First feeding, how to go about it?

I bought a few frozen fuzzies and some feeding tongs tonight in hope of feeding my new bp. The little guy has been actively prowling the tank every night after lights out, and I suspect he/she is hungry. Having never owned a snake, all I have to go off of is the research I've been doing, and I have a couple questions you all can probably answer!

When feeding frozen, have you had better success waving the mouse in front of the snake first or simply setting it on the floor of the inclosure?

For the first feeding, should I leave my new snake in its enclosure or go straight to feeding in a separate box?

How long do you typically leave the mouse with the snake before you toss it if the snake has not eaten? I've seen conflicting answers with this. Some say no more than 20 minutes, and I've seen other threads with people leaving the mouse overnight.


Please add any other tips or tricks you may have for getting a snake to eat! Thank you very much!!


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1. This is kind of a snake by snake thing. I have some snakes a wave the mouse in front till they strike it and i have some snakes i set it down close the tub and walk away. You can always try the first then try the second.
2. You almost always want to feed inside the enclosure. Moving a snake in feed mode or one that has just eaten is not a good idea. They are more comfortable eating in their enclosure where they feel more secure.
3. I usually leave the mouse in over night. If its still there in the morning i throw it out.
My only tips are to try to heat the mouse to 95/100 degrees especially on the head. Having a temp gun makes this easy.
Try not to be too close to the f.t. pray because the snake will sometimes track your heat signature because it is larger \ stronger. (I got nipped like this once)

First fuzzy mice are not appropriate for a BP even out of the eggs they get started with hoppers and quickly move through sizes.

If the animal never ate for you and was fed live before, switching my not be that easy and might not even happen at all, animals that has fed live should be fed live upon arrival until they are settled in completely. An established animal that is eating for you will be easier to switch than trying to switch a new animal that has never been offer F/T.

If the animal is feeding F/T simply thaw the prey nearby the enclosure, warm it up with a hair dryer and offer in the enclosure, the best way to do it with animal that are young is by grabbing the prey behind the neck with the tong and moving the prey in the enclosure as if it was alive. When feeding F/T I do this for up to 5 min if it fails I will leave the prey in the enclosure until the morning sometime it will be gone sometime not.

Do not feed outside the enclosure.

Thank you for your replies! I'm feeding this sized mouse simply because that's what the snake was fed previously, so I thought I should start there and move up after a round of feeding or two. I was told the snake had eaten frozen previously, so I'm hoping that rings true tonight. I'll use your suggestions and let you know how it goes! Thanks again for the help!


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Don't feed outside enclosure IMO I did that with my bp when I first got him and just recently iv started to notice when I get him out just to get him out he goes into hunt mode and gets jumpy so I'm switching now iv been feeding him in the enclousure and he still gets jumpy out of his enclosure but it is not as bad as it was hopefully continuing to do this he will improve and go back to be my little puppy lol... Like another post said it's all snake to snake no snakes behaviour is the same.... As for feeding frozen well my little guy refuses to eat frozen so I can't help their but I would assume that you should just dangle it by the tail and he will pick up the heat from it and hopefully for you strike and eat.... Also as posted before you want the food the be the same size if not a little bit bigger than the biggest part of the snake (usually the mid section) hope this helps

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Well, I tried waving the mouse around for probably a good ten minutes. At first, the bp came out to investigate, but then curled up and hid its face as if a little spooked by the mouse. I sat the mouse right outside the hideout the snake is currently in and again he/she came out to investigate, but didn't seem entirely interested. If this mouse is not consumed by morning, should I try a live one tomorrow night or wait a while longer before anymore feeding attempts?


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Just to clarify: I held onto the mouse a little longer than mentioned above only because the snake came out for awhile to give it a look over, but after retreating, I only tried with the tongs for a few minutes longer to see if there was anymore interest. I left the room so maybe he'll feel a little more comfortable and go for it.


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I personally wouldn't try live just yet. If the breeder said it was eating frozen before, I'd stick to that. Try again in 5 days. Not sure if you mentioned how you heated the mouse up, but if you heat it up with a hair dryer to about 95-100F, it'll make it much easier to find the prey and the smell will kick em into feeding mode. If you DID use the dryer method, the mouse may have lost some heat from being waved around for a while. If that's the case, then just reheat it again. This is just how I do it with mine and he's naturally just a great eater [emoji16] Hope this helps!

I thawed it by putting it in a plastic baggy and warm water first, then used the hair-dryer method.

He didn't eat it last night after leaving the mouse in there. Do you mean reheat in the morning or just in general at the time of feeding?

Thank you!


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If the animal was indeed feeding on F/T (which means had more than 5 consecutive F/T in the past with the previous owner/breeder on it's own) you do not want to offer live just yet unless you are willing to do so for an extended period of time.

You also do not want to offer next day after a refusal, when you have a refusal you offer a week later, offering too soon can lead to more refusal.

