First feeding, how to go about it?

[Maddlesrain]

If the animal was indeed feeding on F/T (which means had more than 5 consecutive F/T in the past with the previous owner/breeder on it's own) you do not want to offer live just yet unless you are willing to do so for an extended period of time.

You also do not want to offer next day after a refusal, when you have a refusal you offer a week later, offering too soon can lead to more refusal.

The key is appropriate size prey, already established it is not even if it was fed this previously.

optimum husbandry. 99% of food refusal in new animal arriving to their new owner is husbandry related.

How big is the snake (weight?)

How big is the enclosure?

What type of substrate are you using?

What are your temps? How do you measure them? (where and with what type of thermometer)

How tight are your hides?

Have you been handling your BP since it arrived/was purchase?

I'd like to thank everyone for your kind words of encouragement and for taking the time to help me out! I'm such a worried snake mom and feel I'm constantly screwing up, but it's only been about five days so I'm probably just jumping the gun and getting way ahead of myself. I've kept reptiles before (bearded dragon, leopard geckos) and a handful of amphibians, but never a snake, so I really appreciate all your advice!!(:

1. The BP is roughly 18," and I tried using a kitchen scale from Walmart to weigh the little guy, but it seemed a little finicky. Maybe I'll try again later and compare results. I've attached a picture below, but it was saying around 323 g for this first try.

2. The current enclosure is a 10 gallon aquarium with a mesh top. Humidity has been really low 30-40, so I'm adding a humidifier to the room this afternoon. If that doesn't work, I'll try putting plexiglass on one half of the tank in hopes of trapping some more water vapor. However, will I then risk overheating?
** I want to stress that I know this is not a forever home and am prepared for upgrading to a new/bigger habitat. By the time he grows, I'll have figured out if I'd rather build some sort of snake box or stick with something glass for the final enclosure.

3. I'm using paper towels as substrate right now/ will probably use newspaper as well.

4.I was using just the stick-on gauges, but added a digital reader from Walmart to hopefully be more accurate. I use two heat lamps, a white light for day-time and a red bulb for night. The lights are attached to a timer, which switches the two on a 12 hour cycle. Temp has been a little wonky as I adjust the positioning of the lights and the thermostat in the room (I'm leaving it at about 75f in the room). There is also a fluker's heat pad under the hot hide, which I do not have a thermostat for currently, but will be investing in one.
I also have a UV light, however, I feel it's too overstimulating, so I've opted to take it off. I can add it back if you feel it's essential.
Right now, the stick-on gauges say:
Cold side: 75ish F
Hot side: 83ish F
And the digital says (I'm using an acurite, which doesn't have probes, so I can only get one side) it's on the hot side and reads: 88F right now.

5. I had one large hide, and another smaller one which I switched out for two mid-sized hides. I bought the big one thinking he'd 'grow into it' but soon realized it's better to have them grow out of the hides. This was a stupid lapse in judgement on my part. However, he does spend a large sum of time perched on top of, or near the hides out in the open. Is that a bad sign? He does this mainly on the cool side.

6. I have been handling the little guy, but have been keeping interactions to a minimum (15-20 minutes) so that he'll get accustomed to me without being too stressed. He seems pretty unfazed by my presence, and will come up to the glass to watch me if he's already out and about. After changing the paper in the tank today, I'll leave the snake alone for the remainder of the week and just let him do his own thing.

On a side note: I will be leaving for a little over a week starting Friday and have a friend who is happy to care for/attempt feeding while I'm away. Only catch is that she lives a bit away and I'll have to transport him to her. After transporting, should we not attempt to feed at all for the entire next week or try midway between being moved and the return trip? One reason I tried yesterday was to give the little guy time to digest before moving. I travel a few times a year, and he'll most likely have to be transported to a different location each time.

Again, I probably just jumped the gun with feeding and the poor little guy wasn't quite ready with all the changes being made around him. I guess no harm done.

Sorry for the long-winded post, I'm trying to get everything out there so I can best perfect his habitat and quality of life. I am a college student, so I can't say money isn't an object, but I knew going into the purchase of this snake that there would be expenses, so if there's anything you feel is dire to the health of the snake, I'd be happy to make the investment.

Thank you again!!!(:


Here's another pic of the snake in general:



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