How should I offer live food?

Hello,

I recvd my BP on 1/16/09. His last meal was 1/9/09. He still hasnt eaten. I have double checked the husbandry. It has been spot on for about two weeks now. I am only offering food once a week. I tried pre-killed last week w/ no response. So, I am planning to try live hopper this week. Do I just drop the mouse in and leave them alone for a while? How long should I leave the mouse in the cage if he doesnt eat it. I dont want my baby to get bitten by the mouse.

Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Mike

Make sure the mouse is well fed before offering it to your bp. Drop the mouse in and turn off all of the lights. Watch closely, and be ready to intervene if anything goes wrong. He should eat it pretty quickly. If he has not eaten it within forty-five minutes, you should remove the mouse, and try again in five days.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

try pre-scenting?

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

Make sure the mouse is well fed before offering it to your bp. Drop the mouse in and turn off all of the lights. Watch closely, and be ready to intervene if anything goes wrong. He should eat it pretty quickly. If he has not eaten it within forty-five minutes, you should remove the mouse, and try again in five days.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

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to add to this. offer at night. it will help allot if your BP is a trouble eater as they are nocturnal.

presenting does not hurt either. Also, watch that hopper, the mice hoppers i have got all seem to be on crack and are to spunky to offer during the evening wait till its sleeping then wake it and drop it in around 12 AM the BP should take it.

I'd add as well that you prepare ahead for a refusal so you have something rodent safe to keep that mouse in for another week as well as something to feed it and a mouse water bottle.

Remember when you live feed to drop the rodent into the enclosure as far from your snake as you can. This allows your snake to sense the prey and set up it's strike properly. Makes for a far safer live feeding situation rather than the snake basically having something with teeth dropped suddenly in front of it's face.

Don't be surprised to see the live prey wander right over and sniff the snake. These rodents raised in captivity really seem to have next to no prey instincts and don't seem to have a clue that what they are walking up to is going to make them into it's meal.

Personally I don't give our snakes more than 10 to 15 minutes with a live prey item before I remove it. Most are on their prey within seconds and even the slower ones generally hit within the first 2 or 3 minutes after the prey is introduced.

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Originally Posted by JeffJ

to add to this. offer at night. it will help allot if your BP is a trouble eater as they are nocturnal.

presenting does not hurt either. Also, watch that hopper, the mice hoppers i have got all seem to be on crack and are to spunky to offer during the evening wait till its sleeping then wake it and drop it in around 12 AM the BP should take it.

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Mice are nocturnal.

i bought one of those plastic critter cages. something like this, the mini size
http://www.petco.com/product/5914/Le...r-Keepers.aspx
because the mice or rat tend to chew thru those cardboard boxes.

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Originally Posted by lpnaz480

i bought one of those plastic critter cages. something like this, the mini size
http://www.petco.com/product/5914/Le...r-Keepers.aspx
because the mice or rat tend to chew thru those cardboard boxes.

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id like to add to this if you get the one with the large knockout in the lid you can take an 8oz or 16oz water bottle and put rubberbands around the bottle to hold the bottle from falling though the hole.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Mice are nocturnal.

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touchee, but mine seem to be sleeping for the most part at night :) just going by what my feeders trends are.

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Originally Posted by JeffJ

touchee, but mine seem to be sleeping for the most part at night :) just going by what my feeders trends are.

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typically ive noticed that my breeding colony is usually awake short intervals during the day (nursing eating drinking or just sorting babies unless im disturbing them) but most of them tend to be up running around crazy at night

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Originally Posted by nixer

typically ive noticed that my breeding colony is usually awake short intervals during the day (nursing eating drinking or just sorting babies unless im disturbing them) but most of them tend to be up running around crazy at night

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weird, because mine are the opposite. i usually keep about 3-4 in hand in a small 10g tank. maybe the store im getting them from has messed there clock up lol

it seems he cant find the live fuzzy..could I have too much stuff in his cage?

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Originally Posted by micbrown

it seems he cant find the live fuzzy..could I have too much stuff in his cage?

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it would be rather heard for him not to find it, he sees with thermal imaging and smells it... however if your temperatures are off it could be having difficulty differing its body heat from the surroundings if you have the temps to high. presenting always seems to work. fuzzies are stupid too, they usually cower in a corner so place it in the opposite corner of your snake and wait.

Personally, I prefer a very controlled method. I use feeding hemostats. I pre-scent the room for about half-an-hour by leaving the plastic handled kritter thing in the room near the smallest of my snakes. I take the mouse by the nape of the neck, via hemostats, and hold the rat about three inches away from her face. I get a face-on strike almost every time, but at the least, I get a strike that's right on the neck where the mouse can't turn to bite her. This is safe, sane, and easy to accomplish if you take the time. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

YouTube - 8 Ball Pythons - Feeding Lessons

This should help you.

Adam is the best you listen to him and it is hard to go wrong.

Mike

Thanks to all for the great advise..He ate for the first time tonite since jan 9th...I am so happy:banana: I was starting to get worried. It took him about 30 min & he had found it. He looks happy now:snake:

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Originally Posted by micbrown

Thanks to all for the great advise..He ate for the first time tonite since jan 9th...I am so happy:banana: I was starting to get worried. It took him about 30 min & he had found it. He looks happy now:snake:

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told yah he would :)

I have my baby 3weeks now. Here is my experience with feeding:
Day 0 - I received my BP (55cm/21inch, 16g/0.035pounds)
Day 5 - one small live mouse offered (two hrs after lights off time): immediate response (10seconds)
Day 10 - one small live mouse offered (two hrs BEFORE lights off time): immediate response (5seconds?!)
Day 15 - one small live mouse offered (three hrs before lights off time): no response at all... (mouse hopped in vivarium for 30minutes... even "on her head"... nothing...)
Day 20 - different small live mouse offered (one hr after lights off time): no response again... (she even turned head away from mouse)
Day 25 - if shed is not confirmed (I have never seen snake before shed before... so I'm not sure about "symptoms" I see :)) the same small live mouse will be offered and we will see...

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Originally Posted by hoax

YouTube - 8 Ball Pythons - Feeding Lessons

This should help you.

Adam is the best you listen to him and it is hard to go wrong.

Mike

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Thanks, Mike. I was trying to hunt down the link, but I was so tired last night. Much appreciated.