He Ate!! He Ate!!

I've only owned (my still unnamed) BP for about a week, but I finally got him to eat!! After futily trying to feed him F/t pinkies, I decided to go with a live mouse today. I think the tank is currently too big for him, because when I dropped the mouse in, my BP didn't go for it. So I put balled up newspapers in the tank to make it about half the size. I then waited about an hour, and did something which I'm sure you guys will think is dumb @@@ hell. I took the mouse and dangled it by its tail 3 or 4 inches away from my BP's face. Within about 30 seconds, my snake struck the mouse and took him down!! (I was soooo elated)


I was also a lil surprised by how long the whole process took. I'd say maybe 20 minutes from strike to sucking down the tail. It took him a lil while to find the tail (he tried to eat the @@@ first, but after a few tries he realized that was impracticable). Then he really took his time getting it down. I think the mouse was a lil bigger than it should have been for his first live meal. (I know the general rule is that it shouldn't be thicker than the thickest part of the snake's body).
-And I know not to handle him for a couple days now.

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Originally Posted by Janus

I took the mouse and dangled it by its tail 3 or 4 inches away from my BP's face. Within about 30 seconds, my snake struck the mouse and took him down!!

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I wouldn't do that in the future. A restrained mouse will become stressed and paniced and bite anything it can to get away ... not fun for your snake.

-adam

Like I said it probably wasn't the brightest idea both for myself (or my fingers) and for the snake. Hopefully I won't have to do it again, and he'll just go after the mouse when I drop it in the tank.

Maybe it's just me, but he also seemed like he struggled a little bit while swallowing it. It was my first time watching a live feed so I don't really know what is normal. But it looked like he exerted a great deal of effort, I hope it wasnt too stressful or tiring because of the size of the mouse.

janus! u should really get a shoe boxs or somthing to feed him in! and do it @ night! after u get a few feedings down in a row give him a rat pup its alote better for him and u will find later when he gets big u can feed him one rat instend for 4 mice!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by snakebitten69

janus! u should really get a shoe boxs or somthing to feed him in! and do it @ night! after u get a few feedings down in a row give him a rat pup its alote better for him and u will find later when he gets big u can feed him one rat instend for 4 mice!

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Nothing wrong with feeding the the cage ... been doing it that way for years. As a matter of fact, for a timid species like p. regius it might be a little better if you're having feeding problems to not move them.

-adam

whatever works! i find a nice dark,tight shoe box works wonders for a snake that wont eat!