my bp is retarded at eating,

[TraviZ]

so he hasnt eaten in bout two weeks but then he shed so I understand that. a day after the shed he ate a mouse again so i was happy but now 4 days later i try to feed and he strikes twice and misses both times and now he is frustrated and gave up. any tips?

[mrshawt]

Why are you feeding every 4 days?
They could be defensive strikes if he isn't hungry.

[mainbutter]

If the BP strikes and misses, it's one of 2 things:

1) as stated before, defensive strikes, he could be scared and not hungry as 4 days is awfully frequent to be feeding.. 5 is the most frequent I recommend for young bps.

2) The snake is hungry and trying to feed, but the snake can't get a "heat-lock" on the rodent. If you don't warm your prey item up above room temperature(via warm water or a hairdryer usually), the snake cannot sense with its heat pits where to strike. BPs rely heavily on heat pits for detecting prey, I have accidentally let a warm prey item cool off for just a little too long, attempted to feed it, and have the snake strike and miss many times. They get frustrated trying to eat something they can smell and know is around, but failing. A quick dunk in warm water fixed it right up, BAM successful strike and coil.

[TraviZ]

im feeding him slightly smaller then average prey because he has trouble eating the bigger stuff, he cant figure out which end is up to start the swallowing and he has given up that way before too, so I am doing slightly smaller but more frequent mice, it was no big deal until now. I dont think they are defensive as he is totally aware and excited about the mouse danging in front of him, do snakes like a wet mouse? does it matter? I usually put the f/t in a baggy and dunk it in hot/boiling water for only a minute to defrost and warm it well. this time I only thawed it at room temperature, that is probably it. how long should I wait till I try to re-feed him again using my normal techniques?

[mainbutter]

Feeding a wet rodent is not bad for the snake. If the snake is very picky about eating, sometimes water washes off just enough scent to make the snake not feed I've heard, but have never seen it with anything that takes F/T regularly.

With a young snake, offer food every 5-7 days. If the snake refuses, wait until the next feeding day to offer again.

[unrezt]

Today I was feeding my snake and he was just staring at it for about 1 minute, I accidentally dropped it and I swear he caught it midair...so try moving it around a bit if you aren't doing that.

[TraviZ]

at night could I lay the thawed mouse in his enclosure and leave it all night?

[Neal]

at night could I lay the thawed mouse in his enclosure and leave it all night?

If you are going to try at night, just make sure you set the mouse on something so the substrate doesn't stick to the mouse. I usually feed my noctournal snakes about 5 pm, and I turn the lights off so it's a bit darker in the room. Also like I seen mentioned in another post on here, try to wiggle the mouse a bit so your bp sees movement.

[TraviZ]

Oh my mice wiggle thats for sure. holding them by the tail with tongs makes a great wiggle dance!

[Neal]

Wait, are they live when you do that?