New snake for Christmas!

Hello!
On Christmas, I finally got my very own Royal Python! This is my first snake i have ever owned, and I was going to ask a few questions if that was okay. I have done plenty of research on the husbandry ( 2 years of reading online and hoping to get a snake one day) including buying Ball Pythons by Colette Sutherland (VERY helpful book) According to the reptile shop, his next feed was due today, however he is still settling in. I thawed out a mouse and offered it to him and he striked, but missed. From then he started licking its nose and bouncing it off of his nose. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to try feeding him again on Monday? would that be enough time for him to settle, and then accept food? the Shop said his next meal was either today or tomorrow, however he still had a lump in his stomach yesterday.
Also, he is on Bark clippings at the moment, and
they smell very strong. Is aspen a good alternative?
I would be very great full for any help :)

Congrats on your awesome gift! It won't hurt to wait until next weekend to offer food again. Probably a good idea to wait anyway since the first feed wasn't successful. Aspen is an excellent choice for bedding.

Welcome to the forum. And congrats on your snake! :)

Thank you! It's nice to know that you can always get help on here :)

I agree that you could possibly wait until next weekend to try again. The less interaction you have with him right now (which i know is hard) the better it will be for him in the long run. How old, or what size snake is he? The best thing you can do is make sure his husbandry is right and let him get acclimated with his hide and new enclosure. The more often that you try to make him eat, the more stressed he may get and then go off feed for a while. Not to mention wasting more feeders when you keep having to thaw him another rat.

He was a hatchling fromthis year however I'm not sure exactly how old he is. He is about 1 foot in size. So shall I wait until next Saturday and leave him be? so far I have been changing his water daily and try to keep his disturbances to a minimal amount.

Sorry to to keep asking so much, but I was wondering if I could get some advise on what to put inside his Viv. At the moment he has a sturdy water bowl about the size of a hand Palm. He has a cave which he stays 24/7 (as far as I am aware) I don't want to disturb him too much, but I don't know what side his hide should be on. I am going to order another hide as the second one that came with his is very small, too small for him I think. I was wondering which side to keep the hide on? At the moment it is on the cooler side of his viv, but I don't know which is best until I get another hide. Any help? He also has a piece of shaped wood for decoration :) sorry for such a long post, I don't know if I'm being too worried :/

Trust me you can't ask too many questions. Just make sure to do all the research you can. For a hatchling i'd make sure the tank isn't too big and try to give him a hide on both the hot and cool side so that he can feel safe on whichever end he wants to be. Keep the water on his cool side unless youre having low humidity problems and then you can put it on the hot side to help with that a little bit. If you only have the one hide for right this second I'd probably keep it on the warmer side, but if he seems content where he's at i wouldn't mess with him too much. Letting him get good and settled in and feeling secure is really important for him right now. Just get a cheap tupperwear bowl to make him a second hide out of for now. Something that when he gets into it, he can feel the walls touching his body as if he were being hugged. It helps them feel safe. After thats all said and done with you should be able to try and feed him next weekend. My hatchling usually starts cruising his tank or stretching up to the top when hes getting hungry.

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Originally Posted by JakeFromSnakeFarm

Trust me you can't ask too many questions. Just make sure to do all the research you can. For a hatchling i'd make sure the tank isn't too big and try to give him a hide on both the hot and cool side so that he can feel safe on whichever end he wants to be. Keep the water on his cool side unless youre having low humidity problems and then you can put it on the hot side to help with that a little bit. If you only have the one hide for right this second I'd probably keep it on the warmer side, but if he seems content where he's at i wouldn't mess with him too much. Letting him get good and settled in and feeling secure is really important for him right now. Just get a cheap tupperwear bowl to make him a second hide out of for now. Something that when he gets into it, he can feel the walls touching his body as if he were being hugged. It helps them feel safe. After thats all said and done with you should be able to try and feed him next weekend. My hatchling usually starts cruising his tank or stretching up to the top when hes getting hungry.

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Thank you so much for your help! I'll make him one tomorrow morning to put on the warm side :) ill look out for any signs like you mentioned :)

What type of bark are you using? Aspen is the best in my opinion. A lot of people use cypress mulch too. But I've heard from many places that pine bark is NOT ok to use. Although I have seen what looks to be pine bark in pics posted by well known breeders so I don't no for 100% sure that pine bark is bad. I have never used pine bark, I used to use cypress mulch but now I spend the extra money and use aspen to ensure the best results.