I just wanted to share my joy & also express my gratitude to y'all! Poe successfully had his first feeding tonight! We tried a fuzzy mouse instead of a fuzzy rat. It was only 5g in size, and he's 107g, so I think it was a little bit small for him, but it's a start. It was such a rush watching it all take place as well. I fully expected this would be hard for me, as I am a huge animal lover, big and small, and have had rodents as pets. I surprisingly handled it incredibly well, and actually felt a great sense of accomplishment getting him to trust me enough to eat. Thank you so much to all of you who helped provide tips and tricks to get him to eat.
Instead of removing the top off his hide, I simply dangled the mouse in front of the opening and he came out to check out what was going on. Didn't take him long at all to decide he wanted it! I also did the blow dryer trick and got the mouse up to about 100 degrees and he was all about it!
You are all so kind and helpful here! I am SO appreciative! I am so relieved right now & on a total snake high! LOL!
Now I just need to decide if I should wait a full week before feeding him another or do a shorter time frame since it was such a small meal?