Soooooo Close and then,,,

Hola,

I'm looking for a little advice to see who would do what. We have a 10 month old female (royal) we got last week. At her store she was fed live and before they sent us home with her attempted F/T. She was "interested" they said. So today, I gave it a shot. The results were ALMOST excellent. She stalked, smelled, I backed the prey off with the tongs, came back, then paused. She strcuk, had it in her mouth, and of course the crap tongs I bought lost grip and the mouse came out and I was not able to provide a simulated struggle or pull back.

After that she released and lost interest. I left the mouse where is was for a bit, then took it out, brought the kids to school, came back home and reheated the mouse for another go. The last time she smelled and that was about it.

Should I feed live later today, wait another week and try F/T again or what or wait and do live?

Also, I refroze the mouse. Should I just throw it out, or if I refreeze soon enough is it worth another go?

Such a bummer because we were really excited and things would have been perfect if our transition from breeder to home and live to thawed would have gone so perfectly smooth.

Now I'm concerned I stressed her and she'll pull the typical off feed business.

Thoughts???

Regards,

Gio

I would just wait until your next feed day.

If She doesn't desperately need food in her I wouldn't give up on F/T yet. There are numerous things that can make a BP not eat. And being in a new home (even if everything is correct) is one of them.

You can refereeze a mouse once... But after that it is done. Even still use good judgment. Better safe than sorry.

How big was the mouse? How hot did you make it? (the body temperature of a rat is 100 degrees so that should be your goal, just donk cook it)

Hey Aaron,,

Ha! I can always count on you to get me up to speed. I thawed the mouse in the fridge yesterday over night. Then actually set it in the top of her tank screen for about 10 mins near, but not right next to the heat light this morning. After that I brought some water close to a boil, put the mouse in a zip bag and let it sit for a bit.

I brought the mouse back up and took it out of the bag, and made sure it was warm, but not hot and checked to see that it felt live, as in not hard or frozen internal parts.

I took the tongs and and tried my best to pretend walk the thing around a bit in the cage. I tried to make it seem timid, and when the snake moved, I'd back the mouse off a bit and have it fake walk to a corner of the tank.

As the snake coiled, I brought the mouse back toward her, then paused it in the area in front of her. Boom!! she hit and I was surprised at her speed as I'm a first time feeder, but I didn't move. The tongs lost grip and the mouse went limp after I lost the grip. At that point I think she realized it was not normal or familiar to her to have that happen.

If she is not easily stressed, I think we'll get this down. But the critical thing for me is to not force it from here or screw anything up. I think if I make the wrong moves from here we'll have issues so I wanted to get your take.

Also the Herp II shipped today!!

Well you got her to strike and that is the hard part. Don't be afraid to grab the rodents tail after she strikes (with tongs) if you lose grip.

I don't think that you will have any issues getting her to eat in the future.

Here is how I thaw our rodents.

The night before I pull them out of the freezer and put them into the fridge.

I then warm them up in warm not hot water (don't want to risk cooking the rodents. Bad things happen when rodents get cooked) for an hour-2 hours depending on rodent size.

I then put them into a rodent heating chamber (which is a large cooler with a UTH and fan regulated with a cheap thermostat to 100 degrees where the rodents stay until they read 100 degrees on my temp gun.

(I use to do this with a hair dryer)

Wow! You Sir, are one technical keeper. I will try the hair dryer after the above thaw process. That sounds like a good call right before the feed. My son's room is across from the bathroom so the mouse should remain warm after the dryer.

I should have grabbed the tail with the tongs, but I was so excited and surprised she struck I think I dropped the ball so to speak after the rodent slipped from the tongs. I was encouraged. I'll try again. You think a week?

My boy rips the rats out of the tongs every time he strikes. I all ways have to reach in grab a leg or tail which ever I can grab and tug on it a few times.

A week is fine. Ball Pythons can go more than a year without food... A week is nothing to them.

Plus in another week your BP will be more settled in and hopefully a little more determined to eat.

You guys are the best! I will give it another week and see how it goes. I'll have to new equipment to set up between now and then and hope she'll be happier and hungrier.

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Originally Posted by Gio

After that I brought some water close to a boil, put the mouse in a zip bag and let it sit for a bit.

I took the tongs and and tried my best to pretend walk the thing around a bit in the cage. I tried to make it seem timid, and when the snake moved, I'd back the mouse off a bit and have it fake walk to a corner of the tank.

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I have been letting mine thaw a bit in the room maybe 1-2 hours. Then I use a ziplock bag and warm tap water. The water close to a boil may have brought the temperature up too much even though you let it rest. My male on F/T I can just dangle in by the tail and it barley crosses the the entrance to the tank before it's attacked. I tried the walking trick on the new female but had just gotten her so today will be try 2. I had to laugh though with this description because of the detail! Is she doesn't hit quick I will try the timid approach since I just tried walking the first time. :D

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Originally Posted by Gio

You guys are the best!

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I just wanted to second this. As a frequent lurker and relatively new BP owner, I love how helpful you guys are even if the questions have been asked a million times (not implying that is happening right now, just sayin in general).