Pablo's first feed with me!!

[k8nkane]

I am so glad the ex pawned his snake off on me! Pablo is such a treat.

I wasn't sure what he'd be like since my ex just bought him 3 weeks ago from Petsmart and had been keeping Pablo in a fish bowl-sized tank. But from day one, Pablo has been very friendly and accepting of being held while I adjusted his furniture. And it seemed like once Pablo got that taste of being held and getting to explore outside his cage a bit, he was demanding it every time I turned on the night heat lamp and he slithered out of his daytime hidey-hole. He isn't shy at all with me (or the camera) and within a day or so of first being transferred to his new cage, he seemed to be settling into a routine.

He was last fed on Sunday and since I'm moving this weekend, I wanted to at least try to get him to eat before the stress of another move so soon. I was fully prepared for him to refuse since 1) I haven't yet had the chance to fix his cage set up so the temps and humidity are monitored appropriately and kept steady and 2) he'd just been through the stress of a move 4 days ago.

But I heated up the f/t fuzzy in front of my space heater and wiggled it around on his substrate a bit and he took the bait! Well, he missed the first time but more than made up for it the second; he constricted that poor dead fuzzy for a good 30 seconds or so.

And then because a couple people on here had mentioned he should be on a bigger-sized mouse and he hadn't immediately made any moves to slither off into a hide, I offered him a second f/t, space heater warmed fuzzy and he took that one too!!!

Excuse me while I gush and coo over watching my first snake feed for the first time!!

I do have one question, though. The first fuzzy he nailed in the side but managed to rotate it head-first. The second fuzzy he nailed on the head but while he was constricting it, it's position changed so that he swallowed it feet first. Are there any tricks to making sure your BP eats their dinner head first??

NOW FOR PICTURES. (Sorry there are so many. I am a dork and got too excite! )























(Second fuzzy)













That's finally it!! Thanks for looking everyone!

[crazyj83]

Congrats on the new bp. As far as feeding goes I have a baby cinny that has eattin 2 rat pups rear first, no idea how to stop him from doing it...lol

[Mike41793]

I dont think you have to worry. Feet first is fine, it doesnt make too much of a difference. And yea fuzzies are too small for your guy. He looks like he could easily put down an adult mouse.

[RichL]

Yea, no trick really to get them to eat it head first. You can usually get them to strike it on the head, which seems to 'help' being that it is already turned the proper way.

If you hold ( with tongs, or fingers if you don't mind getting bit ) by the tail and not the 'scruff' of the neck so the rat is dangling face down, then they usually grab it by the head. I also tend to hold it above the tub a bit so they have to strike upwards.

Also, would agree that he looks like he could easily take an adult mouse or a fuzzy-crawler rat with relative ease. You can use up the fuzzy's you have feeding 2-3 at a time if you wish, but would swap to rats if available. Rats have a higher nutritional value than mice.

Congratz though on him eating for you after a stressful week =)

[k8nkane]

A couple other members had mentioned that he could probably eat a size bigger based on previous pics of him, but I bought the fuzzies, to get him eating for me on something more familiar, since I wasn't sure he would eat anyways. He was still wandering around a bit after the second one so I ended up giving him a third and will call it good there since it took him a little to follow up his bite and constrict with actual swallowing. He's in his hide now.

I'm using tongs and holding the mouse by the foot/tail, whichever I can grab on to since my tongs are a little crooked, lol. He doesn't actually lunge at the fuzzy until I wiggle it around on his substrate, but once he starts getting into position, I'll see if I can't persuade him to bite with it dangling in the air a little.

Thanks for the advice, guys.

[RichL]

I see. No problem starting off small and working your way up =) At least he is eating for you. Always a relief when I 'new' one eats for me.

[SlitherinSisters]

It's always good when they eat!

They prey is definitely too small, he could eat a small adult mouse, maybe even larger. It won't hurt him to feed multiple of those small ones, but switch him to a bigger prey item next time you buy prey. As far as him eating it backwards it's nothing to worry about. They usually get it figured out as they get older.