Feeding? Going on a trip what do i do!?

[Wolfie]

alrighty so i removed my bps from their tanks and put them in little tubs and tried to feed them frozen arctic mice from Petsmart.. they arnt biting, i followed most of the instructions and most of all the how tos and such... dangled in front of their faces for what seemed like hours and still nothing... I got these guys on monday.. its nearly been 5 days... and im about to leave for a snowboard venture for the nxt 4-5 days... now my question is what should i do about the feeding... should i get really tiny live mice and leave em in the cage before i leave... or should i try once more to lure them with the frozen mice before i leave? any suggestions? maybe the bps prefer live over pre killed? i'm not sure.. im kinda freaking out since i leave in the morning.. anyone got any suggestions on what to do before i leave when i try to feed my big one all he does is move around and away from the mouse and goes back to my arms or lap andwhen i try to feed the smaller of the two all she does is stare at it for countless minutes and moves into a ball... none of them seem interested? could it be they arn't hungry? should i just feed em when i come back?

[RobNJ]

should i just feed em when i come back?

That's what I would do...if I know I'll be going away for any amount of time, I won't feed for at least a week prior. I'd rather my snakes be a little hungry than laying in their own waste for a few days.

[Wolfie]

That's what I would do...if I know I'll be going away for any amount of time, I won't feed for at least a week prior. I'd rather my snakes be a little hungry than laying in their own waste for a few days.

should i be keeping Pre k mice? or should i return em to my petsmart and aim to get some live ones from a local breeder nearby since they arn't biting at all? or looking interested.

[Wolfie]

i mean like

should i just keep em and try again when i come back and switch out to live if they dont bite still? or just return em while i still might be able to? 11 bucks for 6 is kinda pricey i know a guy that sells fuzzies for 75 cents each pre k or live and small rats and ect

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/pet/2894872996.html
^ he lives near me
what shall i get for med sized bps ?
2.5-3ft

[The Serpent Merchant]

I wouldn't give up on prekilled yet. It is very important to make sure that the mice are hot enough (but not so hot that they get cooked) the body temperature of a rat is around 100 degrees so that's how hot the rodents that you offer your snake should be. A temp gun is what I use to check mine

[The Serpent Merchant]

The best way to determine what size rodents to feed your snake is by weight. A BP like yourse should eat rodents that weigh 10-15% of the snakes body weight.

Example:

So a BP that weighs 100 grams should be fed 15 grams of rodent. (100 x 0.15=15)

[Wolfie]

alrighty ill try to persevere with pre k for a bit longer at what point shall i start tryingto give up lol? where did you get your temp gun?

[The Serpent Merchant]

I got my temp gun from reptile basics

http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermometers

I would give prekilled 3-5 more tries.

[RobNJ]

should i be keeping Pre k mice? or should i return em to my petsmart and aim to get some live ones from a local breeder nearby since they arn't biting at all? or looking interested.

It's up to you and what you're comfortable with. If you are comfortable and responsible with live feeding, do that. If you would rather they eat f/t, keep trying.

[Meltdown Morphs]

I'd say wait till you get back to feed them, they can handle 4-5 days. if you have been adjusting their setup and moving them around every day for the past few days they are possibly stressed and just didn't want to be bothered with anything even food. I think a few days of uninterupted quiet will be good and give them time to get an appetite and the first thing you do when you get back is dangle food in front of them.