feeding

:mrgreen: Today i tried to feed my BP for the first time.It seems like he's kinda scared of the mouse.He didnt really seem interested in it.does anyone have any tips on how i could get him to eat???

was it live?

If your feeding pre killed prey try and do the mousie dance.

If your feeding F/T prey maybe its not warm enough (im sure you know it needs to be warm for the snake to be interested)

And if your feeding live, i dont know what to tell you...............exept get over to either pre killed or F/T

jk, if it was live and he didnt eat it, maybe he just wasnt hungry.I dunno


Hope that helps a little ???

yea it was live,it was i think there called fuzzies or a feeder mouce not sure but it was smal and it was white

You definitely want to move to pre-killed or frozen/thawed mice as soon as possible. How long have you had the BP? If you've had him less than a week or two, you may just need to give him some time to settle in. Try feeding again in another 5-7 days.

Hmmm ok, then i really dont know what to tell you, maybe your snake just wasnt in the mood.

When you got him, what was he feeding on???

Ive heard of people who have got snakes that were feeding on dead prey and they tried feeding them live prey and the snake was to scared and confused to try and eat it. I know if i tossed a live pinky in my corn snake cage she woudlent know what to do with it, she has been eating F/T since she was born. Im sure thier natural instincs would kick in but maybe hes just scared of the mouse

it may have been to soon and can still feel stressed

The pet store people told me that he was eating live food.Ive had him for a couple of days like 2 or 3.But i took him to the vet today for his RI and the doc said he should eat.So maybe hes not ready to eat or he wasnt hungry.I want him to eat frozen pinkies not live food.

I would wait at least a week to feed him.

yea and it could still feel some stress of being at the vet

well should i keep the mouse in the cage in case he gets hungry or should i take it out???

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Originally Posted by weezerlovedme

well should i keep the mouse in the cage in case he gets hungry or should i take it out???

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Is it already dead ( aka pre-killed or f/t )? If so, you can probably leave it in there overnight and see if he eats it. It will need to be disposed of in the morning if he hasnt eaten it.

If it is live, i suggest never leaving the cage's side while the mouse is in there. A mouse will begin to chew anything it can find, including your snake. I would not leave a live mouse in your snake's tank unatteneded at any time. Live is sometimes the only option you have left and should only be done, IMO, if absolutely necessary.

Take it out!!! Never leave live prey unsupervised, no matter how small!

okay i did i didnt know.......so in a week ill try it should i try him on dead or live.....I think live would frozen would be best but my sister said that he wont eat frozen because he's not going to feel like he's hunting....and that he'll know that its dead and wont eat it.Is that true?????this is my first snake so i dont know

You dont actually feed the snake a frozen mouse. You have to thaw it out and warm it up so that it seems just like a pre-killed rodent. You might want to give pre-killed a try just to get him/her used to eating already dead prey. It might take some of the mousie dance ( where you move the mouse around the cage with a pair of tongs to make it seem alive ) for him to strike, but most snakes will take some form of pre-killed prey.

I dont think thats true, alot of snakes enjoy stalking or "hunting" there prey, i know back when i was feeding live roxy seemed like she enjoyed it, she would get very exited.

But if you just wiggle the little mouse/rat i think hell go for it. I dont think they "KNOW" its dead, to me its all about basicly tricking them into eating it.As long as its warm enough and its moving (if your snake needs its prey to be wiggled around before taking it) it should go for it.(i dont have to do the mouse dance with my snakes)

In the end its so much safer to feed F/t.

but remember use the tongs it can save from a sfe

Brandon .. that is exactly what i meant. On another re-read that might not have come across like i wanted it to, but you put it perfectly. They dont have to know that it is dead, they can think all they want to that its alive ;). As far as pre-killed prey goes, i dont even have to do the mousie dance anymore. I just drop in the warmed up rat and they take care of the rest.

Id be careful with tongs, the first time i tried feeding F/T roxy struck and hit her mouth on the tongs and got so scared that she didnt eat that day.

I just drop the rat in there and give it a nudge with somthing long and harmless, I use a hollow metal pole (dart gun)

If the mouse is just a fuzzy (i.e. eyes still not open), you should find a way to kill it quickly and painlessly, or it will starve to death which is very cruel. It will also be malnourished and will not make good food for your snake. Once dead, you can freeze it, but do not freeze it to death as that is also very cruel. Then, in a week or so, you can thaw it, warm it up, and try offering it.

How am i suposed to kill it without it being in pain???

ooo im goin to try that for a couple of rat pups!

