Feeding Question

[Charlie And Lucy]

If you feed F/T, how long does it take your BP's to eat? How long before you just leave the food in their enclosure and walk away?

I'm wondering this because someone I know seems to think that if a BP doesn't eat right away, it won't eat at all.

[PythonsbyParris]

Some will eat right away some wait for you to leave. I do the Zombie dance with tongs for a few seconds and usually all of mine hit right away. One I have to leave it with her and she will take it after I cover her up. usually 15 min. I don't leave them in there for more than an hour though.

[steveboos]

I always feed live, but at work i have to feed frozen thawed. Usually as long as the prey is warm enough, make sure it's warm so use a hair dryer or very hot water to bring up that temp so the snake sees it ASAP.

As long as it's warm enough and they are scared to eat it when put in their face, leaving the tank for about 20-30 minutes will give them enough time to calm down and get to business. If they are loosing weight and feeding is not happening, then, only then, do you consider other physical measures.

[Jeo123]

My girl usually strikes shortly after I put the mouse in. She usually likes me to hold it in the air slightly(I had originally been putting it on the floor of the box and moving it around before finding she likes to do the mid air strike).

There was one time where after about 20 minutes she still hadn't struck at the second mouse. I just put her and the mouse back in her tank with the mouse on the enclosure and by morning it was gone.

So yeah, normal is within 1 minute for a strike/constrict. Any longer than that and I'll reheat under the lamp a little more in case she can't sense it and she usually takes it. Beyond 20, I guess she's not hungry at the moment, but she's currently on 2 weanlings until I run out, so I know she'll be hungry later.