Identity crisis!

[angllady2]

I can understand your reluctance to feed live. I went through the exact same thing. My daughter raises pet rats that I play with daily for Pete's sake!!

However, over time, faced with feeding refusals and wasted frozen rodents that cost me money and stress and what not, I got over it.

By all means, search out a supplier of frozen rats, buy online if you must, just be prepared for outrageous shipping prices, and do what makes you comfortable right now.

I will give a bit of advice on F/T. If that rodent isn't HOT most snakes won't touch it. What I do is thaw the rodent at room temp for a few hours, submerge it in a thin stream of running hot tap water for 30 minutes, towel dry the rodent then dry it with a hair dryer. Once it's nice and dry and toasty warm, grip it with feeding tongs, heat JUST the head for about 30 seconds, then offer it.

Make sure you don't shove the rodent in the snakes face, I offer it on the opposite side of the tub from the snake. If you did things right, that rodent will be putting off a massive heat signature, which is how snakes hunt. And BAM! No more rodent.

Your girl is indeed thin, and you should step her up to at least rat pups ASAP. You new boy will need at least a week to relax and settle in before trying to feed him. Make sure you read and re-read the caresheets, because a 40 gallon tank is huge for one of those little guys, and you are going to need to be on your toes to make it an ideal home. By the way, even from your pictures I can tell your boy is almost certainly a fire. Fire's are a subtle morph, but he'll get more beautiful as he grows. If you want your mind blown, visit http://www.worldofballpythons.com/morphs and have a box of tissue's ready for the drool.

Gale