Oh yea u can put it in the bag and give a good wack and that should be the least painful way

edit button? I used to use a pillow case with a good whack to the floor. I have switched over to f/t, and I personally wouldnt go back to pre-killed.

oh....man i dont kno if i can do that

If you have some dry ice around, get a small plastic container and put the dry ice along with some water in, and punch a hole in the top. Then, put this all in a slightly larger container along with the mouse. Carbon dioxide gasing is proven to be the most humane method. If you have some other access to carbon dioxide such as from a paintball gun cartridge you could use that as well.

However, the most popular method is to simply use blunt trauma. Put the mouse in a bag and bang it hard against a counter 2 or 3 consecutive times. Make sure you use enough force to ensure the mouse dies, but not so much that it gets messy. I'm not a big fan of this method myself, but it's what most people do.

A third method commonly used is to break its neck by holding its head down and pulling on its tail in one good yank. This is a pretty tricky method though, and is best if you have someone to show it to you first. It may also be particularly difficult to use on something as small as a mouse fuzzy.

In the future, you can buy hoppers or even juvenile mice, which you will be able to feed and keep alive if need be. A baby ball python can easily take a juvenile mouse and many (not all mind you) can take full grown adult mice right out of the egg.

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Originally Posted by weezerlovedme

oh....man i dont kno if i can do that

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As much as I dislike the "bag" method myself, it is much better than letting the mouse starve or freeze to death, which ends up being much more cruel.

im going to try the mouse in bag and wack it method

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oh....man i dont kno if i can do that

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To me putting a mouse in a bag and killing it quickly is alot more humane that seeing it get bitten and then suffocated to death.

Snake keepers gotta do what snake keepers gotta do, it comes with the territory.

i feel really bad

ohh belive me, i did too the first time i did it. Trust me, it gets alot easier after a few times you do it.

Thats just one more reason to get on F/T no whacking !!! :D

well i did it and i feel bad it started to shake after the first one so i figured i hurt it so i hit it harder i think next time im going to have my dad do it.I felt so guilty.i hope it gets easier

Yes, they tend to shake for a little bit before they die.

If your dad is willing to do it for you thats cool, but a little expierance under your belt wouldent hurt,lets say your snake only eats P/K and refuses F/T well thats fine as long as your dads around but eventually you will move away ( im guessing) and your dad might not be there, whos going to kill the mice, and eventually Rats ?

But after your snake gets onto pre killed it should be very easy to switch over to frozen-thawed. Good luck :D

well thank you ill just have to do it myself i do plan to move out when im done with college.and i cant call my dad all the time to do it so your right.thank you for your help

Ohh no prob :D anything you need im sure people are more than happy to answer.

one more ? my snake has RI and is being treated for it do you think maybe thats another reason why hes not eating right now??

Hmm, it may be, im sure a RI is stressful and even a little bit of stress can make a BP refuse a meal.

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Originally Posted by weezerlovedme

one more ? my snake has RI and is being treated for it do you think maybe thats another reason why hes not eating right now??

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Thats a pretty darn good reason for not eating. How are your temps and humidity? How busy of an area is your setup in? How long have you had him, and have you given him the proper "get used to my new surroundings" time? What are you trying to feed him?

Ive had him for about 3 days now i left him in his cage and took him out once for the trip to the vet.The temps are at 85-90 and i dont know about the humidity i have to get soemthing for that tomorrow morning.I have one hide and one water dish,i need to get another hide.I thought you needed one but i heard on the web site two is best for both sides of the tank.Im not trying to mess with him to much im trying not to stress him becuase of the RI and the visit to the vet.I want him to get used to it.I want to add stuff to it but i thinkim going to wait till his RI clears up.I tried to freed him live and he wouldnt take it.He looked at it funny.and got really scared so in a about a week im going to try f/t and if that dont work im going to try p/k

Keep the enclosure a few degrees warmer than usual (i.e. 83-93 instead of 80-90), have the humidity fairly high, make sure you have lots of clean drinking water available, and leave it alone as much as possible.

You will also want to feed live or pre-killed, as frozen/thawed have less vitamin C and your snake will need all it can get.

One of my big females had an RI when I first got her... she wouldn't eat the first few days, but took a gerbil and and a bunch of mice (her previous owner had fed her gerbils and mice) and has had a great feeding response ever since... switched to frozen/thawed rats no problem.

about the bag killing method. i have heard and seen that it is not the most efficient instant killing whack method. as you guys have said sometimes it doesn't die the first or second time so essentially it is just getting banged around really hard for a bit before it dies and that doesn't really sound that humane. i have come to approve of whacking it by taking it by the tail (nobag) and wacking it on a wooden step or table ledge etc., right at the head so it's neck breaks instantly and dies instantly. it's a little more difficult because it takes precision whacking and also no bag brings you a little more intimately into the the killing but i think it is more efficient and better for the rat.