Kingsnake keepers-- a little help please???

[tikichick]

Wow, you've been through a lot!! You can thwack/thump a pinkie on the head to knock it out before feeding it to the snake. I do only frozen thawed and it's the only way I can stomach it. I love all critters, so it took a lot for me to get to the point where I was even comfortable with the idea of feeding f/t. It gets easier after a few weeks - then it's absolutely fascinating. My ball python takes small mice, so I haven't had to do pinkies. I hear they're gross f/t cause they're so small and kinda like jello when they thaw, ew. Anyway, kudos to you!! You're doing great!!

[Lori P]

I hear you... the f/t was hard for me too, and since my first snake was an unexpected rescue (and see where that lands ya, LOL!!), I had to dive right into it. I researched different companies and how they raise and kill their rodents because I had visions of millions of suffering little mice being mass murdered in some horrible way. But found that the companies gas them which is almost instant, so that was reassuring.

The pinkies... I don't know if Desdemona would take an unconscious live pinkie yet... and don't think I could do the head whacking, altho, that would probably be kinder than the way Des goes about it! I think right now the motion is important to her. But hopefully soon she can transition to f/t. We'll see...

Yeah, thawed pinkies are a little... rubbery. LOL After a while they don't bug you tho. I can even slice up a thawed pink now. Woooo hoooo go Lori!! LOL

How old is your ball python?

[drache]

congrats
that's great news

[tikichick]

He's less than a year old. I do a little mouse dance when I feed him which helps, lol. I know they have limited hearing, but it has a little sing song that goes with it, "I'm a little mouse and I want you to eat me." Lol. I'll have to video it sometime. I basically jiggle it around in the tongs, holding it by the tail or back foot until he strikes. Sometimes, I "scurry" it along the newspaper. But he always grabs it during the dance.

We have a little routine. First I take his hide and log out, then I put a sheet of newspaper in the tank, then comes the mouse. I think he's starting to associate the newspaper with feeding now. I'm paranoid about him ingesting substrate and too, if feeding gets messy, it's all on the paper.

This is Fiji...

[adamanteus]

Laura, I really need to see your 'Mouse Dance'!!

[Snaky]

Laura, I really need to see your 'Mouse Dance'!!

Second that

[Lori P]

Laura, I think it would be hilariousNO I MEAN educational for us all to see the mouse dance. We would laughNO I MEAN learn a lot from the song, too. We are always looking for a good giggleNO I MEAN enlightening experience.

[Lori P]

Laura, my young ball Squiggles is the same way about feeding as Fiji. I have to entice her to take her mouse, also by dangling and spinning it. She won't strike if it's sliding around the ground either-- it has to be dangling over her head. Here's one of my fav pics of her eating, she is sooo relaxed here...

Hangin' on my branch, munchin' a mouse...

[drache]

one of my kings gets into moods where she needs the mouse to twitch a little and "try to disappear behind something"
she's also the one who'll nail my hand because it moves

[Loren]

Well, since we are all sharing pics of our balls...

He's about 40" now. He will take frozen/thawed or live, mice or rats. He hits food harder and faster than any of my snakes.