First Feed attempt, not a success.

[ranapipiens89]

Well Artemis will go hungry again this week, as she did not eat her f/t mouse. It's not that I expected her to, being a young Ball, fed on live, from a petstore, seeming to be preshed (I removed the one eyecap with a warm moist cloth, it was making me paranoid about the health of her eye), with a new and nervous owner who's never fed a snake before.

I took the mouse out of the little baggy and placed it in cool water for a half an hour until it was nice and soft, and then put it in warm water to get the scent going in the room (I put the little thawing bowl on top of the screen on her tank so the smell could travel better). I then took the mouse and dried it off with a paper towel and edged it under the lip of her heat lamp, the bulb was not touching it, and I was there the whole time watching. I left it like this for a minute or two until it was nice and warm and fairly dry.

At this point my curious (and honestly annoyingly snoopy) mother comes in for the show, even though I attempted to ask her to leave, she's a strong willed woman and I must relent to her wishes. She stood with me in my room watching Artemis for a good 10 minutes. I had removed the climbing log and one hidey house, and later also removed the water dish for ease of movement.

I used my tongs and zombie danced it, twitched it, dangled it, waved it, left it laying in front of her, put it in the hide box, let HER get in the hide box and dance/twitch/dangle/waved it in front of the hole, and nothing. Mom left from boredom and I continued for a while until It was apparent that it was stressing her out. Her tongue had been flicking up until now, but now she was turning her head away and not flicking her tongue. So I re placed everything into the tank, misted her well and fed the mouse to my kitten.



Maybe by next feeding time she'll be done shedding and in a better mood, and maybe mom will be dissuaded from trying to observe, because I'm sure her hovering made it worse for Artemis, it certainly made ME uncomfortable, because I didn't really know what I was doing wrong if anything and it was embaressing because my snake wouldn't eat. Oh well.....

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Little advice here, when getting an new animal the priority is to get them to eat for you, switching should be secondary.

I would recommend feeding the same type of prey then previously offered, then once well established after 4 to 5 consecutive feeding you can attempt to switch if you wish to.

You will see that switching a well established animal is also often easier.

Good luck with your next feeding.

[MsPrada]

This has nothing to do with feeding, but maybe some of you pros can chime is. Is removing the eyecap before the snake sheds a good idea? I've been told that helping them shed before they start isnt a good idea.

[Kaorte]

Yeah.... Did you remove the eye cap while the snake was in blue? Or did the snake already shed and there was an eye cap left on?

[ranapipiens89]

Well I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do anything like that I didn't know if she was shedding, had already shed or was about to because her color has looked perfectly normal this whole time except her pink belly and they one cloudy eyecap. I began to have my doubts as the whether or not she was about to actually shed or not, since the other eye was, has been and still is perfectly clear, it has never changed colors at all this whole week, only the one eyecapped one has changed from silvery black to more silverish and then back to silvery black. I honestly didn't know what was going on, but the prospect of some kind of eye infection or other possible thing was nagging on my mind, so I gently and carefully removed it. And now today she HAS turned a little bit blue, so perhaps I just jumped the gun on that one. I seriously didn't think she was still sheddiing, but perhaps had ALREADY shed before I got her and just retained the one eyecap.

IN OTHER WORDS: I removed the eyecap yesterday and she's only turned blue today, I was unsure of the actual status of her shedding as to whether she was going to or had already done so before I got her.

[Kaorte]

Well, for future reference. Don't remove an eye cap unless you are sure it is leftover from a previous shed. One stuck eye cap will not cause an eye infection.

[ranapipiens89]

Honest and for truly, I'm not TRYING to be a terrible owner..... This is my first snake ever and I've wanted one SO bad for the last.... forever.... Every little thing has got me spooked. I don't want her to die and I don't want her to get sick and I don't want her to starve or to get bitten or get worms from her prey, I'm just a bit frazzled. I need to calm down, I know, but theory is a lot easier than practice.

[Elise.m]

Wow you're one nervous new mama!

Just take it easy, yes the first few months are worrisome cuz you don't know your snake all that well and you're still learning. Once over this phase, you'll be great I'm just getting out of this phase, and it was tough. I thought my snake was going to die at one point (Silly women are so dramatic) but these snakes have a very strong will to live.

Anytime you see a pink belly expect her to be in blue within a couple days. I just saw Snickets' belly go pink for the first time this past week, and now know what to look for. Now you do too! It's all a learning process, and with this website you'll almost have nothing to worry about!

[ranapipiens89]

I have these really bad tendencies to do this when I get a new pet, when I got my goldfish I was siphoning her gravel completely clean twice a week, and when I got my hermit crabs I changed the food like 4 times EVERY day because of the high heat and humidity I thought it would spoil and kill them..... I seriously have obsessive tendencies when I aquire new pets.

[BPelizabeth]

Ok there Ms. OCD.... Im kidding! I am pretty new at this too and I had done TONS of research prior to getting my first one. That was only 30 days ago and now I have 2. I can tell you that I am totally obsessed with this website as there is so much amazing information in here. I would really stress to you....read as much as you can!!!! Talk to other owners and read some more. There are some great books on BP's out there as well.

As far as the feeding I agree....try to feed what the store was feeding that is the easiest path. And if feeding live be sure to watch to ensure that the mouse doesn't bite your snake. Also it should be very quite and you might try making it a little more on the dark side.

I also am not sure if I missed how long you have had the snake. They say to put them in the enclosure and give them a week. Then try to feed. This gives them some time to adjust. This is the hard part.....when they are new to you....you should not handle them for at least a week. Some even recommend 2 weeks. This gives them time to adjust and become more comfortable. I know when you get a new snake you just want to handle them ALL THE TIME!!!

Ok....anyone out there please correct me if I have put any mis-information!

You might also want to read up on the shedding. There is some great info on here.
I can certainly attest to my first shedding with Elizabeth was VERY stressful for me.