He Ate!!! Now I have a question...

[cschneider]

I have gotten so much great advice from this site so i figure this will be an easy one. I have had my first bp for almost a month now and couldn't get him to eat. I was told by petsmart to give him frozen pinkies but he just kept ignoring them. I stopped at a different pet store last night, where, no offense to petsmart, the workers at this smaller place are more knowledgeable. They recommended i try to feed my bp something larger so i got a fairly large frozen fuzzie, about 4 times the size of the pinkies i have. I just thawed it out and placed it in Elvis's cage 15 minutes ago and to my suprise, when i went to check on him, the mouse was gone! I was so excited. It felt like one huge victory since I have noticed Elvis getting thinner and thinner. So my question - He finally ate and i'm thinking it was because he never should have been offered pinkies in the first place. I expected i would be able to see a "bump" on my bp where the mouse is, but you can't even tell he ate it. Should i go out and get more fuzzies and offer him more tomorrow, or wait a week. I am thinking that the poor guy was probably starving and i was just giving him the wrong food...

[waltah!]

If he hasn't been eating I would hold off for a few days. You risk a regurg offering too much too quickly with a snake like that. You can put him on a 5 day schedule. You can probably offer small adult mice until he gets a few meals in him.
Glad he ate for you!

[dr del]

Hi,

I'd probably wait 5 days or so then offer him a hopper mouse - Bp's can pretty much start out on those.

Try and get something about the same around as he is at his thickest point.


dr del

[blackcrystal22]

Wait a week. Feed him those fuzzies for another two weeks then bump up his food item to something as thick as the snake at the thickest point on his body.

[Danounet]

Hi,

I'd probably wait 5 days or so then offer him a hopper mouse - Bp's can pretty much start out on those.

Try and get something about the same around as he is at his thickest point.


dr del

Most hatchlings are started on hoppers like Dr Del said.

I wouldn't take any advise blindfolded from any petstore employee (no offence) at least check around to make sure other people will tell you the same or similar advise.

[BiggBaddWolf]

Yeah you can't trust pet store employees!!!

[mykee]

"Just thawing it out" and offering it to your snake will not do the trick. You need heat. Snakes do not see the way we do, they see thermally, so the hotter you can get it, the better chance your snake will have of being interested. I like to get all my f/t feeders up to 100 degrees; hottest water that will come out of your tap, damp dry and feed. BAM!

[cschneider]

Yes I'm learning the hard way that i walked into this situation of owning a snake kind of blind, but thanks to this site, i have learned a lot. I can already feel myself getting addicted and wanting another snake! There are just so many morphs that are so awesome, I want one of each lol. Maybe one day... but for now, i'm taking baby steps.

Oh and i'm not just "thawing" the mice. I put them in a cup of water and put them in the microwave for about 15 seconds, or until they are warm, but not too hot, kind of like testing a baby bottle, then i put the mouse over the side of the tank that has an under the tank heating pad to keep them warm.

Thanks again for the advice!

[blackcrystal22]

Yes I'm learning the hard way that i walked into this situation of owning a snake kind of blind, but thanks to this site, i have learned a lot. I can already feel myself getting addicted and wanting another snake! There are just so many morphs that are so awesome, I want one of each lol. Maybe one day... but for now, i'm taking baby steps.

Oh and i'm not just "thawing" the mice. I put them in a cup of water and put them in the microwave for about 15 seconds, or until they are warm, but not too hot, kind of like testing a baby bottle, then i put the mouse over the side of the tank that has an under the tank heating pad to keep them warm.

Thanks again for the advice!

AHHHH!
HOLD THE PHONE.

That's bad news! You can kill your snake doing that! Do NOT feed microwaved animals to your ball pythons! It may feel only warm on the outside, but it's either really not thawed properly on the inside, it's boiling hot on the inside, or it's been cooked. All of which can cause serious harm to your animals.

To thaw out your rats and mice you place them in warm water for approximately 20-30 minutes until they are completely thawed through, you can tell this by feeling for any hard cold points in the mouse. If you want to heat it up a bit more after that, use a blow dryer to heat up the head.

Also, because a rat or mouse is technically a closed container with liquid inside, a few seconds too long in the microwave could make it explode everywhere, even in water!

[BiggBaddWolf]

Yeah never microwave a mouse to thaw it out!!!!