Originally Posted by Bogertophis
Hi...it's late so I'll keep this short for now...welcome Jing & Wrigley. (I have a "Wrigley" too, he's a 19 year old corn snake.)
You definitely need to address the cage temps.- that might be part of the reason he's being a fussy eater (though it also goes with the territory of keeping a BP).
The other issue is all the handling before he has settled in to eat regularly for you...it's not recommended, as it can disrupt their instincts on food, especially when
they're young. Snakes do feel vibrations so it may be that he's less startled because it's a signal that he recognizes as your presence (as opposed to the scary
appearance of something unknown). But we want you to be successful so I have to say "feeding is job ONE"- not sure what you mean about "Barb's feeding
technique"? As far as keeping his tank warmer, you can insulate the back & sides (w/ various things), &/or you can add an overhead heat source to help, but do
work on that a.s.a.p. or you'll have a sick BP & that's even less fun than a BP that's not eating. If you don't already have a thermostat controlling your UTH, you
need that too, like "yesterday".
hihi! He was a fussy eater before the temp changes. He's adjusted accordingly to eating now, and has been successful the last two feedings, not including the first hopper he ate when he first came home. He's fussy because I was attempting to feed him thawed food instead of live, because I couldn't locate a place that sold feeder mice for a brief period! While I wouldn't consider two feedings in a row consistent, I would hesitate to say that it's inconsistent or his finicky nature against thawed food is due to overhandling.
Barb's feeding technique is a sticky I found here, on this forum, that led me to successful feedings. I place Wrigley in a smaller and different enclosure set a little higher than normal with a waterbowl. I leave him in there for about 2/3 hours. I cover the whole tank with a dark t-shirt during that time so he isn't overwhelmed by the light, because i usually feed him in the day. After he's relaxed and situated, I drop a small mouse in, and leave an opening so that I can see what's going on to make sure he isn't getting hurt. Usually within 5 minutes he's taken it. I let him digest in there, and then carefully move him back to his tank and leave him alone for the next couple days.
In my post, I mentioned that my temps have only recently gone out of whack the last three days because we've hit a cool front for Hurricane Florence. I have a thermostat controller, a very accurate humidity gauge, and two UTHS to help keep a stable temp for him right now. I was just looking for a recc on a larger UTH, that's all
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