Our first snake!!

[supamyk]

or… go get a live mouse.

[Kjewell89]

I did warm it up with a blow dryer and i let it sit on top of his cage for him to scent it first. He was interested, he kept poking his head out looking for it, then when I dangled it with tongs he just looked at it hah. I will wait until Monday and try again... F/t would be easier for us so hopefully he'll take it next time. The guy we got him from said he'd fed f/t a few times but that he was mostly on live. He said to give it 4 feedings before giving up and going back to live but that just seems like a REALLY long time for a 7mo old snake to go w/ out food.


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[CORBIN911]

Well the holding and waiting a week can differ per snake, you did take good caution to not hold, BUT if he is eating well, and showing no signs of stress (relentless moving always on the go) then you can freely hold him, But with mine i wait till 1-2 feedings till i 100% will take them out for "play time" with 34 snakes its nice new 1 every day! with letting them have there time on there own aswell.. Gorgeous snake aswell his dorsal strip is very nice!

[CORBIN911]

Aswell, Dont do live, there is NO benefit to it unless its last resort to his feeding, for multiple reasons, even with 1 snake when i started

1. One he doesn't eat live. now what give your daughter a interchangeable pet mouse every week?

2. You expand your collection, now you need MULTIPLE life, and if you feed 5+ snakes, and keep an eye it could take hours

3. You cannot store Live as easily as frozen.. (i buy 100 at a time, from pups to med, all go in freezer)

4. Live generally cost more (since you can bulk buy frozen)

5. Lastly, Supervision or not, YOU will not likely stop the defensive reflex of a rat biting snake, either scaring or worse maiming your snake. And im sure you dont want to 1 bash the rat off wall/floor in a bag, or pre kill to putting in, its just not worth the time, and with your first snake, trying to retrain to FT sometimes will takes weeks-months and this will stress you which will end up stressing snake.

Also thought you may be worried 1-3 weeks without feed is us not snaking between meals for a snake, With him being young they can absorb MOST of there meals, so they will be able to eat every 5 days, and deficate very little this should not worry you. Aswell dont break the RAT's and go to mice, once hes pushing 600+ thats 2 mice per 1 small rat, when hes 1500 grams thats 5 mice to 1 small-medium rat.


Good luck with JuJu hes def a good first pick up. and another suggestion until your T8 comes in possibly "black paper" the side's/back wall of his tank it should help with him feeling secure!

[Kjewell89]

Well the holding and waiting a week can differ per snake, you did take good caution to not hold, BUT if he is eating well, and showing no signs of stress (relentless moving always on the go) then you can freely hold him, But with mine i wait till 1-2 feedings till i 100% will take them out for "play time" with 34 snakes its nice new 1 every day! with letting them have there time on there own aswell.. Gorgeous snake aswell his dorsal strip is very nice!

He refused his f/t last night but did show interest in it... Other than that, he's showing now signs of stress. Mostly hangs out in his warm hide and once nightfall hits he comes out for maybe 10min to climb on his hides, then goes back in his warm hide. I'm planning to try another feed on Monday. Hopefully he will take that one.


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[CORBIN911]

Yea thats good. Just dont stress to much or break and give life/mice in the logn run youll regret it. Biggest thing with the BP hobby/pets is patience, nothing else, If he declines that continue to wait the 5-7 day period as feeding to much will cause stress. You could also try braining the rat, that sometimes help. OR as others said warm up a lil more (I often put mine close to a light bulb for 15-20 seconds for my picky eaters)

[CORBIN911]

Something also which may be weird, do you know what substrate the breeder had him on, My pied girl WILL NOT eat on anything but paper or CoCo chips (1/2 cubes)

on husk she declines on aspen declines on sani chips declines, Bps are very habitual creatures, so if he was on paper that may be why he declines. And if you ever do break and feed live, be careful with that bedding its a bag of tooth pics. And harbors bacteria, if i were you id switch to coco subtrate (any type) its a much nice bedding (my IMO) well besides paper which is a godsend!

[Kjewell89]

Something also which may be weird, do you know what substrate the breeder had him on, My pied girl WILL NOT eat on anything but paper or CoCo chips (1/2 cubes)

on husk she declines on aspen declines on sani chips declines, Bps are very habitual creatures, so if he was on paper that may be why he declines. And if you ever do break and feed live, be careful with that bedding its a bag of tooth pics. And harbors bacteria, if i were you id switch to coco subtrate (any type) its a much nice bedding (my IMO) well besides paper which is a godsend!

I currently have him on Cyprus mulch. It's great for my humidity levels and he seems to like burrowing into it under his warm hide (he makes this nest-like area under there). The breeder had him on AstroTurf.


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[DooLittle]

Ok, first of all, I would stop handling/holding him until he has eaten at least 5 times in a row for you. You want him to get established eating first. I would also get tighter/smaller/dark hides. That will help him feel more secure.

Next, DO NOT move him to a separate enclosure to feed. All that is going to do is reduce your chances of him actually eating and stress him out. It is unnecessary. Balls do not develop tank aggression.

Lastly, there is nothing wrong with live feeding. All of mine eat live and are fine. It doesnt take hours to feed as someone else mentioned. Ball pythons havs been eating live rodents for quite some time... youll actually find the majority of us here feed live. However, if he was eating f/t before, I wouldn't give up on that yet. But you need to leave him be and try again. If he still isn't eating them after you've left him alone and offered a few times, then I'd try live.

Good luck with your baby.

[Kjewell89]

Not planning on switching enclosures for feedings. The hides are a nice tight fit for him, when curled up he touches both sides. We aren't really handling him. I let my daughter hold him yesterday when I was changing his water but that's really the only interaction we've had with him since getting him. He's not acting stressed and he's supposedly only had f/t a few times, he was predominately on live but the breeder didn't think id have any problems transitioning him. I'm just playing the waiting game for the moment and will try again Monday.


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