Eating

[ffighterstu]

Well, I got my BP 3 weeks ago now and I've had a couple issues with feeding. The first time I tried to feed him, I took him out of his cage and put him in a grey rubbermaid and then dropped the thawed mouse in and wiggled it around. Once he picked up the scent, he got pretty active and smelled all around it. I closed the lid so that it would be dark and left it in there for 3 hours.....didn't eat it.

The second time I left him in the cage and put the thawed mouse in again and wiggled it around. He smelled it again, I left it in there for a couple hours, and he did not eat.

The third time I left him in the tank again, but this time I left the thawed mouse in there over night. This time he DID eat it.

The fourth time (last night) I did the same thing and he did eat again.

My question is this...I know that some people have problems with feeding in the enclosure because substrate-ingestion can occur. Should I just keep doing this or should I try to get him to eat within the other tub? I don't want to leave him in there overnight to eat, but how long should I wait.

Do any of your BPs not eat in front of you? It seems like mine will only eat if I leave the mouse in there over night.

Thanks

[Smynx]

With my juvie BPs, I have to wiggle the dead mouse until they snatch it and coil around it; otherwise, they won't eat it. I don't have to do anything for my juvie water pythons and kingsnake; I just put them in the other containers with the food already in there, and they go for it immediately. One of our older BPs prefers to be alone. We don't have to make the mouse dance or anything, but he's more tentative about eating than the others. Smulkin can tell you more about how the others eat, but my observation has been this: If the snake has never had anything but frozen/thawed food, they'll eat great for you everytime. If the snake is used to live prey, then you'll have to work a good bit harder to get it to eat frozen/thawed or prekilled.

[Brandon.O]

if she doesnt take it right away try sitting there with her and temting her with the mouse, most snakes will not take a mouse/rat if it is sittin still. try wiggling or moving it around a little more before giving up.

[Smulkin]

It is different from snake to snake. I have some that refuse to even acknowledge the rat while I am around - but will eat it once I am out of line of sight. On the flipside there are also 2 who will NOT eat "left prey" but have to have the dead-rat dance continue until they strike - no matter how interested they seem a still target will just not be tagged - gotta be moving and preferably making little scuffing noises against the floor/substrate. There is no single good solid and consistent answer to this - as even the most steadfast and dependable of eaters can switch off on you. Our large male Suki will usually take a rat laid in front of his hide, sometimes overnight but almost always without fail - however the last two feeds have come and gone with the rat remaining.


EDIT - WHATEVER YOU DO do NOT dance jiggle or move the mouse "threateningly" (it's all perception remember) near the BPs head - if it begins shrinking back you're too close - you do not want to traumatize the poor thing by jamming a dead rodent in its face or chasing it around the cage with it - especially if you have the rat suspended by the tail as it then looks much taller than accustomed.

[ffighterstu]

Thanks for for advice. I've wiggled the mouse around in front of him with the BP in his cage, and he'll just sniff at it a little bit but not strike or anything. I give up after about 5 mins of doing that. I'll lave the mouse in front of his hide and check on it ever hour or so. I feed him at night and it's pretty dark where I keep him, the only light that I have on in my appartment does not shine directly on him and there is a wall inbetween.

Last night I put the mouse in around 10pm and it was still there when I went to bed at 1am. This morning when I woke up he had eaten the mouse. Is this normal that it would take him that long to eat it? By that time the mouse isn't even warm any more. I'm obviously happy that he'll still eat this way, I just don't want him to ingest any of the substrate.

[Marla]

Try warming it up a couple of degrees more and doing the mouse shuffle a bit longer. I once had to do it for over 40 minutes, but fortunately after that he converted to a "drop n go" feeder.

[ffighterstu]

Should I head it up in hot water over the stove? So far I've been using a bowl and hot tap water while changing the water out every 10 mins for a little over an hour. How do you heat yours up?

[UberAlice]

I put mine in a Ziplock, drop it in a cup of hot water, wait until the water cools and then re-fill it. Once that's cooled, I pop it under the heat lamp until it's quite warm to the touch, so that after a few minutes of doing th mousie dance it's still hot enough for Ruby to pick up on the heat.

[Smulkin]

^^^^^

'Zactly the same.

[ffighterstu]

hmm, guess I'll need to buy a heat lamp. I've just been dropping the mouse directly in the hot water. Maybe I'll try the bag thing. Do you think he may not like it because the mouse is wet when I drop it in and do the dance?

Maybe it takes him a couple hours to eat because he's waitin' for it to dry.....interresting.