The key is appropriate size prey, already established it is not even if it was fed this previously.

optimum husbandry. 99% of food refusal in new animal arriving to their new owner is husbandry related.

How big is the snake (weight?)

How big is the enclosure?

What type of substrate are you using?

What are your temps? How do you measure them? (where and with what type of thermometer)

How tight are your hides?

Have you been handling your BP since it arrived/was purchase?

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Originally Posted by Maddlesrain

Just to clarify: I held onto the mouse a little longer than mentioned above only because the snake came out for awhile to give it a look over, but after retreating, I only tried with the tongs for a few minutes longer to see if there was anymore interest. I left the room so maybe he'll feel a little more comfortable and go for it.


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You may already be doing this .. If so my apologies .

When you've offered the rodent by dangling it for a minute or so ...it's gone cold so the secret is to repeat the procedure time and time again ... reheating with a hairdryer each time. ... I've never had this method fail . Just have patience and think positively :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maddlesrain

Do you mean reheat in the morning or just in general at the time of feeding?

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Just in general at the time of feeding! Also forgot to include: if he's only been with you for a short amount of time then he probably hasn't had enough time to settle and get comfortable which could cause the refusal. But as Deb said, try again in a week.

Use all the tricks in the bag! Best of luck :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

If the animal was indeed feeding on F/T (which means had more than 5 consecutive F/T in the past with the previous owner/breeder on it's own) you do not want to offer live just yet unless you are willing to do so for an extended period of time.

You also do not want to offer next day after a refusal, when you have a refusal you offer a week later, offering too soon can lead to more refusal.

The key is appropriate size prey, already established it is not even if it was fed this previously.

optimum husbandry. 99% of food refusal in new animal arriving to their new owner is husbandry related.

How big is the snake (weight?)

How big is the enclosure?

What type of substrate are you using?

What are your temps? How do you measure them? (where and with what type of thermometer)

How tight are your hides?

Have you been handling your BP since it arrived/was purchase?

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I'd like to thank everyone for your kind words of encouragement and for taking the time to help me out! I'm such a worried snake mom and feel I'm constantly screwing up, but it's only been about five days so I'm probably just jumping the gun and getting way ahead of myself. I've kept reptiles before (bearded dragon, leopard geckos) and a handful of amphibians, but never a snake, so I really appreciate all your advice!!(:

1. The BP is roughly 18," and I tried using a kitchen scale from Walmart to weigh the little guy, but it seemed a little finicky. Maybe I'll try again later and compare results. I've attached a picture below, but it was saying around 323 g for this first try.

2. The current enclosure is a 10 gallon aquarium with a mesh top. Humidity has been really low 30-40, so I'm adding a humidifier to the room this afternoon. If that doesn't work, I'll try putting plexiglass on one half of the tank in hopes of trapping some more water vapor. However, will I then risk overheating?
** I want to stress that I know this is not a forever home and am prepared for upgrading to a new/bigger habitat. By the time he grows, I'll have figured out if I'd rather build some sort of snake box or stick with something glass for the final enclosure.

3. I'm using paper towels as substrate right now/ will probably use newspaper as well.

4.I was using just the stick-on gauges, but added a digital reader from Walmart to hopefully be more accurate. I use two heat lamps, a white light for day-time and a red bulb for night. The lights are attached to a timer, which switches the two on a 12 hour cycle. Temp has been a little wonky as I adjust the positioning of the lights and the thermostat in the room (I'm leaving it at about 75f in the room). There is also a fluker's heat pad under the hot hide, which I do not have a thermostat for currently, but will be investing in one.
I also have a UV light, however, I feel it's too overstimulating, so I've opted to take it off. I can add it back if you feel it's essential.
Right now, the stick-on gauges say:
Cold side: 75ish F
Hot side: 83ish F
And the digital says (I'm using an acurite, which doesn't have probes, so I can only get one side) it's on the hot side and reads: 88F right now.

5. I had one large hide, and another smaller one which I switched out for two mid-sized hides. I bought the big one thinking he'd 'grow into it' but soon realized it's better to have them grow out of the hides. This was a stupid lapse in judgement on my part. However, he does spend a large sum of time perched on top of, or near the hides out in the open. Is that a bad sign? He does this mainly on the cool side.

6. I have been handling the little guy, but have been keeping interactions to a minimum (15-20 minutes) so that he'll get accustomed to me without being too stressed. He seems pretty unfazed by my presence, and will come up to the glass to watch me if he's already out and about. After changing the paper in the tank today, I'll leave the snake alone for the remainder of the week and just let him do his own thing.

On a side note: I will be leaving for a little over a week starting Friday and have a friend who is happy to care for/attempt feeding while I'm away. Only catch is that she lives a bit away and I'll have to transport him to her. After transporting, should we not attempt to feed at all for the entire next week or try midway between being moved and the return trip? One reason I tried yesterday was to give the little guy time to digest before moving. I travel a few times a year, and he'll most likely have to be transported to a different location each time.

