New owner and my snake is so.. mean?

[Coffee Mutt]

Congrats on the new BP! Sounds like everything is going pretty good so far. Secure enclosure, temps are dialed in, and a successful first shed. All we need now is for your critter to eat which he'll hopefully do soon! He should also mellow out after a few meals and once he gets more settled in. Keep using that snake hook as long as he's nippy. Best wishes!

Thank you!

Update after a few days. He's still refusing eating. Second to last attempt was the final rat pup I had before the mice came in and while he was striking *at* it he didn't exactly seem to be wanting to eat it and after a few moments shifted his focus onto me. Left the rat pup over night and it wasn't eaten.

Couple days later tried with a mouse and there wasn't the same striky behavior as last time but he still wasn't keen on coming out for it. Left it overnight in there for him and come morning, again, not eaten.

Honestly getting pretty frustrated and a little worried about it I kinda took stock of everything and made the decision to move his tank to an even quieter corner of the house. Since then I'm still waiting to try and feed him again but he's seeming much calmer. He's out stretching across his log to warm up pretty often at night. He isn't retreating into his hide at the first sign of someone looking at him and well.

I decided instead of waiting however long it'd be before he decides to eat that I'm gunna buck up and start seeing if I can work on his socialization. It took me a little cause honestly his striking got a little intimating as much as my pride doesn't want to admit it haha. But I tossed some gloves on, went in and got him and have started letting him just hang out in a nice cozy pillow sack in my lap for a little bit each night, about an hour while I just watch videos. Starting with that in an attempt to get him used to me and being touched and maybe that'll help with the feeding issue. He does relax and even casually shifts around a bit as he sits there and I'll touch him and he doesnt freeze up so I like so think there's some progress being made!

but of course, I'm on here for other opinions so lay them on me guys. I wanna do the best things I can

[jmcrook]

If it still hasn’t eaten you shouldn’t be handling it. Something is off with the husbandry if it’s not eating at that age/size. Could need addressing more security (clutter, tighter hides, etc), ambient or hot spot temps, overall enclosure size relative to the animal, temperature of the feeder when presented, means of feeder preparation, etc.

I once had a royal python that would only take f/t if prepared by thawing under a lamp. Would not touch anything thawed in water regardless of whether it was in a bag or sopping wet. Dry prepared only. Also the only animal that ever needed more than one live feeding once at home before switching to frozen.


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[Coffee Mutt]

I'll try the lamp trick! Honestly trying anything at this point. Live is gunna be my last resort if nothing else seems to be working. I've got a friend who's bp will only eat live and he breeds his own feeders.

It's been F/T in the hot water to thaw then further warmed up and dried with a quick little blast from a hair dryer. He was eating F/T mice at his breeder and they said he last ate on the 7th.

His temps and humidity are fine and checked often and even now bumped up since moving him to the other room he's in now. his cool end idles around 79-80 and his warm end has an ambient of 86-87 with his hot spot reaching 92. Humidity coasts at 55-60 throughout the day. I could try snagging some more clutter, couldn't hurt to attempt he's already got a fair bit. His cage is an exo terra large low so he's definitely not too big or too small for it as of now.

[Coffee Mutt]

I'll try the lamp trick! Honestly trying anything at this point. Live is gunna be my last resort if nothing else seems to be working. I've got a friend who's bp will only eat live and he breeds his own feeders.

It's been F/T in the hot water to thaw then further warmed up and dried with a quick little blast from a hair dryer. He was eating F/T mice at his breeder and they said he last ate on the 7th.

His temps and humidity are fine and checked often and even now bumped up since moving him to the other room he's in now. his cool end idles around 79-80 and his warm end has an ambient of 86-87 with his hot spot reaching 92. Humidity coasts at 55-60 throughout the day. I could try snagging some more clutter, couldn't hurt to attempt he's already got a fair bit. His cage is an exo terra large low so he's definitely not too big or too small for it as of now.

Update! We've eaten!
It took a little bit of slightly harassing him with the feeder because he was still shrinking away from it at first but he took it after some coaxing!

[Bogertophis]

...We've eaten! ....

So...which end do YOU eat first? Just curious... (Congrats on getting HIM to eat though.)

[Coffee Mutt]

So...which end do YOU eat first? Just curious... (Congrats on getting HIM to eat though.)

Hahaha oh I definitely go tail first. Slurp it right up like fuzzy spaghetti