Hi I am New with a new BP

[Brimstone111888]

I would like to thank you all for being very informational. I have ben researching BP's for about the past month google'ing various caresheets and reading this site.

After a month or so of thinking and reading I bought my first BP. I have him in a 20g. I know its a bit big for him at the moment, but I am putting in branches and fake plants to make it a bit smaller. I didn't want to have to buy another tank in a few months. I have an UTH with a Fir substrate. Temps on the warm side are 92 and the ambient is 81-83ish with a humidity of 65-70% in a tank! One good thing about living in South Florida.

With husbandry taken care of he is on his way to his first meal, which brings me to my first question that I have not been able to find on this site. He is eating live fuzzy's at the moment, so I will stick with that. My question is if he refuses to eat what do I do with the mouse for the time being? I have done the whole rodent keeping thing and I don't really want to do it again. I have read numerous times to wait until next week to try and feed again, but that means I have to keep the mouse and take care of it. Should I try to switch over to F/T?

Thanks for all your help!

[frankykeno]

Hi and welcome to BPNet.

The problem with keeping a fuzzy mouse over until next week if you get a refusal is that a fuzzy is still a nursing mouse. Until it becomes a hopper mouse it needs it's mothers milk to survive so it's basically not going to work out. If your snake refuses the meal it's a write-off. Fuzzy mice aren't much of a meal anyways for most any decent sized BP, even a hatchling so you can probably bump up to hopper sized mice. If you are going to feed live then you do need to deal with the occasional refusal and having to keep a live feeder over until the next feeding. Most pet stores will not take back a feeder rodent.

You can try to get him over to f/t, some switch fairly easily, some do not, all you can do is research proper f/t methods and give it a shot. Usually though it's best to not mess with feeding stuff until the snake is properly settled in and has taken at least 3 or 4 weekly feeds from you, if not more.

[Sunny1]

Hello and Welcome!!!

I think that is one of the drawbacks (I guess you could put it that way) of feeding live. When feeding live, you still have to respect the mouse and treat it humanely, which includes taking care of it should your BP refuse it. If that is not something that you want to undertake then I would probably switch to f/t. My BP would not take f/t so I take care of my feeders (I usualy buy extras when I get them because there are only 2 stores I trust to buy live feeders from) but that is okay with me since I only have one freezer and the thought of frozen mice/rats next to my kids waffles doesn't sit well with me.

And another note, we LOVE pics around here so feel free to show off your new baby!!! LOL

[Brimstone111888]

Well I decided to go ahead and try a F/T first to see if he would eat it. If he didn't, oh well I wasted a few bucks. They only had fuzzys, pinks, and adult mice. The fuzzys felt and looked small so I bought three and I would feed him the 2 smallest.

I thawed one of them and pre scented the room for about 30 minutes. I heated it up with a hair dryer and dangled it in front of his hide and he struck it and gobbled it up instantly. When he swallowed him there was barly a buldge in his stomach so I thawed another and feed him another.

It was a great day, thanks for all the help.

[joepythons]

Welcome to the group