Feeding Question

Ok trying to feed my new bp today I got him monday he acts like he is pretty settled in so I bought a rat from pet store previous owner was feeding bigger I dropped mouse in, its been bout 10 mins and he is still curled up in a ball is he not hungry or does he not know that he is in there? Do I need to do anything or just wait n keep an eye out

Well, it might be too soon for him. He may not be hungry.

Did you remove his hide and give him time to get interested it what was going on before you offered? Most of mine will ignore the prey if I don't remove the hides and water bowls and wait a few minutes for them to get interested in what is going on first.

Give it about 15 minutes, then take it back out and give it food and water and wait a week and try again.

Gale

Ok well he has been in there an hour or 2 so ill take him out.. Put all the snakes stuff back in?

Yes if he hasnt eaten the prey within an hour then he is not interested. It may be too soon or he is just not hungry. Put your snakes living area back together and give it another try in about a week. DOnt try to offer food too often itll stress it oout. Once a week is fine if he doesnt eat he doesnt eat.

Ok. Thanks. So how do I keep the rat alive for a week? What do I feed it? I have him in a bucket with holes in top dont really try to keep mice lol

So what exactly are you trying to feed it, a mouse or a rat? You reference both in two different post...

What was it eating before you got it, mice or rats?

You confused us. Did you mean the previous owner was feeding rats but you bought a mouse as it's first meal with you?

Rats and mice have differences between them and each can have differences between the source, things like scent, size, color.

I try to feed as close to the same feeder as possible when I get any snake that is pretty established.

Sometimes a snake raised on rats won't eat mice and vice versa. The same can go for dead vs. live.

As for the live feeder, well this is where f/t is just easier. Or if like me you have a garbage pit known as blood python to eat refused prey. It's not the healthiest food I've learned on here but a few dog food pieces (if you or a friend has a dog) should hold it over for a few days, and some water. I Would also put some mulch in the bucket to make it's last few days on death row more comfortable. The other idea that jumps out at me is explaining the problem to the pet store you bought it from and asking for a little baggy of food for it.

Give it a few days and try again.

I got a rat from a pet store. The guy I got him from said he was feeding live rats (said the rat I got was prob smaller than what he fed) ill double check to make sure. But I have tried twice this week so I did put some substrate in the bucket with rat with some water n a cracker lol never thought of dog food. Guess ill try again next week

How old/big is your BP? The one I used to have was several years old and about 5 feet long, and he only ate a medium-sized rat every 4 to 6 weeks. Larger and older snakes don't eat as often as the smaller and younger ones.

The rat will live fine off a few crackers and bread pieces a day. They'll even eat crickets and worms if you give them that. Or cat food. Heck, feed it a hot dog weenie, and it'll think it's died and gone to heaven. Or peanut butter on a cracker. They LOVE that. (I used to actually have rats as pets. They can make pretty good pets with time and effort.) Make sure to put a little something in there for some water for it to drink, too, since you're having to wait for your snake to get hungry.

Im not sure how old he is but I think he is close to 2ft. I have pics on my profile. And I would say this is a med sized rat. Ill def start looking for that for him to eat.. I am keeping water in there even tho he keeps knocking it over lol

Yeah, they have a habit of doing that. :rolleyes: I had a mouse in a tiny cage that I was saving for Penny after she gobbled down two, and he kept picking up the wood chips and putting them in the water dish. It was quite hilarious, though I would scold it through the plastic that the dish was meant for drinking, not rearranging the wood.

Penny is almost 3 feet, I think, but I still have her on mice. I'm not personally comfortable with feeding her rats just yet. She's still so tiny! And I feed live, so I most certainly refuse to risk it hurting her. Plus, she just plain loves mice. They're never alive in her tank for more than three minutes.

And seeing as that's how mine is, something tells me yours might not actually want something that big. If he still hasn't eaten by today, maybe try a regular sized mouse. Snakes are pretty good judges about what size prey they see and won't normally eat something they think might be too big. (At least that's how it is on the Discovery Channel! :)) Or perhaps it's the color of the rat. Some snakes are picky about their prey color, too.

HAHA well I took the rat back to pet store & got a mouse I am going to try to feed wed that will be about a week from the last time I tried to feed him. I tried twice last week so I figured id give it a solid week.. Keeping my fingers crossed havent messed with him since I got him other than stroking while in the tank to let him know I am not the enemy lol. I will let yall know If he eats. Thank yall for yalls help

If the snake is 2 ft a medium sized rat is too big.. A 2 ft ball is still a baby basically and a small rat would be about right. Is the rat larger around at it's widest point than the snakes widest point? If so, how much larger?

Your snake may just be afraid of it.

I think my snake was afraid lol he stayed balled up the whole time the rat was in there. I thought it was the same size as the widest part but before i took it back put it close and it was bigger guy I got him from said 2 adult mice. I figured id try 1 first then move to 2 I dont want to stress him out

Ok got a mouse today. Fixing to fed him hopefully he eats..

YAY he ate guess i just had something to big the first time.

YAY! So glad he ate for you! Looks like you just might have a mouser, too. I would start out a mouse every 7 to 10 days, and if he still has the "underfed triangle" then step it up to a small rat instead.