Couple First Time Feeding Questions

[wonderwhitters]

I’m really relieved reading all your responses. Gonna leave it overnight and take it out first thing if it’s not gone and try again in a few days with a mouse instead of a rat. And will follow everything y’all have said! I’ll let you know if I find an empty cage in the morning!

[Craiga 01453]

This is why I love it when people are prepared before bringing their animals home. Props to you we.
Since you were prepared you're not stressing over it and understand its not uncommon.

Onto your questions. Yes you can leave it overnight. Some snakes won't eat with an audience and only eat if you leave it and walk away.

I think others are right about the heating technique too. You can always use a temp gun to check the temp of the prey before offering. Aim for about 100°
Also keep in mind small prey cools quickly, so you may need to reheat a few times.
You'll have it down in no time.

I healthy well started juvenile can realistically go a couple months without eating, but obviously you want to work to avoid that. Getting him eating should be too priority right now.

One thing to add, you don't want to offer again in a day or two like you mentioned. Offering too often can actually stress the snake and lead to further refusals. If it were me, I'd offer again in 5 days.

Good luck! Keep us posted!

[wonderwhitters]

Thank you again so much y'all! This is now constantly on my mind. I feel better knowing that it's only been 8 days since his last meal. Also the breeder gave him an additional meal two days prior to the meal he had before. (He always offers a final feeding 48 hours prior to shipping), so technically he got two feedings in the course of a few days prior to arriving to us. I am going to let him be for a couple days, keep temps and humidity in check, and then offer in a few days and see if he's interested.

In my head I'm like omg what if he starves to death and dies? But I know I've got time to figure out what works best for him still, so I will keep diligent! Thank you again! Y'all are SO helpful & SO appreciated! ♥

[Craiga 01453]

Sounds like a great plan to me.

Just a friendly reminder, husbandry and security are the two most important thing to getting them eating and thriving. So stay focused on those two things and you'll be good to go

[Moose84]

Good evening all!

So we attempted to feed our BP for the first time tonight. He had numerous successful f/t feedings with the breeder. We waited a full 7 days from the time of his last meal & then attempted a rat fuzzy tonight. He's 107grams so far and it seemed like a very adequate size, and I believe similar in size to what he was eating at the breeders. Our attempt wasn't successful, and while I'm bummed out, I'm not angry or overly frustrated. I knew this could have potentially been something that happened.

First question: I left the rat fuzzy under his warm side in his enclosure outside one of his hides. Has anyone ever been successful leaving the f/t in the enclosure and left your BP alone for him to find it? Or will that never work, and I need to just throw it out, and try again in a day or two? I tried the little dead rat dance with the feeding tongs for a really long while, and he sorta showed some interest, then seemed more nervous of it than anything else. I don't plan to leave it in there very long, as i know it will begin to collect bacteria, etc... just figured it was a last ditch effort for the night.

Second question: While we are working out our feeding hiccups, how long can a juvenile BP go without food? He's a healthy weight currently and was eating wonderful for the breeder. I just do not wanna go too long between feedings and cause him any harm.

Thanks for answering my questions. I'm sure somewhere on the forum people have asked these before, so if it's redundant, my apologies! I appreciate your time and advice! ♥

What was the breeder feeding the animal? Live or FT? Also, what is the snake being housed in now?

[ballpythonsrock2]

Starting to think maybe i didn't have it warm enough for him. I used hot water and put him in a bag and then held it under the CHE for a few prior. I'll try the blow dryer. Thank you!

With what you have mentioned here I don't think the problem was you didn't get it hot enough. It is more likely you cooked the feeder too much. It is very easy to do. I have done it. I have had the belly pop open with a awful smell. No wonder my snake wouldn't eat it.

I myself prefer to let the feeder air thaw out for 2 of hours sitting on the enclosure letting the smell of the feeder entice my snake. I lay it belly up and after 2 hours I check it and if the belly is nice and soft and pliable (if not I check every 15 min.) then I heat it up with just the hair dryer. I use to use a heat bulb and dome but I found it is way to easy to over heat (cook) it.

If you want to thaw in water instead of using hot water I would use cool faucet water. Which doesn't take long to thaw.

[Moose84]

What was the breeder feeding the animal? Live or FT? Also, what is the snake being housed in now?

Correction** I see where you said it was having FT from the breeder... I apologize.. Now, lets talk about enclosure size.. You had posted something about getting this animal a t10 and said you were keeping it in a 20L... You had also posted this animal was being very defensive and chalked it up to "adjusting." Where the animal is indeed adjusting, in my opinion the enclosure it too large. This is why you were having the "bitey" and defensive issues and it's not at all surprising you are now having feeding issues.. They kind of go hand in hand.. The snake does indeed have decent size.. However, if you continue to have feeding issues I would consider moving him into a smaller enclosure..

[Bogertophis]

Appreciate all the advice. So it’s not unsafe to leave in cage and remove in the am?

It's fine. When it comes to spoilage, I'm very fussy about thawing first in cold water before heating briefly for snakes that "need to feel the heat" with their sensing pits,
but even I would leave it overnight if not taken right off. Mostly because (as already mentioned) some snakes are too shy to eat with you there or with a light on, so it's
just a gamble: your snake is not likely to eat it once it cools off, so you might as well leave it & try, you'll be tossing it out either way.

[wonderwhitters]

What was the breeder feeding the animal? Live or FT? Also, what is the snake being housed in now?

20L Zilla Terrarium, with CHE/UTH combo. 4 hides. lots of clutter. coco husk/reptibark mix as substrate. (Planning eventually to upgrade to an Animal Plastics enclosure). The breeder successfully fed f/t hoppers/fuzzies.

[Moose84]

20L Zilla Terrarium, with CHE/UTH combo. 4 hides. lots of clutter. coco husk/reptibark mix as substrate. (Planning eventually to upgrade to an Animal Plastics enclosure). The breeder successfully fed f/t hoppers/fuzzies.

Yeah. Like I stated.. That might be a bit large regardless of clutter. If he continues to refuse food you might have to switch to a smaller enclosure..