Difficulties Eating?

[LivingDeadGirl]

So my girlfriend recently got a male, normal bp. He's 3 months old. She bought him from a previous owner who said that he was eating live mice and eating well. Come to find out later that she had NEVER fed him before. And she had him since he was a hatchling. Basically, the previous owner blatantly lied to her about his feeding habits. He currently weighs about 104 grams. Last night was only the 2nd time he has ever (since leaving the breeder) eaten. When we fed him last night (we fed 2 live hoppers) he would constrict the mouse and then drop it. He would then have difficulties trying to pick it back up to eat it, though he managed to get them both times. Is there any particular reason why he might do this? We'd really appreciate any information y'all can give us. We just want to give him a better life than what he had before. Also, does he look too thin? Should we try feeding him something larger, or just leave him to eat hoppers for a few weeks? Here is a picture of him trying to eat last night.



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[BluuWolf]

Did he strike at them at a weird angle? My boy will sometimes hit their side instead of their head and then drop them and resituate. As for if he looks thin or not I can't really tell from the picture but hoppers are typically only what hatchlings eat.



Here's the chart that I and a lot of people here go by


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[JodanOrNoDan]

In that picture he does not look thin. Would need an above shot to be definitive. He looks like he can take larger food than mouse hoppers. Mouse hoppers are usually fed to hatchlings. Some of mine are too big for hoppers out of the egg.

As too dropping his food...
Some of these guys like to play with their food before eating it. It is not unusual. I have a couple that will sniff prey for a half hour before actually eating it. With these animals, I can accelerate the process by totally covering the cage until it has swallowed.

[LivingDeadGirl]

Did he strike at them at a weird angle? My boy will sometimes hit their side instead of their head and then drop them and resituate. As for if he looks thin or not I can't really tell from the picture but hoppers are typically only what hatchlings eat.



Here's the chart that I and a lot of people here go by


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With my snake, I use the chart and I suggested it to my gf but she wasn't comfortable with feeding him something so large yet. From what I could tell though, he didn't really strike it from an odd angle. Here's a better pic of him.



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[BluuWolf]

He does seem a bit skinny, by the look of how.much his spine is protruding. As long at the food isn't too much bigger then the thickest part of his body bigger food should be fine though, but I'm sure two hoppers will do just fine as well if she doesn't feel comfortable, as long as he does ear them both.



Here is a good resource I found as well so you can use it to look over him yourself if you want


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[Stewart_Reptiles]

At that size it can take small adult mouse with no issue feeding smaller prey designed for hatchlings between 40 to 60 grams actually make it harder for them to eat and grab them properly.

[tttaylorrr]

As too dropping his food...
Some of these guys like to play with their food before eating it. It is not unusual. I have a couple that will sniff prey for a half hour before actually eating it. With these animals, I can accelerate the process by totally covering the cage until it has swallowed.

this x2
my Yellow is like this, too. he likes to sniff sniff sniff before he goes for it. i second covering the enclosure during this time.

also from that second pic the snake appears to be looking okay; not too skinny IMO.

[JodanOrNoDan]

He doesn't look too bad. Once he is on a good feeding schedule he should start growing fast. Remember these guys live by different rules than we do. They are designed to eat something that is as big around as they are. You would be surprised what even a hatchling can swallow. Their metabolism is geared to eat infrequent large meals.

[Craiga 01453]

He doesn't look too thin to me. He could put on some weight though. Get him eating the appropriate sized prey weekly and you'll see a decent growth spurt.

He should be on adult mice, and just give your girlfriend a friendly reminder that the chart was developed by people with years and years of success keeping and breeding thousands of BPs. I can understand her hesitation and I'm sure she genuinely wanted what's best, but sometimes you just have to trust success.

Good luck moving forward! You're in a great place to learn