Another First Feeding problem thread

[RedseaReefer]

So a Few weeks ago i Recieved a Orange ghost male from Dennis Boimila and im extreamly pleased with him.

first a little info on my setup:
its a homeade rack that holds either 4x 32qt or 8x 15qt sterilite tubs. It has Flexwatt belly heat regulated by a helix dbs-1000 set to 97F to achieve a 90-92 deg hot spot. They have aspen as bedding, also some newspaper.

currently holds:
1.0 mojo
1.0 lesser
0.1 pastel
and Mr. 1.0 Orange ghost

the mojo and the pastel eat like champs and never miss a meal. The other two have just recently been introduced to the rack and i havnt got them to feed yet. Also i feed them in a seprate tub to avoid injestion of substrate.(avoiding bites is not the reasoning lol)

First the Orange Ghost:
After introducing him(the OG) into the rack i left him alone for about a week only changing his water so he could settle in some. After that first week i offered him a FT and he seemed pretty uninterested and just moved away from it. The next offering about three days later i put his hide in the tote with him to hopefully make him feel more confortable and secure. Also i tried leaving it in the totre with him for a little bit and he just wanted out. So last night i ended up leaving it in his enclosure with him ontop a upturned water boul. Checked on him this morning and he was moving around his tote but the mouse was untouched..

anyway this is the third time iv written this and my pc keeps exploading when i submit it... there was more but ill come back to it.. any advice is greatly appreciated

[RedseaReefer]

I guess long story short is.. i have two new additions that have not yet fed. Today after work i plan on either getting live or fresh killed prey items for each of them. How long before i should be worried?

[Peoples]

Just a few questions:
What's the health and overall looks of the BPs?
What were they eating before?
Is your F/T warm enough?
Have you ensured the BPs aren't stressed?

Before you switch to live prey you can try a few tips.

1. Dip the prey in chicken broth then try offering to your BPs
2. Place under the hide (provided you are using a hide)
3. Place the prey inside and cover the enclosure with a towel (this always works for my BPs who refuse to eat).
4. Simple try feeding in enclosure (your BPs may just want to feed where they feel safe).

[RedseaReefer]

idk what im doing wrong.. might be cuz im at work but almost every time i submit the screen freezes and it deletes my copy and all my wrighting lol good thing i pasted to a stick note this time ANYWAY......

as far as apearance he looks great!

skin is soft, eyes clear and clean, no noticable problems.

i believe the OG specifically was on live with Dennis.

i thaw out the FT feeder in warm water then blast it with hot on the head before i offer it.

im sure he is a little stressed just from being shipped and being in a new enclosure.. i have faith he will come around. its still only been about two weeks since he was introduced so that could still be it. also going from live to FT straight cold turkey im sure is difficult for any snake lol!



heres a few pics that didnt make it up with my first NOVEL that didnt auto save correctly

Mr Orange Ghost





Mr Lesser Himself







rack wheni first set it up

[RedseaReefer]

Well ended up with a few live feeders today. Placed one in the orange ghosts tub and within two mins he took it with no issue.

The lesser on the other hand is apparently way too timid lol the small rat sat perfect still cleaning itself and he would get within inches looking interested and the rat would lean in to investigate and he would just shy away. After maybe ten mins I noticed the rat getting a little nippy so I separated them. Now I have a rat I need to kill.. I am really not good at this part..

So in about 5 days ill go see if I can get a fresh kill to start the og in motion towards ft.
As far as the lesser goes I think I just need to kill this rat and offer it. Any ideas? I'm terrible lol!

[Pythonfriend]

just a minor reply.... keep refused mice and rats, give it food and water and try again later. with food and water rats and mice stay fresh for up to 3 years Sometimes they turn into pets.

[RedseaReefer]

just a minor reply.... keep refused mice and rats, give it food and water and try again later. with food and water rats and mice stay fresh for up to 3 years Sometimes they turn into pets.

lol! i love it. I actually did find a pretty great video showing cervical dislocation on rats. As far as actually showing, and explaining its probably the best video on the topic iv seen so far.

http://youtu.be/XHvDVixKNwU

hope this helps someone and hopefully ill get around to on my own feeder.

I just wanted to thank you guys for you advice/help

[RedseaReefer]

Update:
Today the Lesser himself and Mr. OG ate a small live mouse each.
So happy the lesser ate and that the og is eating regularly! Only two week remain untill the Pastel Het Pied unrelated pair!! but thats another story..