feeding question!

got my new snake!! she is beautiful ill post pics when i have the rights :) but my buddy i got her from said to give her a week before handling and feeding her.. she usually eats a pinky every friday or saturday.. but because she was gonna be in a new place he didnt feed her which i agree wtih.. at what point can i feed her again? i know its irrational but i dont want her to have to go a week without eating.

when i put her in her new tank she was all over the place exploring.. already left me a present in the corner.. I think thats a good think cuz i read somewhere that BPs somtimes wont stool if they are stressed..

But now she just stays in her cool side hide about 99.9% of the time.. any suggestions would be great!

Constant searching and moving around is a sign of stress. What are you housing her in? Offer her plenty of hides and keep her in a part of the house that is free of traffic and noise.

What are you temps? How are you controlling them? You need a temperature gradient of 80 cool side/90-92 hot side.

How big is she? Weight in grams, please. Pics as well would help. Pinkies, even rat pinkies, are small meals even for hatchlings. All of our hatchlings get started on rat fuzzies, which are a step up from pinkies. They quickly progress from there (as in just a couple meals before they are bumped up a prey size). Also for younger balls I would stick to a 5 day feeding schedule. Your ball needs a prey item that is 10-15% of their body weight (ie 500g snake would eat 50-75g meal every 5 days).

I believe (correct me if im wrong) but most snakes move around the first week exploring and acclimating, and its not so much stress, then the settle down. if they start roaming alot after calming down then it becomes more stress related.

either way, allow 7 days until the first feeding so she can get used to everything and get settled down, I agree with what AK907 said about 5 day schedules being good, as well as prey size percentages. :gj: allow 2 days after feeding of no handling so the snake doesnt regurgitate the food due to stress.

As far as "having the rights" if by chance you mean how the website says you arent able to post pictures for various reasons, thats because everyone uses photobucket.com to post pictures, upload it to photobucket, and paste the IMG code in your post and it will show up :)

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Originally Posted by BFT12890

I believe (correct me if im wrong) but most snakes move around the first week exploring and acclimating, and its not so much stress, then the settle down. if they start roaming alot after calming down then it becomes more stress related.

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I would consider being in a new home rather stressful. Any way ya slice it, your best course of action at this point is to offer adequate hiding spots and leave your snake alone for a week or so until they aclimate.

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Originally Posted by AK907

I would consider being in a new home rather stressful. Any way ya slice it, your best course of action at this point is to offer adequate hiding spots and leave your snake alone for a week or so until they aclimate.

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That does make sense, good call. but yes can never have enough hiding space haha

yes first night she was moving all around now shes in her hide 99% of the time or poking her head out to see wahts going onwhen i get my new thermometers ill post more accurate temps but under substrate cold side is 75 hotside is 82 but thats under the substrate the RHL will bump that up a bit

I fed my last 2 pickups within 2 days of getting them. I normally don't do that, but it was my normal feeding day, and while I was heating up f/t for others they seemed really interested. Both came out of their hides and stared at me through their enclosures. So I offered and they both ate perfectly. If they wouldn't have came out of their hides I would have never offered.

Make sure the temp are correct and that the hides are identical. They will chose whichever hide they feel more secure in regardless of their health. Also, staying in their hide is a good sign. You don't want them roaming all day.

Hmm my computer is right next to mycage n when im on the comp she pokes her head out if her hide and just watches me.. is this a good ir bad thing

she weighs 79g

http://s1178.photobucket.com/albums/x366/strikerball/

Going to feed her today.. she's 79g should I feed her a picky or fuzzy.. also she spends alot of time in an reaccuring s shape with her head by or over her water bowl.. what does this mean?

Personally I'd try and go with prey that moves a little more like a house weanling.


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Don't think they sell Thoes anywhere in the des moines area.. are the comparable to fuzziest or pinkies

She should be able to take a rat fuzzy at that size.

At 79a grams? N I think immature feed her in her tank that ok?

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Originally Posted by strikerball21

At 79a grams? N I think immature feed her in her tank that ok?

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I don't understand the first half of your post. I had meant that, since she is 79g, she can handle a 10-15g fuzzy rat. Yes, feed her in her tank.

Ya u answered it my DROIDX ix retarded

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Originally Posted by strikerball21

Ya u answered it my DROIDX ix retarded

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Yeah, I hate my autocorrect!

OMG OMG OGM she ate!! fed her a mouse and she wouldnt come out of her hide for the longest time until the mouse looked in sniffed walked around back of it and izzy was like.. WHAT THE... OH HELL NOO promptly came out and showd mousy misses pissed of snake SOO cool.. now shes in her hide agian i put 2 towls over her tank so i can sit at my computer dont want her regurgitating so thought id give her her privacy until tom morning

congrats on the feeding! Give her a 24-48 hours before messing with her after her meal.

poking her head out of a hide is normal hunting behaviour. They are partial active hunters and partial ambush hunters. That is ambush behaviour. Typically some roaming is fine at night time anyway some will in early am or late afternoon. It isn't so much that they are roaming but the pace of it. calm exploration and lots of tongue flicking is just a exploration they are fairly curious. Fast paced roaming with lots of jerky movements and no or very few tongue flicks is a stressful reaction. The tongue is an important sense it will allow the snake to learn a lot about the environment much like a dog. A fearful 'get away' reaction is not about exploring the environment but finding someplace that suits better, like a fearful dog, they don't stop to smell the fence post.