For 2 nights, my BP was out of his hides and extended all over his enclosure every evening. When I approached him, he softly hissed at me. Periodically, he'd do a little soak in his water dish but otherwise was just hanging out.

I took him out to handle him yesterday afternoon and he was alert and docile. No hissing. I thought he might be hungry, so I took out a rat to thaw. We've only fed live prey before but thought it might be time to try to switch him to f/t.

The rat was fully thawed and was still in the plastic bag in which I got it. I submerged the bag in hot tap water for about 15 minutes to warm it up a bit once I saw Haku out and about in his enclosure. I checked to make sure that the rat wasn't cold anywhere, took it out of the bag with 16" tongs, and opened up the snake enclosure.

I dangled the rat for a moment and then touched Haku's nose with it. He coiled around it at the speed of light! It was so fast that I kind of jumped. LOL He never went after live prey that fast.

After he'd coiled around it for a bit, he opened up and left it on the bottom of the enclosure. When we checked half an hour later, he was just lying there with his head resting on the dead rat . . . but showed no signs of interest in eating it.

The rat was still there this morning. I removed it.

I'm guessing that the hissing was his way of telling me that he was hungry, but why would he coil/attack and then just leave it? Should I go ahead and get some live prey for him right away, or wait a few days? Should I try again with a f/t?

The learning curve never ends.