browsing care sites and care sheets of every kind of pet there is and watching animal planet and the discovery channel. That's all I do, that's what I LIKE to do. I want to open a more ethical pet store or perhaps work for (or run) my own rescue some day. Maybe if I get enough kehones and self confidence I would go for Veterinarian even!

[CRToon83]

I used to keep and breed Aru Green Tree Pythons. Well, I bred them twice. Took too much time. I had a Biak as well... but that thing was in a plexiglass cage... in the center of the room. It was so aggressive that it would hang from its limb and just follow you as you walked around. I had to design a special door to feed it through as to keep me from getting bit. It didn't last long... as I found out why I got such a great deal! lol.

My only concern about keeping snakes and birds in the same household is my same concern about people who breed their rats inside. You have the constant smell of food (birds are common food in the wild for snakes, especially arboreal ones such as GTP's), that it would cause the snake to lose it's feeding response when it was feeding time.

All my snakes were eating f/t rats... but I did have to start some of the babies on live just to get them to started... but they would all be on f/t before I sold them. I really couldn't care about the mouse or rat being killed by the snake - it's nature. I just didn't want my snake injured from a rodent bite/scratch. I think it's ignorant for feeding live to be outlawed. It's nature people. I never liked to see the idiots who get fun out of it... but yeah... [/soapbox]

Here's Monty, my male Aru


(Wow I look completely different now...)



Amazing locking spines... can support 2/3rds of their body stretched out by securing 1/3 of their body wrapped around a tree limb. And this is also how they hunt. Pretty incredible.

[Kachina]

I've got quite a few balls, and none of them have really been fussy eaters. A lot of the info out there needs to be taken with a grain of salt. There are a lot of proclaimed "experts" out there.