I got my first bp about a month ago and have been following this forum ever since. I've never had a reptile before and I was raised to fear snakes (because all the rattlesnakes in AZ) so there is no way I coulda made it this far without the help of all of you. Victor (we named him after the brand of mouse traps) is doing great in his new home. We got the temps pretty steady at about 82 and 90 degrees. I'll see what I can do about posting some pics of him. Well, my first question may be kinda stupid, but I'm a lil' overprotective of animals. We feed him live mice and picked up a mouse for him a day early. It escaped during the night and had free roam of the house overnight. Luckily we found him pretty easily in the morning, but is it still okay to feed him this mouse? I don't want to give him any parasites or anything.
Also, he just shed for us for the first time and it wasn't a good one. very piecy and a few stuck pieces. We've figured out how to keep the humidity up since then and I'm working on making a humid hide (cant find that moss around here so I'm going to have to order some). I read the sticky about soaking him and we were able to get most of the shed off that way but he didn't seem to like the water (won't put his head or neck in it) and he balled up and hid his head. He also jerks back when we put the washcloth anywhere near his head. He has shed left on one side of his head, including one eyecap, and about an inch down the top of his neck. It looks like its coming loose, the edges are sticking up, but he is having a hard time catching it on something to get it off (he's def. trying). There is also a tiny lil' piece left around the tip of his tail that isn't coming loose no matter how long we soak it. I don't think it would be too hard to grab hold of the shed left on his neck and pull a little, but is this okay to do? I don't want to force it off if it will hurt him. Or should I just leave him alone and let him keep trying? Should I put something rough for him to rub on in his tank?
My last question doesn't involve my snake, but a "friends". He got his snake at the same time we did and just recently he tried to feed it a mouse (the same size it has been eating). The snake killed the mouse just fine but wasn't able to swallow it. He worked on it for about 30 min or so but just couldn't get it past its mouth and into the neck. The owner doesn't seem concerned but I am. Is this a normal thing? Could there be something blocking it? thanks for all the help!