I'm new at this; any pointers?

Progress--

I just tried feeding her again. I went to Petco and bought some larger mice (frozen) than I had been using. I put it in a perforated container over her tank, next to the heat lamp to thaw. After a few hours, she had come out and settled directly under it. I opened up the lid, dangled it in front of her for a few seconds and she struck. Unfortunately, as she struck, we both let go of the mouse. I picked it back up and dangled it some more, but she didn't seem to want to strike again. So I've now left it in there for the night, and I'll just see if she takes it up while I'm asleep. *fingers crossed*

Even if she doesn't, I take this as a good sign that she's actually making an attempt.

By the by, Frankykeno, any idea how old she might be based on that photo?

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Will

Quote:

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Originally Posted by spiffturk

Progress--


By the by, Frankykeno, any idea how old she might be based on that photo?

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Will

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Hi, I just bought an 06 BP hatched in Agust and your snake only looks a few inches longer than mine, I would suspect that it is not a year old, but I am new to this and that is just my opinion. Just thought i would let you know what I thought.

Unfortunately I can't open that link Will. You might want to either upload it to your BPNet gallery and then cut/paste the IMG link here or even use a free photobucket acount and do the same thing. If you need to resize stuff FastStone Image Viewer is a great program, easy and free.

Are you using an instrument to feed her with? Something like hemostats, long tweezers or small kitchen tongs? Hand feeding and "dangling" might not encourage a good strong strike/coil. Try grasping the f/t prey item by the loose skin behind it's shoulder blades and "walking" it in an imitation of lifelike rodent movements. The hemostats will keep your big warm hand back far enough to not have her keyed to that instead of the mouse. Also you might want to blast the mouse with a hair dryer just seconds before offering it....get the head/belly area nice and warm so she can target in better (remember they use heat signature and reaction to movement/vibrations as their main ways of identifying and capturing prey).

It takes practise like anything to learn the skills of f/t feeding. I've dropped m ore than one prey back when we fed f/t LOL. They hit so fast and hard even as babies that it's pretty darn surprising. She may have refused after that either because she missed or because the prey had started to cool off and wasn't interesting to her any longer.

Heh. It's beginning to sound like feeding live would be easier after all.

Not sure why you can't get to the picture on my server, but as you suggested I've put it up on the gallery here:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...hp?i=11268&c=3

Thanks again for the help and encouragement, all.

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Will

Will I wish I could guesstimate for you. The snake is longer than some of our 06's but they all grow and gain weight at such different rates. I'm hoping one of our very experienced long time breeders will offer you a bit better guess on a possible age for your snake.

F/t isn't that hard to do really and live is never "easier". With any feeding method you just have to learn it and by doing it over and over you become very proficient at it. I only fed f/t for a short while (well other than our daughter's milksnake that always has had f/t mice) but with the help of the forum members here it went very well. Same with live. When we decided to breed rats and switch to live, we did our research, we asked a ton of questions here and read a ton of threads, talked to some experienced live feeders by phone (thanks again to Adam for always being there by phone for yet another "newb" question or concern) and got the procedure down pat in our minds before we tried it.

Everything new is a bit scary at first and you feel unsure, clumsy and worried about it. That's normal and shows you are a concerned, caring owner that wants to do the best by your snake. Give it a few months and you'll be surprised how well you and your snake adjust to whatever feeding method you use (and the snake accepts of course). You'll be an old hand at it in no time. :)

She ate last night! :D

Well, that, or she did a magic trick and made the mouse disappear. But I'm gonna go with the former. Which makes me a lot less nervous about her health now :)

Thanks again for all the encouragement. I think we'll be both be OK now :)

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Will