First timer in need of advice

[Moose84]

136 grams sounds good for that age so you should be ok on that front. I would wait 5 days from the last time that you fed him now that he is in the new enclosure and try the F/T again. If he refuses I would try live.

As far as dealing with adult BP's vs juveniles I have found that my adults are hands down much pickier and generally more of a pain in the a&* when it comes to feeding.. The juveniles will typically eat every single time.. Right now I think its all about having him in the proper sized cage and go from there..

Good luck.. Keep us updated...

[Awesomethepossum]

136 grams sounds good for that age so you should be ok on that front. I would wait 5 days from the last time that you fed him now that he is in the new enclosure and try the F/T again. If he refuses I would try live.

As far as dealing with adult BP's vs juveniles I have found that my adults are hands down much pickier and generally more of a pain in the a&* when it comes to feeding.. The juveniles will typically eat every single time.. Right now I think its all about having him in the proper sized cage and go from there..

Good luck.. Keep us updated...

I appreciate your input.

See, I worked in a museum as an educator for a while, and the ball python they had was about 7-8 years old, a male. He was the most chill snake I've ever met. Happily ate 1-2 large mice a week, with a public audience, in a glass tank. He was used regularly in 20 minute educational programs that involved children. Other than that, he spent all day sleeping, and if you took him out, he'd sleep on your lap. Or..well, he still does.

So, that's what I was used to

Otherwise...I have a 3 year old bearded dragon that I raised from 2 months of age. I exposed her all varieties in color and type of vegetables, as well as insects as a juvenile. She ate all of them, but as soon as she hit adulthood she became almost defiant picky.

I'm just hoping you're right and he settles in nicely. Thank you

[Annageckos]

One thing I've found with my formerly picky eater is to make sure the F/T rodent is really warm. She would only go after them if they were hot, I'd use the temp gun and aim for around 109-110 degrees using a hair drier to warm them up. Anything under that and she would be interested but not go for it. Sometimes I'd heat the head up even more. She use to be really hit or miss but since upping the temp of her prey she is a consistent feeder, she'd eat every day if I let her. I've been able to wean off using the hair drier and only use hot water to warm them up now.

[Awesomethepossum]

One thing I've found with my formerly picky eater is to make sure the F/T rodent is really warm. She would only go after them if they were hot, I'd use the temp gun and aim for around 109-110 degrees using a hair drier to warm them up. Anything under that and she would be interested but not go for it. Sometimes I'd heat the head up even more. She use to be really hit or miss but since upping the temp of her prey she is a consistent feeder, she'd eat every day if I let her. I've been able to wean off using the hair drier and only use hot water to warm them up now.

Saw this too late, but I attempted to feed him again tonight without success. He acted interested, but I never see him leave his cool hide. Of course he does, since I found some small poop in his tank today...but never his warm hide. With how he is right now, it makes me feel like I'm missing something in terms of an optimal setup. If I am, I want to know what

I tried a fuzzy rat today, warmed it with a heat bulb in the room, but the temp didnt get over 100. He poked it some but wasnt overly interested. Since it's been 10 days since he last ate, I'm pretty disappointed. I'll try a hopper again and try to find a hair dryer. It's worth a shot.

If not, I'm going to look for a place that sells live feeders.

[Awesomethepossum]

Update**

So for some reason I didnt even think of it, but his two hides are different... and he never uses his warm hide. So I switched them around (put his cool hide on the warm side, vice versa). Boosted the temp up slightly, so that the warm side was between 92-88, cool side between 82-86.

A few hours later, he was out and warming on his rock. I left a large hopper in there on the warm side overnight, and it was gone this morning. And hes still in his favorite hide...on the UTH. So it seems that the issue was hide preference..and the favorite happened to be on the cool end.

So I'm hoping this was the issue, and my next step is getting two identical hides in there. Fingers crossed