Quote Originally Posted by craigafrechette View Post
Both great replies, they summarize everything I would have said very well. There are two typical reasons a young BP will refuse food. Husbandry, addressed by Deborah above, and stress, addressed by Bogertophis above.


Follow Deb's advice, she's awesome and really knows her stuff. If you follow to a T, you'll be in good shape.

Also, what Bogertophis said about handling is spot on. At that size, that snake is thinking "predator" every time it sees you and is likely stressed due to handling. I personally advise new keepers to let their snake get three consecutive meals without refusal before handling. Until the snake has eaten 3 times, without refusal, no handling. I know it's tempting to want to hold your new pet, but getting it eating is most important right now. You'll have 20+ years to handle the snake, so let it settle in.



Good luck, keep us posted and feel free to ask any questions you may have!
Thank you all so much! We did handle him a bit at first but quickly learned this is a no, so we have only handled him briefly to move him to a temporary tub to clean his enclosure. I messaged Deborah for additional info because I think it will boil down to his enclosure. The person we bought him from recommended a 20 gallon tank which seems to be clearly too big as he is only 4 months at this point.

As a side note - approx what weight would we move him to a 20 gallon tank?