Quote Originally Posted by yellowbelly76 View Post
I am feeding him live, as that it was the breeder was feeding him. The breeder suggest a hopper mouse, or rat pinkie, but the store I went to didn't have any rat pinkies, so I went with the hopper. When I got the prey in there, it looked like it was the right size (compared the thickest part of the mouse, to the thickest part of the snake). So, I don't think it was too large. I didn't think that the prey was about to die...it seemed pretty active when I bought it. I was surprised to open the box at feeding time, and see the mouse practically dead.

Yes, I moved him from his normal enclosure to a feeding bin. That's what I did when I had a corn snake, and it worked fine. I did it to avoid any possibility of the snake confusing me for food when I would reach in to pick him up, versus feeding time. At the next feeding attempt, I will put the mouse in the normal enclosure. Ingesting substrate wasn't an issue yesterday, as I am using carpet. However, I am having difficulty maintaining humidity in the enclosure, so I was going to get some sort of loose substrate that would hold moisture better.

I tried to feed him last night between 6-6:30 (after us humans finished eating). I figured since they are nocturnal, he may be more accepting to eat in the evening, rather than the middle of the day. Perhaps I will try again on Friday...I have the day off work, and can run to pick up another prey item, and then feed him in the evening. He will likely be on a schedule of a meal every 7 days, just because I am the one taking care of it. My wife doesn't want anything to do with the snake, including buying it's live prey (she's a little squeamish about it, lol). Being that I am off work Fri-Sun each week, once I get a successful meal, I will go every week on that day.

Thanks for all your help here, it is much appreciated. Maybe I should have done more research before getting my bp...but then again, I imaging something still would have come up.
No problem. It's what these forums are for.

By the way, that is actually the only way I operate. I never jump into anything without doing almost every bit of research I can. Before I even had my BP, I had read enough to even give advice on topics such as proper temps and humidity and what size to feed/how to feed. I do it with all my hobbies so that I'm never unprepared for a situation and then realize it's too late to do anything.