New 3 month old - need some insight on feeding and behavior

[Brianz]

Hi all - 8 days ago I brought home a 3 month old albino female, weighing 106 grams. She looks healthy and had been fed live at the breeder's facility. She is in 3x2 ft boaphiles cage that's a foot high. Temp gradient is about 80 to 92 with hides on both sides. She's on cypress with 50-60% humidity.

The first two days, there was some light handling, but mostly left her alone. She was exploring the cage fairly actively at night. On day 3, I tried to give her a frozen thawed hopper in a separate feeding tank... no go. I always feed my corn in a feeding tank, but it seemed to make my ball edgy. So on day 5 I tried again but just "zombie danced" the mouse with forceps outside her hide, in her regular enclosure. Left the mouse for two hours, no dice. Since then she has been less active, hiding constantly, and not exploring at all. When I lift the hide she seems to breathe faster, like she's scared.

I don't know if she's going into a shed cycle - no visible fading yet - or if she's freaked out by the previous feeding efforts. Breeder doesn't know date of past shed.

I've searched and googled but thought I'd ask for some advice. Should I wait a week and then offer a supervised live small mouse? I'd prefer frozen, I'm too squeamish for live, but am willing to do that while she settles in. What about her lack of exploration the past five days, seems pre-shed behavior but she looks normal? Or maybe it's harder to tell with an albino.

Thanks all. Just wondering if I should worry or try something new...

[Annarose15]

Leave her alone for a week, and then offer live. Once she has taken a few meals, you can worry about switching to F/T. In the meantime, you can also clutter up her cage with more hides and crumpled newspaper - that's a pretty spacious enclosure for a baby BP. Do NOT move her to a feeding bin - this is unnecessary stress that can distract her from eating. The whole logic of "tank aggression" is ridiculous, anyway. Why would a snake be less likely to bite you when she is moved from the feeding bin back to the regular enclosure, considering she is already in feeding mode? As far as her hiding, that is normal, natural BP behavior. She will never be a display snake like your corn might be. The heavy breathing is a fear reaction, which she will eventually grow out of.

I hope that covered it. Oh, and no, I wouldn't be worried about her yet. She just needs some settling-in time.

[Mike41793]

Leave her alone for a week, and then offer live. Once she has taken a few meals, you can worry about switching to F/T. In the meantime, you can also clutter up her cage with more hides and crumpled newspaper - that's a pretty spacious enclosure for a baby BP. Do NOT move her to a feeding bin - this is unnecessary stress that can distract her from eating. The whole logic of "tank aggression" is ridiculous, anyway. Why would a snake be less likely to bite you when she is moved from the feeding bin back to the regular enclosure, considering she is already in feeding mode? As far as her hiding, that is normal, natural BP behavior. She will never be a display snake like your corn might be. The heavy breathing is a fear reaction, which she will eventually grow out of.

I hope that covered it. Oh, and no, I wouldn't be worried about her yet. She just needs some settling-in time.

x2. All of this^

the only thing i have to add is that she may not grow out of the breathing thing and its not really a big deal. I dont believe its a fear reaction. Sometimes when you lift off their hide it wakes them up. If someone came into your bedroom in the middle of the nite and turn on the lights and ripped off your blanket you would probably be breathing faster too lol.

[Annarose15]

x2. All of this^

the only thing i have to add is that she may not grow out of the breathing thing and its not really a big deal. I dont believe its a fear reaction. Sometimes when you lift off their hide it wakes them up. If someone came into your bedroom in the middle of the nite and turn on the lights and ripped off your blanket you would probably be breathing faster too lol.

If someone turned on my bedroom light and ripped off my roof, it would scare the bejeezus out of me! I should have clarified: All of mine have grown out of the heavy breathing when handling thing, but they are still capable of being spooked at any age.

[Mike41793]

If someone turned on my bedroom light and ripped off my roof, it would scare the bejeezus out of me! I should have clarified: All of mine have grown out of the heavy breathing when handling thing, but they are still capable of being spooked at any age.

Oh yea good point. So its being scared bc of being woken up i guess.

Well played miss, well played...

[Kaorte]

As others have stated, just leave her be and she will eat when she is ready.

I would consider moving to a smaller enclosure though. My 6' boa lives in a cage that is slightly bigger than the one you have your baby in. That is a lot of square footage for a tiny snake. The more area they have in their enclosure, the more uncertain they are with their safety.

Hiding is totally normal. Don't expect to see much of your ball python as they love to hide! You might catch them cruising at night, but that is about it.

Feeding in the home enclosure is perfectly fine.

[Brianz]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll wait till a week is up and then offer a live small adult mouse in the enclosure. Hopefully the cage size isn't an issue but I'll be sure to keep in mind if difficulties continue. I won't try the feeding tank idea again... my thinking there was only in regard to ingestion of substrate. My corn snake likes to slither a few victory laps after nabbing prey (even f/t), so I put him in the feeding tank to avoid combing up substrate, and he never objected, so thought I'd try once with the ball. Definitely didn't help matters, so I won't be doing that again.

[Annarose15]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll wait till a week is up and then offer a live small adult mouse in the enclosure. Hopefully the cage size isn't an issue but I'll be sure to keep in mind if difficulties continue. I won't try the feeding tank idea again... my thinking there was only in regard to ingestion of substrate. My corn snake likes to slither a few victory laps after nabbing prey (even f/t), so I put him in the feeding tank to avoid combing up substrate, and he never objected, so thought I'd try once with the ball. Definitely didn't help matters, so I won't be doing that again.

I just got a mental image of this. Good luck with her!