Four Tips For Feeding Your Ball Python Frozen Rodents

Pets & Animals Blog

Ball pythons should be fed mice that are about the same size as the thickest part of their body. While feeding your python live mice is more ideal i.e the hunt and natural skill development, feeding frozen is definitely more convenient and still keeps your snake fed regardless. It's even helpful for those who have a hard time dealing with live mice feedings. Here are four tips for feeding your ball python frozen mice:

1. The Mice Must be Thawed: First off, the frozen mice must be completely thawed before feeding to your python, otherwise, they have a difficult time digesting it. Once the mice is thawed, you can feed it to your snake. Be sure that you have a designated bowl for thawing. Don't do it in your kitchen or in any kind of bowl or cup that you use to eat or drink since you can definitely get sick from it. 
2. The Mice Should be Warm: Since pythons know something is food based off body heat, you want the mice to be warm to the touch. This is going to provoke your snake to eat it. The best thing to do is once it's thawed, place it under the heat lamp or you can even dip the mouse in boiling water before putting it in the cage. 
3. Have Live Mice Ready: Know where you can buy live mice near you since there is a chance your python suddenly decides not to eat it. This is more common with a brand new snake that isn't used to frozen mice. They might be confused by the stillness of the mouse and thus refuse to eat it. So be sure that you are prepared upon feeding your python for the chance of having to go out to buy live mice instead. 
4. Always Buy the Right Size: As mentioned before, you should be buying the right size mice for your python that measures about the same size as the thickness of your snake. Otherwise, you either buy too large and it cannot be digested, or you buy too small and end up having to feed your snake much more often than is necessary. 

​With these four tips in mind, feeding your python snake frozen meals can be simple and definitely more convenient without compromising the health of your snake. If you are considering buying a reptile or snake, be sure to talk to the seller about feeding frozen and what they recommend.

27 December 2017