new baby blood, won't eat yet

[Kaimetsu]

I just got my first blood python last sunday at the white plains, NY reptile expo. I'm thinking about naming him Smaug after the dragon from the Hobbit, since i just reread the book and the movie is coming out soon. My red tail boa is named Toruk after the huge flying creature on avatar, maybe i'll start a naming theme of dragons and dragon like creatures.

Anyway hes a very small baby and I've got him in a shoe box sized sterilite container with holes drilled in the sides. Hes got aspen bedding, a water dish, a hide, and a heat pad underneath. The only problem is hes used to live mice and I'm having trouble getting him to take frozen/thawed. I was going to wait a full week to try to feed him, he hasn't been handled since sunday when i got him and hes been out in a hunting pose so i figured i'd try to feed him tonight, even though it's only been five days. This way if he won't take frozen thawed I'll be able to make plans to get him a live mouse by sunday.

He seems very interested in eating but he won't take the mouse, i stabbed it a bit with a knife to get it to bleed and i tried to warm it up by putting it in a cup of hot water inside a bag. I spent nearly an hour dangling the mouse around in front of his nose but he didn't recognize it as food and kept going right past it looking for something. I even warmed it up slightly in the oven, not enough to cook i was careful. Only problem was it squirted guts out of one of the holes i stabbed in it after when i picked it up, but even then the snake wouldn't take it. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get him to take frozen/thawed or should i just feed him live for a couple of feedings before trying again with frozen?

[Phiban]

You may have to feed him live for a short period. I'm facing a similar situation with my blood. He ate the first few frozen/thawed meals I offered but then refused several feeds after that. I eventually copped out and purchased a live mouse for him. Before I fed the live mouse I tried to offer another f/t but it was ignored. Within minutes of Cecil noticing there was something else in his enclosure Lunch was being squeezed. It broke my heart to feed the little mouse I grew attached to him and almost didn't feed him.

My suggestion would be to check your husbandry and make sure everything is right. Leave your blood alone for about a week and offer f/t a few more times. If he still doesn't eat get an appropriate sized mouse and see if he'll take that.

Good luck

[Daybreaker]

Never had any issues with my two bloods eating, but have you tried leaving the feeder in the tub overnight? That's the only way my albino will eat: if I simply leave it in there with her then she'll take it. I'd give that a try, you can put the feeder on a paper plate if you're worried about ingesting aspen and see if he takes it by the morning. Worst case scenario is that you have to toss a feeder in the trash.

[lmtrej]

What are your hot and cool side temperatures, humidity? I'd recommend adding a few crumpled pieces of news paper or paper towels to the tub to help make him feel even more secure. For four to five feedings I'd introduce a live mouse just to get him feeding regularly. With each successful feeding you can remove one of the pieces of crumpled paper.

After feeding 4-5 times consecutively you can try making the switch to f/t. If he refuses, wait another 3-5 days before offering again. I'd stay away from the oven, instead try using a hair dryer to warm the f/t rodents head. Also be sure to feed at night in a quiet darker room.

This is the advice I followed for my borneo short tail and he's pounding f/t like a champ.

Good luck and be sure to post pictures once he's settled.

[Kaimetsu]

I've got good news bad news and more bad news. The good news is he ate a frozen thawed mouse this afternoon. The bad news is i saw a piece of aspen sticking out of his mouth when he was done, i went to get tweezers to try to get it out but it was gone when i got back. Not sure if he swallowed it or spit it out. The other bad news is i saw something tiny and black crawl across his head so he probably has mites. I'll make a more detailed post when i have time i have to go to work now.

[DNACurtusK]

Hopefully you have him isolated alone in a quarantine for the sake of your other snakes, especially if he does have mites. That's great that he ate!
We use the blue Scott shop towels as substrate. Never have to worry about them ingesting substrate when they eat that way, but to each their own

[Kaimetsu]

I got him to eat by leaving him alone with the thawed mouse, it was gone literally ten minutes later, so that did the trick. Temperature I've managed to maintain at around 86 on the warmest side and around 82 on the colder side. Most of what I've read suggests that they don't need a hot spot quite as hot as ball pythons and boa constrictors do so hopefully that's correct. Humidity is at 60%, i can always bring it way up with a spray bottle when hes shedding to avoid stuck sheds. As for the aspen he may have eaten, i'll probably switch to paper towels eventually i just really wanted him to be able to burrow so he can feel more secure. He definitely has mites I've seen several, unfortunately I'm not really able to quarantine him since i can't maintain the right temps in the rest of my house and also nowhere else is safe from my daughter. Hes on the other end of the room though and i wash my hands before going from one snake to the other. I only have three snakes total so i think i'll treat all three to be on the safe side. My wife picked up a product called reptile spray from the local pet store. It says it kills mites on reptiles and it's from a company called natural chemistry. Does anyone know if this stuff will work?

[Kaimetsu]

All the reviews i've read say the reptile spray should do the trick so i'll apply it every three days and see what happens. Already i can't find a single mite anymore, before i could see baby mites on his body when i looked closely. As for adult mites i only ever saw two total and i flushed them down the toilet. I think the snake probably caught the mites at the show from people handling him after handling other snakes. I'm gonna keep an eye on my other snakes just in case but i think i'll be fine.

Had another huge scare the other day when i handled him for the first time. After i picked him up he was making kind of a clicking sound as he breathed, then he opened his mouth like he was yawning. Everything i've read online suggested it was probably a respiratory infection and i was gonna have to take him to the vet, but i've held him several times since then and i haven't heard a thing.