First snake, refused first meal. How long should I wait?

I picked up "Newman" about 10 days ago now and he refused his first F/T meal last night. Should I try again tonight with F/T again? Should I wait a week and try live?

He seems a bit stressed, moving around quite a bit during the day.

Whats the cage setup like?
Does he have 2 hides, one hot side, one cold side?
What are the temps/humidity at?

Feeding again too frequently can cause more stress. Wait a week before trying again. In the meantime, read over our CARESHEET and double-check your husbandry to make sure everything is dialed in to help the snake feel as comfortable and secure as possible.

The more exposed he is, and/or the more frequently he is messed with, the harder it will be for him to feel safe enough to eat in his new home.

first, make sure your husbandry is within proper range.
once you have that right (if its not already), you can try again tonight, but i would just set the rodent in the enclosure and leave it over night, instead of holding it in front of him, if its not gone by tomorrow, take it out and try again next week. if he refuses a couple more times, you can either mess with the temps of the rodents, or try live.
how are you thawing?

I only just ordered my Herpstat from Spyder (they were closed for the holidays) but my temps are dialed in. Right now humidity is at 51% (I mist when it dropps below 50), Hot side below substrate is 94.1 and cold side is 82.1.

Has two hides, one on either side, some fake plants to fill in the voids on either side, and a large water dish on the hot side and a small on the cool side just to keep the humidity up.

**Right side now has a similar plant to left**
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...1/IMG_9737.jpg

did you give him a good week or so to settle in?

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Originally Posted by UpNorth

I picked up "Newman" about 10 days ago now and he refused his first F/T meal last night. Should I try again tonight with F/T again? Should I wait a week and try live?

He seems a bit stressed, moving around quite a bit during the day.

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What was the breeder feeding him? You may need to make sure you are offering the same prey (rat/mouse, live/FT) for the first few feedings before changing to what you want to feed.

Yes let him settle for 4-5 days, had him out just to switch up his hides and add some plants but he was fine while handled.

Spoke to the guy where I bought him when I went to get feeders and the breeder had the lot of the young balls on F/T as well as live mice. I got frozen rat pups (a little on the small side). I did try to feed him fairly early at around 7:30pm.

If he is out and about tonight I may plop a feeder in and leave it, and if he doesn't take it I'll try again next weekend.

**I also just re-sealed the lid with a layer of plastic wrap, then 3 layers of foil. I am going to try to eliminate the heat lamp so the humidity doesn't drop as much.

One other thing I should note is that he is very curious. If someone walks into the room, I mist the cage, or any other small change he comes out to see what's going on. I really don't think I'll be able to convince my parents that Newman needs his own room.

Talked to my sister and he is apparently still out and about trying to get out of the cage. Temps are fine as double checked with my temp gun, humidity is low but in range (50%).

Think he is just hungry? Been almost two weeks since his last meal after he refused on Sunday.