Picky Pythons; How to Transition Your Ball Python’s Diet
By: Jeffrey Hess, DVM
Why change your snake’s diet?
Ball pythons and many other species of snakes have traditionally been fed live rats and mice as a staple diet. As our understanding of reptile husbandry has grown over the years, the use of humanely euthanized frozen/thawed whole prey has become more widely available. Now we also have commercially prepared whole prey alternatives that can be used in place of whole prey items. These progressive changes to how we feed ball pythons raises the question; why bother changing how we feed in the first place?
There are health concerns directly related to feeding live prey items that can be mitigated by changing the diet. Live prey carries a large risk of injury that simply doesn’t exist with frozen/thawed and commercial diets. In some cases, food items can end up killing a snake if not closely monitored. Live prey also carries a higher risk of passing a parasitic infection on to a snake (Boyer 2019).
How to change your snake’s diet
There are several steps you can take when trying to transition your ball python to a new diet. You may need to try changing how you feed to better stimulate a feeding response in your snake. Focusing on mimicking natural feeding patterns is one step to help a snake transition diet. Attempting to feed during normal activity times can help increase your chances of a successful strike. Ball pythons tend to be nocturnal or crepuscular in nature, so you should try to offer food later in the evening consistent with normal activity patterns. While it has traditionally been a debated topic, this author prefers to feed snakes in their regular enclosure rather than putting them in a separate container. This helps reduce stress in a snake to help them feel comfortable enough to feed. In more sensitive snakes changing back to the normal enclosure from a feeding container could lead to regurgitation.
When offering a new food item warming them appropriately can make a difference in stimulating appetite. Ideally food should be offered at around 100⁰F. Appropriate warming is important because ball pythons will use heat sensing pits on their face to identify prey, and an appropriate heat signature can potentially trigger a feed response. In addition to appropriate temperatures, mimic movement with the use of tongs or forceps can also help trigger a feeding response from your snake.
In cases of pickier eaters, a term that often applies to ball pythons, you can also scent prey items. If offering frozen/thawed prey this can be accomplished by making a small incision in the head and abdomen of prey items to stimulate a stronger scent to entice your snake.
If switching food items, you can rub one food item onto another. For example, if switching to a commercial diet you can rub a thawed rat or mouse onto the food to try and mix a familiar scent to trigger a feeding response.
Regardless of how you make a diet transition for your ball python, remember that patience is key. It can take several attempts to successfully change a snake’s diet. If you’re not having success right at the start, make some small adjustments and try again at the next feeding.
References
Boyer TH, Scott PW. Nutrition. In: Diver S, Stahl S, eds. Mader’s Reptile and Amphibian Medicine and Surgery. 3rd ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier; 2019:201–223.