Again, I probably just jumped the gun with feeding and the poor little guy wasn't quite ready with all the changes being made around him. I guess no harm done.

Sorry for the long-winded post, I'm trying to get everything out there so I can best perfect his habitat and quality of life. I am a college student, so I can't say money isn't an object, but I knew going into the purchase of this snake that there would be expenses, so if there's anything you feel is dire to the health of the snake, I'd be happy to make the investment.

Thank you again!!!(:

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...2342840762.jpg
Here's another pic of the snake in general: http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...b9f5054ae3.jpg



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1. For his size he should be on rat pups or weaned rats(?), but I understand that you got the fuzzies, so might as well use those up! I'm on the same boat lol so mine gets 3 each time until I run out. Best to get him feeding first.

2. You could also try aluminum foil for the screen top and leave just enough for the heat lamps as an alternative.

3. Substrate is good!

4. Definitely get a thermostat. Heat pads can spike up to 120F without being regulated which will cause a burn for your snake in the long run. The stick on gauges probably aren't the most accurate.. the Jumpstart one from amazon is a good starter one if you're on a budget. I'm in college as well, and I understand the expenses. Luckily I have saved more than enough for my little noodle! Aim for around 90 for a hot spot when you do get your heat pad situation figured out. May want to unplug it until you can properly monitor it.

5. Mine also perched on top of the hide when he was settling in. He didn't really start to thermoregulate until the 2nd day. Just him getting used to the environment.

6. Yeah, let him do his thing for a while. You'll have plenty of time to handle when he's all settled in :) I understand the temptation lol!

I don't really think that transporting the snake is a good idea. That will most likely lead to food refusal because of stress. He most likely hasn't had time to settle yet and moving him so soon will probably make for one hissy pissy snake lol. I'm in college and my snake stays home and monitored by my lovely mother, but I come home weekly to change water, feed, spot clean, etc. They can be fine for a week. With that being said, it also depends how long your trip will be. If possible, maybe the person could come to the snake than the other way around.

What you want to do is measure the temperature right above the substrate so having a prob or a temp gun is something that must be considered to know exactly where they stand You want to win for 86/88 on the hot side and no power than 75 on the cool side.

You can ditch the analog gauges and the UV light, BP are nocturnal and do not require UV.

At that size you also want to offer the proper size prey, fuzzies are way too small and might not be recognise as prey , this animal at is current weight can eat large adult mice. Some will recommend to switch to rats however at this point I will recommend against it until the animal eats for you at least 5 times.

Also consider providing a substrate that offer added security such as aspen or coconut chip, which will allow your NO to hurt itself.

From now on it's hands off until your BP eats for you, I know it's tempting but it is important.

Finally you need a thermostat immediately the last thing you want is to deal with a burn, in the meantime a dimmer switch from home depot or Lowe's will do and you also need to unplug that uth until you have either of those, which means no feeding either since you will not have a proper not spot.

Thanks for the replies!
I'll see if I get get on the thermostat situation before I leave Friday, worst case scenario, I'll order one and hook it up when I return. I suspect the heat lamps would be sufficient until then as long as no food is offered? I have the electrical temp gauge sitting directly on the terrarium floor, so the sensors are picking up the bottom air level heat I'd suspect.

I'll be sure to switch to bigger prey as well once I return from my vacation.
Unfortunately, no one is staying up where I go to school that I can trust with the snake. Although I hate to move the little guy, I'd also hate to leave him without anyone to check in for about 9 days. I feel like too much could go wrong unattended for so long. I'll do one last check to see if anyone is staying and maybe I could or him in their house, which would be a shorter trip.

I'll be sure to keep myself, and everyone else, from playing with the snake until he eats!!



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Also, thank you jbzapanda for the recommendation! I can get one by Thursday before I leave, perfect!!


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try heating the mouse with a hair dryer and sticking its head inside the hide. if i move it around a little even my super shy eater crushes it. He likes it warm tho ... if its not warm, i pull it out, warm it up again, and stick it back in. it doesnt last long.

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Originally Posted by Captainsloose

try heating the mouse with a hair dryer and sticking its head inside the hide. if i move it around a little even my super shy eater crushes it. He likes it warm tho ... if its not warm, i pull it out, warm it up again, and stick it back in. it doesnt last long.

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I'll be sure to heat the mouse multiple times during the next feeding! Hopefully it works!! Thanks for the advice!


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Luckily, I think I found a vet student who is willing to take him for the week and lives up near campus, so I won't have to move him far! I'm also in the process of buying one of the suggested thermostats, which will hopefully arrive by Thursday. He's still all smashed up outside of his cold-side hide, but I figure if that's where he wants to sit, then it's fine. http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...bb6d54b909.jpg


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maddlesrain

Also, thank you jbzapanda for the recommendation! I can get one by Thursday before I leave, perfect!!


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Absolutely! When you do get it, there's an illustration on how you set up the probe on this forum somewhere lol. Essentially it's glass-->probe(from the thermostat)-->heat pad. All under the glass!