Everything but eating

[paulrcooper]

ok....I have had my BP for just over two weeks and he seems quite happy. The shop I bought him from provided me with the cage and two hides and a Under tank heat mat.
Hot side 92 and cold side 82.

I was using bark on the floor but changed this to nespaper a couple of days ago.

When i bought him he was a bit snappy but I know it was because he was about to shed which he did a week ago.

He is about 10 weeks old.

The shop I bought him from have fed him 3 mice before selling so I know he is feeding, I use frozen mice which are thawed and dipped in hot water before putting them in his cage.

He strikes at them eveytime and coils around them however he wont swallow them, he just rips the belly open and leave it.

Any advice ?

[lord jackel]

Were the mice he was getting at the store live? If so you should try going back to live till he starts eating. The fact that the F/t are falling apart may be turning him off. Also, he has had a stressful transition (first a new home then a shed and then a new substrate) so he may still be acclamating to his new home.


Give him a good week (don't touch him) and then try a live mouse (assuming live is what he was eating at the store).

[Reptile_Man]

my girl used to rip the stomach of the mouse.what i do now is,put it in a plastic bag to thaw it out,,leave it ontop of a warm radiator for an hour or so untill the mouse is warm enough,then feed it to the snake,,it should work and the belly wont rip.its probably the hot water that causes the belly of the mouse to rip.iv had the belly of a number of mice burst befoire i even got to give it to the snake.

[dr del]

Hi,


I have a few questions as well if you don't mind.

I feed all my snakes F/T and only rarely have any split - and when they do it tends to be because I either left them out too long to defrost or defrosted them too quickly and slightly cooked them.

How do you prepare your F/t's? I more mean how hot is the water you use and how long do you leave them in it. I personally leave mine out to defrost on top of the tank to help pre-scent the room so someone who uses water might want to chip in at this point.

The fact they have split might put some snakes off eating them but there are a few other things to consider as well;

Could you describe your feeding routine for us and do you leave him alone to eat or "hover" around to watch for any problems?

Do you feed in his tank or in a seperate enclosure?



dr del

[whyteboi]

I use the hottest water my facet will give me in a plastic cup. Drop the mouse in. Leave for 5 minutes. Then I use a blow drier for 1 minute, and now hes got a nice heat signature from his whole body because of water, and warm fur because of the blow drier!

[waldo]

I use the hottest water my facet will give me in a plastic cup. Drop the mouse in. Leave for 5 minutes. Then I use a blow drier for 1 minute, and now hes got a nice heat signature from his whole body because of water, and warm fur because of the blow drier!

Thats how I do it too. the only time I had a mouse split I had left it in the water too long.

[paulrcooper]

Just want to let you all know that I dipped the mouse in warm water and then used a hairdrier to heat the mouse up and he attacked it in no time and swallowed it like there was no tomorrow.

Thanks for all your help and advice. My worry is over.......for now anyway