New owner and site member, BP Dehydrated from store.

[Shamri]

Atticus once struck and coiled a mouse, so I walked away to thaw him a second one (he had eaten two when we first got him). When I got back with the second, it was to only find that he had spit the first one out. Oddly enough, he struck at the second one too. In the end he refused both, but he took one two days later. I think our loud music made him nervous. Your little guy has been through a lot worse than that, so maybe he just needs a little more time to get settled

[Skiploder]

I'm going to admit I did not read every post in the 9 pages of this thread, so if I repeat something....

You are thinking too hard and you are pressing too hard.

This is not rocket science. You just got this animal recently. You should not be feeding it, you should not be changing things around (unless they are critical) and you should not be touching, molesting and mucking with this snake. For the love of everything that is holy do not force feed this snake. Do not put the water bowl in and remove. Do not open the cage and close it. Do not bathe him. Do not powder him. Let him settle.

You need to provide it an enclosure with the proper husbandry parameters - a proper hot spot, a proper overall ambient temperature, a cool end and either suitable overall humidity or a humid hide.

That glass tank is fine, but three sides should be covered - either by black aquarium paper/foil or something else. During the first week you should also cover the front. The idea is to reduce stress. The idea is to do this by providing a comfortable and secure environment. Not one in which he is open on four sides, has a bright light beating down on him and has his owner putting food in his face and changing things about. You need to reduce traffic in the room in which his cage is in. You need to give him room to acclimate and de-stress.

After you have left him alone for a week and after you have dialed in all the husbandry parameters, then you can try feeding him an appropriate sized meal. If he does not take it off the tongs, leave the dead prey item with him and then leave him the hell alone.

If you over think this, if you fuss and pick and meddle, not only will you stress yourself out, you will make this poor animal's existence miserable. Dial things in and leave that snake alone for at least one week.

[Spoons]

Yep, just try again in five days. He isn't' going to starve himself, the fact that he struck out once is evidence that he's hungry. It's likely that even though your tank is set right at this point, he's still really stressed out from all the activity trying to get it up to standard. He didn't have much time from the last change (the bedding and whatnot) to feeding time.

Regarding force feeding - generally after the first time or two they do not need it again after that from what I hear. So you would not be having to take it to the vet every time it needs to get fed. I understand you're a bit downtrodden at his refusal, but don't worry about him so much - he won't die if he misses a few feedings. they can miss many, many feedings before having problems. Hatchlings fresh out of the egg can go several weeks without eating. Rather than thinking of it in terms of weeks, think of it in terms of meals. He's skipped how many meals so far? Two, three? Well, if you skipped three meals, you might be hungry, but you certainly wouldn't die.

He'll be okay. A week to let him hide and relax will help immensely I think.

[Reed12321]

Thank you so much for posting this. It's nice to know i'm not just insane or that I own some self destructive snake. It's good to know the situation is heard of. So he did eat eventually? Were you as confused as I am about why he'd ignore food after clearly showing interest in it?

I was confused. But i left the mouse in the tank and he had no interest. I waited 5 days after realizing that his tank conditions were too cold and he decided to eat. The thing about temperature and belly temps is that if a snake doesn't live in warm enough conditions, it won't let the food in their bellies digest. So he may still be digesting his last meal. Keep the heat up and monitor the UTH so that he can digest and prep himself to eat again. If tomorrow morning comes and the mouse is still there, toss it. Wait 5 more days before attempting to feed again.

One time my guy had no interest in the food, but I left it anyway and he poked his head out of his hide all night long kinda freaking out about the mouse being right there. I grabbed it with the tongs the next morning and he snapped at it, but lost interest again. BP's are notoriously picky eaters. He just moved in with you and you're doing a lot to the tank to make sure the conditions are good. If he doesnt eat, leave him alone for 5 days. Don't touch or move anything. The only reason you should reach into the tank is to change/clean water dishes.

[Karokash]

I apologize for sounding so frustrated everyone, I appreciate all the help and advice. I will Leave him be and only open his cage to attempt to feed him ever 5-7 days until he eats. I do not plan on handling him at all right now. I think his shedding thing is going to be able to resolve itself. I want to weigh him but I think handling at all is just bad at the current time. Again, sorry for getting stressed, I'll try to just chill out for a bit and see what happens.

[Skiploder]

I apologize for sounding so frustrated everyone, I appreciate all the help and advice. I will Leave him be and only open his cage to attempt to feed him ever 5-7 days until he eats. I do not plan on handling him at all right now. I think his shedding thing is going to be able to resolve itself. I want to weigh him but I think handling at all is just bad at the current time. Again, sorry for getting stressed, I'll try to just chill out for a bit and see what happens.

While you are chilling out...and if you have $165 burning a hole in you pocket, may I suggest you buy/rent/steal:

Health and Welfare of Captive Reptiles
Clifford Warwick, F.L. Frye, J.B. Murphy

Covers a lot of ground with regards to many subjects, but really touches on how to reduce stress in captive reptiles.

[Spoons]

Of course you're going to stress. I'd be more concerned if you weren't stressing. It's never fun to have a sick pet. No need to apologize for it.

[salt]

The first time I attempted to feed my champagne ball python she struck the mouse and drug it into her hide. All well and good right? Well the next morning I peeked in and saw that she had not eaten the mouse but had actually just used it as a cuddle buddy for the night. Waited a week then attempted to feed again and was successful. Temperament wise she seems to be a lot more nervous than my others. Try not to worry too much, you and your snake will get the hang of all this stuff eventually.

[Reed12321]

Something you may want to consider is that perhaps he feels vulnerable. Snakes hide all the time so if you have an all glass tank, it may make him feel very exposed. Something I did to make my snake feel more hidden is put window tints on the outside of the tank. Here's a picture:


That picture shows the sides and back of the tank. I didn't tint the front of the tank so that way I could see the dials and such. I've done this to 2 tanks so far and I think it looks bad ass. It also doesn't let a lot of excess light out so it can keep the temps higher.

[jtomb1510]

I just read this whole thread and I agree that you need to take a deep breath. It's good that you are this concerned with your snakes well being, but you're going to have a heart attack lol. That being said, I don't necessarily agree with the "don't attempt to feed for at least a week" thing as I offer food the day receive a new animal (usually through overnight shipping) and 90% of the time they eat no problem. Now I'm not saying go parading your new little guy around the store or anything but offering food isn't going to hurt him/her especially since s/he looks underweight in the pics you posted early in the thread (I'm sure PetSmart wasn't feeding him properly sized food or anywhere near often enough). The next time you attempt to feed your snake, don't take all the stuff out and put down towels and stuff. All you're doing is stressing him way out before you try to feed him. It's kind of like the whole "feed in a separate tank" thing, you're just stressing the snake out minutes before you try to feed it. That strike and no coil he did last time you tried to feed him was a defensive strike because he was pissed that you just changed his whole world lol. Just thaw your rat (switch to rats asap) and offer it. You might try heating the rats head up with a hair dryer if you are not having any luck just from the warm water. I have several bp's that absolutely will not eat unless I do this to their rat and I have others that I just open the tub with a rat on the tongs and they will come shooting out. This hobby is a blast but like someone else said, it's not rocket science. It's ok if your humidity varies (even as low as the 35% you were freaking out about lol). It's ok if temps fluctuate. I hate to tell you this, but they don't have thermostats and hydrometers where they come from lol. Just breathe and have fun man. Cheers!