bp striking off

[BOWSER11788]

my new bp's previous owners fed him live, so after 2 live meals with me, i switched him over, when i fed him today, his strike was off 3 times. he missed the F/T rat twice, his husbandry is spot-on since i got him and he seems fine when i hold him, also when i fed live he didn't miss, is this a problem of him not sure if the F/T is food or not yet

[Sarin]

You need to make sure the rodent is warm. BP's are very heat driven and they tend to miss if they can't "see" their prey. I run the rodents head under hot water for a minute before serving.

[mainbutter]

Yup. If the rat is room temp, it's like he knows it is there by limited sight and smell, but his heat-seeking-missle-strike can't get a lock.

Imagine the movie "predator" when the predator can't see arnold cuz he's covered in mud.

I thaw in warm water to get them above room temp. Another option if you thaw in the open air is to use a hair dryer on it to warm it up right before feeding.

[Nate]

It may also be defensive strikes.

Be careful not to stress him out too much.

[BOWSER11788]

mabye its, not to hot, but then again i thaw the same why for my other bp and corn, mabye at first definsive, but onece she hit it, it was ate, so mabye thats what it is Nate, maybe this will show her, its food then,

[j_h_smith]

I don't have an answer for you but I do have an opinion. Maybe, just maybe the snake is anticapating the mouse/rat is going to try and get away and he's striking where he thinks the prey will be, not where it is. You know kind of leading the prey like a hunter leads his gun to shoot a duck flying by.

Jim Smith

[Reptile King]

That has happened to me before as well. What I do is after the rat/mouse is thawed I will zap the head of the prey with a hair dryer for a couple of minutes and then present it to my ball python.......perfect strike every time! Those holes in the mouth are heat receptors and that is how they detect heat.

Good Luck!

[BOWSER11788]

tnax to all, reptile king, i was thinking that last nigh, after thawed hit it up with blow dyer for about minute