Hatchling striking towards pinky, then just hovering over it

I tried to feed my ball python today, with a pinky. About 2 seconds after I put the pinky at the base of the hide the snake was in, the snake struck towards it (but did not bite it), lightning fast.

Unfortunately, it didn't eat it. It sat, hovering over the pinky, flicking its tongue like crazy. 30 minutes later, the snake is still hovering over the pinky, which is sort of crawling into the hide at this point :(.

What's going on? I kind of think the pinky might be too small, although that's what the previous owner had been feeding. I should have also probably tried during the night, although the scent and movement of the mouse obviously got the attention of the snake, haha.

Temps are 92f hot side, 76 warm side, with 75% humidity.

Edit: Well, he wrapped around it and took it into his hide. Sorry for the useless post everyone, my wife and I are nervous parents :). I don't know if he's eating it or not, but I think he was just waiting for us to leave him alone :D

How big is your snake? Are you referring to a mouse pinky or a rat pinky?

Glad that he took the prey item, but I have a feeling it is far too small.

It was a rat pinky, about 1.5" long, 0.75" wide.

The snake is approximately 15" long, the widest part is maybe a little over 1" wide.

Those are my best estimation on the snake, we have just now had him a week today, and haven't handled him yet (we were wanting to get a feeding out of the way).

Your humidity is WAY too high. 75%? it only needs to be between 50 and 60%. I recommend you lower your humidity and increase that 76 degrees to low 80s.

The sizing sounds good, is this his first meal of a rat? That sometimes affects the snake's response.

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Originally Posted by abuja

Your humidity is WAY too high. 75%? it only needs to be between 50 and 60%. I recommend you lower your humidity and increase that 76 degrees to low 80s.

The sizing sounds good, is this his first meal of a rat? That sometimes affects the snake's response.

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I wish I knew how to get the humidity lower, it's over 60% in my house itself :), and over 75% outside. Alabama is constantly very humid. I've got a fan blowing through the room, I've got it down to the lower 70%s now. Once the outdoor humidity goes down, his cage humidity should. We've had mass amounts of rain over the past 2 weeks, everything is just plain muggy around here. I may need to look into getting a room dehumidifier.

The previous owner was feeding two mouse pinkys each feeding, so I do think that this is the first time he has ecountered a rat pinky. Different smell throwing him off, maybe?

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Originally Posted by Crawdad

I wish I knew how to get the humidity lower, it's over 60% in my house itself :), and over 75% outside. Alabama is constantly very humid. I've got a fan blowing through the room, I've got it down to the lower 70%s now. Once the outdoor humidity goes down, his cage humidity should. We've had mass amounts of rain over the past 2 weeks, everything is just plain muggy around here. I may need to look into getting a room dehumidifier.

The previous owner was feeding two mouse pinkys each feeding, so I do think that this is the first time he has ecountered a rat pinky. Different smell throwing him off, maybe?

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The snakes will indeed be thrown off by the different scent of a different prey item. Personally, my snake made an easy transition, but yours might be having some difficulties. I wouldn't worry about it; rodents are rodents, after all!

I would check the snakes weight. Go to target or walmart and buy a kitchen scale that has a tare feature and measures up to like 7,000g.

I have a feeling your snake could be eating more than a pinky rat.