new BP owner (((PROBLEMS FEEDING)))

i recently purchased a BP. i bought "slippy" on the 22nd of dec 2007. he is a yearling and is obviously around the age of 1 year . he is about a foot and a half ,give or take , and is very thick and healthy looking. actually the first day i got him, he decided to bite me while holding him but ill attribute that to the stress of moving and being in a new enviornment. but anyways i waited a week after i bought him to get settled in before i tried to feed him so the following saturday i put slippy a small live black mouse in a different container to feed. he immately srtuck at it but failed to get a hold of the mouse he did this a few more times but to no success. so i decided to slightly injure the mouse and use forceps. when i held the mouse a few inches above the snakes head he would strike at it but again could not grasp it and constict. after about a half hour of the forcep method he started to get noticably angered and started to let out little hisses and started to twitch the end of his tail , so i ened that feeding session...

I didnt know BP's twitch there tails when they are mad. My corn does that but not my BP. Thats something new! Crazy!

I have no idea...
maybe he was more mad or afraid and didnt want to eat. Maybe he just wanted to get the mouse to go away and thats why struck at it but didn't constrict.

Not really sure, thats all I could think up!

Just give it another week and try again. In the meantime, make sure your husbandry is correct. 90 - 94 degrees in the warm side, 80-84 on the cool side, and about 50% humidity. Make sure he has two snug fitting identical hides. Depending on the size of the enclosure, you may have to put some crumpled up newspaper in to make it tighter and more secure for the snake. It sounds like his strikes may have been defensive strikes and not feeding strikes. He is probably just stressed out. No need to injure the rodent. Just monitor the feeding and remove the rodent if the snake seems afraid or stressed out by it. Don't leave it in there unattended.

so as i mentioned in the first post i tried feeding a small balck mouse on the 29th of december. after that didnt work i left him alone for about 4 days without handling (aka stress for a new snake). i then purchased 3 live pinkies. i set up a fake mouse den in the feeding box, i used his hide from his tank and put some shredded paper in it to simulate a nest along with the pinkies in it. i put him in it and put a cover on the top of the container and a heating pad underneath so he could keep warm. i left slippy in the feeding box with the pinkies overnight and he still didnt touch them. i am concerned because its going to be going on two weeks since i bought the snake there has been two feeding attempts but no success. the temp in the cage is perfect and so is the humidity, his light is in a timer so his light and dark periods are consistant. what should be the next step i take ?? he is still thick and robust and lookse just as healthy as the first day i bought him, but he just doesnt want to eat....

Dont try all the time. Give him a week between tries! Sounds like you gave him 4 days which should be OK in my opinion.
Also don't stress about him not eating! My BP hasn't eaten for over two months! As long as he doesn't lose too much weight he should be fine! They are be very picky and touchy eaters! It can take time and patience!
Make sure all your husbandry stuff is perfect, like "addsdad" said!
Keep your stick on the ice!!!!!

yea the temps and humidity are perfect , like i saiud as well the day and night cycles are consistant as well due to the timer....also these snakes seem to be skittish. is it in their nature to be snappy if so do they usually calm down after some time of handling...also how much handling is too much ..and on the other hand whats the minimum amount? i want mine to be friendly and i wanna be able to sit and hold him for long periods of time. by the way im a first time snake owner if you couldnt alreay tell, iv owned iguanas and box turtles before but it seems caring for a snake is quite a bit different.

Are you sure the snake has not been fed frozen thawed? It's worth trying a thawed mouse with the forceps. Also I've heard that some BP tend to stop feeding for the winter and some are picky about color of pray since they have been used to eating white . Don't worry every ball python eventually will start eating unless they are absolutely stressed out or sick .Keep on trying and provided the right conditions and temperatures it will eat eventually.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by leakyfawcet

i decided to slightly injure the mouse and use forceps.

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I think that's completely unnecessary.

It sounds like the strikes were more of a self defense strike, not really a feeding strike. As I always say, our snakes are professional killers and when they are in feeding mode, they will get what they're after. Sure, there's the occasional miss...it happens...but time after time is a rarity....in my experience anyways.

try feeding white mouse, sometimes color can make them not interested. also ask were you got him/her from for the size they fed it. maybe to big or too small.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by leakyfawcet

he immately srtuck at it but failed to get a hold of the mouse he did this a few more times but to no success. so i decided to slightly injure the mouse and use forceps. when i held the mouse a few inches above the snakes head he would strike at it but again could not grasp it and constict. after about a half hour of the forcep method he started to get noticably angered and started to let out little hisses and started to twitch the end of his tail , so i ened that feeding session...

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These were definitely defensive strikes and not feeding strikes. For whatever reason (be it stress, weather, etc), your snake is not hungry.

I would suggest, as others have, to leave him alone for another week and try again. At his age and size he can easily eat adult mice. If he is still defensive and not interested in eating, leave him alone again for a week, then try feeding him in his cage instead of moving him to another enclosure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by leakyfawcet

also how much handling is too much ..and on the other hand whats the minimum amount?

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Well there isn't really too much or two little. You just need to learn what your snake can tolerate.
Some people hold them once a day, (which is sorta too much in my opinion) others only hold them when they clean the cage, like once a week or less.
I hold my BP once a week or more but if he has eaten or is in shed I leave him alone for a few extra days.

For a new snake I'd try maybe once every day or two but only for 5-10 minutes and work your way up too maybe 20 minutes then 30 minutes and you should be fine by then... but make sure you gave him the time to settle in! and try not to get too close to his head at first!
They are also head shy and it can take extra time for them to get used to you coming close to there head! Just a tip!
GL!

I don't do any handling at all other than to move them around for cage cleaning or perhaps to weigh them, until they have taken a number of weekly meals (for me usually about 4 in a row or so). I figure when it comes to handling I have literally years to do that but only a finite amount of time to get a snake settled and into a solid feeding pattern.

I would suggest you wait a week, pre-scent the area and see how it goes.

how do i pre scent???also i have heard for the most part that BPs do get tammer as they age but someone had told me the columbian red tails are actually less nippy and easier to tend to ie. eating habits, but most dont kno what to do with them when they grow large...

You just take a live rodent plus a bit of it's used bedding, place it in a well ventilated but rodent proof container and set the container on top of the snake's enclosure (on the lid). Then leave them like that for about an hour in a quiet room. The nice rodent scent and the scurrying around of the rodent will hopefully interest your snake and get it primed to strike when you come back in and put the rodent into the snake's enclosure.

Also, pinkies are entirely too small for a year old snake - they're too smale for hatchlings (if you're talking about mouse pinkies).

A yearling male can easily take a full grown adult mouse (if all his husbandry requirements are spot on, and he's not stressed).

Pictures of your enclosure may help us to identify some stressors for you.