Feeding troubles and enclosure adjustments

My BP is about 8 months old now. I have him on schedule of "medium" size mice every 4 days at the moment. The schedule is kind of off at the moment, because the past couple attempts at feeding him, he has either had little interest, or has struck and constricted the mouse, only to leave it a few minutes later.


He made the transition from live to F/T smoothly about 5 months ago. I fed him last night and he ate it fine, but that was after 2-3 weeks of not taking the mice.

Can a lack of humidity be attributed to this behavior? I've had trouble with it, but I just bought cypress mulch, he's been on aspen bedding since I got him. When can I make the switch given that he just fed?

Also, is misting directly into the cage regularly ok ? I know moss and the mulch can be misted, I was always hesitant to mist inside the cage with aspen as the bedding.

Misting into the cage is ok, as long as it doesn't get the bedding too damp or damp at all. I made that mistake and ended up with a little scale rot, which ended up being nothing serious because I caught and treated it early. The lack of eating could be the humidity, but sometimes they need a break or something. They eat when the eat, and every four days is a little too much. Right now it should be every five days but I do six or even seven sometimes.

From personal experience, because I just went through this with my new snake, I would wait at least 24 hours before changing out the bedding, since you don't want to disrupt him while he's digesting, he will be okay for an extra day or so without the cypress. As far as misting the aspen goes, try not to mist it directly, I spritz the water around the cage but not straight onto the aspen just as a precaution. I have aspen on one side and cypress mulch on the other, I mist the cypress daily, as well as keep a damp towel over top of one half of the enclosure and it has really helped to boost the humidity.

My mistake, I've actually been on a 5 day schedule for awhile now.

Is there any reason not to go to a complete cypress mulch bedding? I live in Tucson AZ so it tends to be hot and dry. I would imagine the mulch would dampen the aspen even if its 50/50 split, has that not been a problem thus far?

Is it normal behavior for them to strike/coil food and then not eat it if they are just not in a mood to eat? I have had instances where he just doesn't strike and took that as the main sign.

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