Absolute Beginner, advice please :)

Hi there everyone,

I have just acquired my first ever BP, she is a 2013 hatchling and I got her home on Monday. I have read a lot of forums about what to and what not to do with them, when you first have them home, however I still cannot make up my mind about the next thing. She was last fed on Wednesday exactly a week ago, however I read that is best not too feed or handle them for about a week, so they can acclimatise to their new environment.

What would be your advise, shall I still try to feed her today, just so her feeding pattern would not be disturbed or wait the advised time and maybe offer food for her only on Monday?


Thanks in advance

You can offer her food now if you want. If she decides not to eat then wait another 5-7 days and try again.

Thanks Roach :)


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People have different views on feeding too soon, my two have both been fed the day after they got home as it was their usual feeding day. I'm lucky though as both are good eaters so don't be alarmed if the foods refused a few times. Good luck !

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Originally Posted by ROACH

You can offer her food now if you want. If she decides not to eat then wait another 5-7 days and try again.

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This

Thanks a lot everyone :) I went ahead and offered her a prey and she took it :) so I guess first successful feeding. Looks like the " dead rat dance " works :), I read that on one of the forums and found it quiet funny :)

Haha! My partner does the feeding for ours and makes a silly little song and makes them dance to it, then admitted 'I like to cut them mwahah' ( slightly concerned lol ). It's true the dance does have a good success and I'm glad it worked for you =]

This is not the case I am just wondering, but if for instance during feeding my BP makes a mess of her viv, what should I do?

Can I take her out until I clean her place or should I wait at least 24 hours just so I do not disturb her digestion?
I am a bit uncertain about this, as I am aware of how important it is to keep their home nice and clean, but I do not want her not feeding well either just because I am doing something wrong.

Ps.: sorry about spelling mistakes (if there are any), English is not my first language.

I think I will never run out of questions, Silky doesn't stay long in her hide and even when she does very often she pokes out her head, is there a chance that her hide is too smaa


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Or this is normal?


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The hide will unlikely be too small as they love basically being hugged by their hide, mine like having their heads out too but double check the temperatures just to be safe. We've even got probes inside each hide to make sure everything is normal, but I always say better safe than sorry lol ^.^

As for the feeding they can remain in feeding mode so it's not suggested you move unless it's from a separate container ( also the risk of regurgitation which I don't fancy xD ). For any mess try laying some paper towels down to catch any of it, then once she retreats to the hide then quickly move the paper towels. Although I'm not sure how convenient that would be for you as mine get handled before feeding and they have a pretty good way of letting me know they're hungry! ( long tongue flicks instead of short ones, especially my face & ear area o.0 and racing about looking for food). I started doing it to stop any aspen being absorbed and really wasn't keen on using the other container for feeding but it's all down to preference.. Each to their own :D

I'm not the most experienced so try help where I can, any other questions just ask away & I'm sure if I can't answer them loads of people here that are way more experienced can. :P

I also read about the regurgitation that's why I was concerned :oops:.
The temps seem to keep on solid 90 on the warm side and 78-82 on the cool side.
Also when I fed her I must say I couldn't see much of the process as the humidity seemed to jump up so much that I couldn't see through the glass should I worry about that? Could it be that my humidity is too high? I haven't sprayed or anything but still it is usually around 65-70%.
I am using aspen as bedding, but I am wondering if I should switch to paper towels or newspaper?

She also goes exploring a lot checking out each corner of her viv flicking her tong. Does that mean she is looking for escape? I heard they are are real good escape artist although I am not worried about her escaping I have nice lock in place to prevent that from happening I would hate to get home and find her gone :(.

I really love love her already she is beautiful and I am looking forward to our first handling session although I must say that I am also a bit scared it seems a bit different to get her out alone as oppose to someone handing them to you I haven't tried it yet but I think I am already less confident about that.

Any tips for me? I really want her to bond with me over time I know it takes patience, but I would hate to take a bit during our first one on one.

would you recommend using the protection gloves in my case? Would you recommend someone else being present also just in case?

I have seen many YouTube videos on how to approach them but those owners don't look beginners to me :)

i would appreciate any comments :)

I can't say I've experienced not being able to see through the glass, are you measuring with digital hydrometer/thermometer? If not I would suggest using them. You could lower it a bit as 70% is what it's recommended to go to when shedding, normals around 50-60%, although it does sound to me like it could be a humidity issue. Mine is shedding at the moment and the humiditys at 72% but can definitely see through the glass, hopefully someone can give you some other advice on this :P.

Aspens fine to keep her on, I just use paper towels for ease of a quick clean if they have a messy meal without having to move them, also to stop them eating any substrate.

They are escape masters so they'll always have a nosey at what's around them. As long as you have everything secured then you shouldn't have much of an issue. If you have other animals you could lock them away while you're out of the house to prevent any accidents, my kitten is always trying to have a nosey so he's out the room whenever we're not in it to supervise.

The handling, it can be quite hard at first to read your snakes body language. I've only been bitten once and it was due to my own ignorance, the day of getting him home and out of the bag :weirdface. It's not sore for the little ones but the initial strike is the bit that I wouldn't like to happen again. The key is to be confident, not shakey. You could try a few reassuring strokes first around the body, also don't approach her head on as they tend to be very head shy. If you feel you need to have someone there get her out the first few times then feel free, but it really isn't needed. I was terrified of mine after the first incident and my shaking only made him worse, if you go in for the stroke, then stoke a few times then pick her up. Don't keep putting your hand in/out. You can also help reduce the head shyness but I wouldn't recommend it until you know when your snakes comfortable/uncomfortable.

I wish you the best of luck and once you get used to picking her up, you'll feel silly for being nervous about it, I definitely do :D !