Hey Paul, congrats! You will not be dissapointed with Alex Hue. He's a real good guy. Anyhow, Will basically summed up your questions for ya. For his first feeding, try a f/t rat pup. It will be so much easier for you in the long run if the bp takes rats first off. And you can just take him out of the box when he arrives, check him over for mites, excess mucus, retained eye caps, etc. But I'm SURE you won't have to worry about that with Alex's animals. After 2 weeks of letting him be, it depends on what substrate is in his enclosure. Will you have paper towels or newspaper, or will you have something like aspen, bark, mulch, etc? If you are going to have something other than paper towels or newspaper, I would say definately put him in a separate box to feed him. If you are using newspaper or paper towels, it's up to you if you want to take him out to feed him. I just feed mine in their enclosures with paper towels, and they aren't showing any signs of aggression due to a feeding response. So that's up to you.

Now, for the Bonus Question , I order frozen prey off of: www.bigcheeserodents.com , Chad is who you can talk to, they are really great, and the prices aren't too bad at all. Rodent Pro (rodentpro.com) is good, and I have never used them because I have heard that they aren't very prompt when it comes to shipping, but otherwise pretty good service. There is also www.mousefactory.com I have heard great stories about them.

Jennifer