First Time Feeding

[modrummer]

Hey everyone. Got my first ball Python a week ago, it's a one year old male Lesser. I got it from a breeder who has always fed it F/T. When I picked him up last week, they told me it had been 6 days since the last time he ate so he would be due to eat soon. I decided to wait a week per the advice on this forum so the snake could get comfortable in it's new enclosure. I have only seen the snake once in the last week, it really loves it's rock cave hide and NEVER comes out.

Well it's now been a week (13 days since the last time the snake ate). I purchased an appropriate sized frozen mouse from a local reptile store, thawed it in a ziplock bag in warm water, then put the mouse under a heat lamp in the snakes room for about 15 minutes to "scent" the room a bit. I dangled the mouse in front of the hide the snake was in and got no response. I tried walking it around the enclosure a bit and finally just left it in there a few minutes ago sitting a few inches away from the hide.

Should I pick up the hide so the snake can't just hide in there and ignore the mouse? Should I put the mouse in the hide with the snake? Advice needed. Thanks.

Also, all my husbandry is pretty much perfect. I have an ambient temp of 78 degrees, humidity is 53%, and the basking spot ground temp is 88 degrees.

[jbzapanda]

A mouse for a year old snake seems quite small. How much does he weigh? Also, when I fed my bp for the first time, it took him a couple minutes to strike at it. He was also comfortable wedged in a mopani wood piece. Try a hair dryer trick to lure him out. If not, then remove the hide. Good luck!

[modrummer]

Ok so I made a little progress. I warmed the mouse up again with a hairdryer, and after dancing it around for a minute or two he struck at it and wrapped around it and got his mouth on his head. He held it that way for a minute or so, and right when I was about to leave the room to let him eat in peace, he let go of it and coiled back up. I checked on him a few minutes later and the mouse was still laying there and he was just coiled up in a corner. Has anyone had this happen?

[erebus45]

When you started to move is that when he let go?... He might be a shy eater I know some bp's you have to cover the cage completly then they eat.... Mine however would probably eat with me holding him (i will never try that tho) he LOVES food JUST not f/t lol. You can also try warming it up again dangling it then stand like a statue till it's down it sounds weird but it might work I know my female boa struck/coiled then as soon as I drew my hand back out of the enclosure she let go so I picked it back up made it do the jig haha then she struck coiled again but that time I stood like a statue and sure enough she took it all the way down.... Hopefully that helps.... Good luck and congrats on the first bp

Edit: or it could be too small as someone previously said you want it the same size or a little bigger than the biggest part(girth) of the snake which is usually the mid section

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[IsmQui718]

That's pretty common for shy eaters. I have two het clown females who have done this in hr past, so I scent the herp room well before feeding. My shy eaters are kept higher up on my racks so they don't get stressed from any movement in the room.

13 days isn't an excessive time between meals by ball python standards. Especially if he's a yearling. Depending on his weight (you'll want to get a gram scale), a small rat would be preferred over mice (unless your snake will readily take more than one prey item at feeding).

Before feeding your snake again, make sure you're husbandry is spot on. Most BP who refuse to eat meals is due to a change in their husbandry (you can do a forum search for a proper setup).


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[modrummer]

Ok so I ended up leaving the F/T mouse in overnight and it was gone in the morning! So apparently he's just shy. Thanks for the tips!

I think I'll feed him one more large mouse next week since that's what he was raised on and I want to establish a bit of a routine before switching over to rats.

He is right at 700 grams right now, so he's definitely ready to be on rats.