Advice On First Feed?

I'll have to talk to you at the show about the tubs to get more info :)
Thanks

He finally ate tonight!! We had to feed him a live one. I didn't make it to the Wheaton show today, but I picked up a small mouse at Petco. He struck at it within about 30 seconds. I guess the little dude was hungry after three weeks. If anyone can offer some advice on switching over to f/t, I'd be truly grateful. I'm only a little traumatized by the whole thing. Actually it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I'd prefer to feed f/t.

We fed him a small mouse and he's been on hoppers prior to this. The breeder was feeding him once per week. Should I feed him again in a week or wait a little longer since this was a bigger meal than he's used to.

BTW, I followed all your advice and switched him over to a 10 gallon tank, raised the heat and himidity and got him some smaller hides. He seems more comfortable. Thanks!

Congratulations, you can continue to feed him weekly, Just remember to give him about 36-48 hours of no handling after he eats for digestion, and your handling sessoins should be around 20 minutes or so to start out until he gets used to you... :gj:

Thanks, I will. I'm most excited to be able to start handling him. It's been a long 3 weeks! Now all I have to worrry about is transitioning him to f/t mice.

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Originally Posted by Twoboyz

Hi,

I'm back again for more advice. I still haven't gotten my little guy to eat. I contacted a local reptile shop to ask if they had live hoppers and they told me to just try the f/t that they usually accept them just fine. Well, I've tried twice now and he wants nothing to do with them.

So, despite my feeling of nausea and just overall "badness" about torturing a poor little mouse, I am ready to break down and just do it. Does anyone know where to get hopper size mice in the chicago area? The breeder said that I can try rubbing the live one on the f/t to scent it and then try feeding, but at this point I'm not sure that will work.

So here are my questions about feeding live. Do I just drop the mouse in the tank with him and watch? I'm afraid that he'll get hurt by the mouse from things I've read about feeding live. What if he wants nothing to do with the mouse? Then what do I do? Should I take the mouse out, and then what do I do with him? I don't really have anythign to keep him in.

I'm starting to get worried about him. He's just a little guy and I think he's not acclimating very well. It's been just over a week since we got him. Today it's been two weeks since he ate. also, I have him in a 20 gallon long tank. I really only see him staying on one side. Is he in too big of an enclosure? I never see him moving around unless it's at night when I don't see him.

So should I wait another week to feed him? Should I start handling him a little now to get him used to me? A little bit each day? Or should I leave him alone until he eats?

If there is anyone out there willing to take on all my questions, I really appreciate it.
Thanks

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First off, calm down... :)

Secondly, I wouldnt be so worried about the F/T thing. Did you make sure to heat the mouse up under the light for a few minutes?

This is what I do with my baby BP that I had to switch to FT..

1) Place frozen mouse into a plastic container with the lid on and place it next to the snake cage.

2) Let the mouse sit for 5-6 hours in normal room temperature to thaw slowly. This does two things, first it thaws the frozen mouse (duh!) but it also slowly starts to release the odor of the mouse just enough that the snake with recognize it for the last few hours. My snake started roaming around looking for food at this point. Its good because it gets them anxious to eat food. Hope this doesnt sound mean but its almost like teasing them for a few hours to get them primed for strike mode.

3) After 5 ish hours and your sure its thawed, I place the mouse on the lid of the plastic container and put that under the heat lamp (making sure the lid or mouse are NOT touching the bulb). Typically ill leave it there for 5-10 min just to get it nice and warm.

4) Take your tweezers and do the mouse dance about 4-6 inches from the front of the snake (at eye level seems to help alot). If he is in his hide, just dance the mouse past the entrance to lure him out a bit.

5) TRY TO REMAIN CALM! When i first tried this I was brand new to snakes and SUPER nervous the first time. The snake can sense those emotions of adrenaline in your body and might scare it. So try to remain nice and calm and things should work well.

Good luck!

Thanks Big Blue. I'm alot calmer now that he ate last night. I appreciate the advice on how to prepare the mouse. I'll try it when I try to make the switch. I've been told that I should feed him a couple times live before I switch him over. So in a couple of weeks....we do the mouse dance again :taz:

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Originally Posted by Twoboyz

Thanks Big Blue. I'm alot calmer now that he ate last night. I appreciate the advice on how to prepare the mouse. I'll try it when I try to make the switch. I've been told that I should feed him a couple times live before I switch him over. So in a couple of weeks....we do the mouse dance again :taz:

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Great to know TB!

Glad to hear it.

Personally, my snake was feeding live when I bought him and I immediately tried to get him on F/T. The first attempt didnt work well (in hindsight, I also didnt heat up the mouse, which is VERY important for them to be able to "see" the heat signature).

I heard about feeding live just to get it to eat, but as long as the husbandry things are right, I dont see a problem with trying F/T.

My fear was not being able to make the switch and have my guy get "attached" to eating live.

Good luck in the future. Glad to know your baby fed last night.

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Originally Posted by BigBlue56

My fear was not being able to make the switch and have my guy get "attached" to eating live.

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I know I am worried about him getting hooked on live too, but other's have said that since he's still young (about 3 months) it shouldn't be a problem. Other than that, the temp is around 91 deg with humidity between 60-70%, with two little hides, one on each side. So I think I have everythign covered. I think the problem was a cold mouse.

Take care!

Hi everyone. Just an update here. Thanks to all your good advice and also some good advice from The Chicago Reptile House, Creed has been on f/t for about a month now and eating like a champ. Can't believe we ever had a problem.

Here's the trick that finally did it. We were told by a nice guy at The Chicago Reptile House to warm up the mouse and touch it's nose to the heat lamp bulb for a few seconds. Worked like a charm.

Thanks again guys. My little Creed is getting bigger and I'm one happy ball python mommy :banana:

I'm glad everything worked out!:) I will be getting my ball python soon and I'm so excited! :D