First time feeding/switching to F/T attempt results...

[grizzjr1]

Howdy everyone, some of you may have read some of my threads about my new little guy, Sativa. He's my first BP and I got him Sunday. Anywho, tonight I decided to give him his first meal, I know I didn't wait long but he has been flicking his tongue a lot in the night and I wanted him on a weekly Wednesday schedule. I thawed out the mouse (in a baggie) in warm water for a few hours next to his cage. He didn't come out but I didn't think he smelt it, so I put it on top of his enclosure and covered it with a piece of a Walmart bag to keep some scent in. Sure enough, after about 10 minutes he came out of his cold hide and was flicking his tongue like crazy. I waited about 20 minutes and let him take in the scent before getting my tongs and going to the cage. I picked up the mouse with them and used a little hole in the top of the cage, designed to feed through, to lower it in. Of course I'm a clutz and dropped it... dang. He just sat the and I unclipped the top of the tank which kind of scared him back into his hide. I decided I would just leave the mouse on his log and wait to see if he comes back out. After just a few minutes he was back out, he went over to the mouse and sniffed it for a while then all of a sudden.. BAM! The mouse was down in a few minutes and he sniffed some more before ending up going to his warm hide to digest. This was his first F/T mouse, his first meal at his new home, and my first time watching a BP feed in person. I feel ecstatic I'm so proud of him! Haha, thanks for reading

[Don]

Congratulations! Not all ball pythons are difficult to get eating f/t. But, you would never know that by reading all of the non-eating threads here.

[DooLittle]

That's awesome. Congrats on your new bp and successful feeding!

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[grizzjr1]

Congratulations! Not all ball pythons are difficult to get eating f/t. But, you would never know that by reading all of the non-eating threads here.

That's awesome. Congrats on your new bp and successful feeding!

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks guys All of the non-feeding threads were making me nervous! I'm glad that he still ate even though I dropped the mouse and scared him a little opening the cage and all. He seems to be warming up to his new enclosure nicely. What is the recommended period of not handling after eating? 24, 36, or 48 hours? Longer maybe? He doesn't have the bump anymore and it's only been 8 hours. I need to pick up a scale to weigh him so I can see what he should be eating, I'm thinking by the time the other two hopper mice I have are gone he will need a step up in size. Rat fuzzies or pups I'm thinking, I will weigh him first to figure out exactly what size.