First Feeding and a Problem

[Bogertophis]

This is my first feeding ever. I had Madeline post and you guys wanted to know how my first feeding went , so this is what happened: I thawed out my rat, then looked in my enclosure and my little guy was popping his head out his hide. I dangled the rodent, then he struck in about 5 seconds, being my first feeding I jumped because it surprised me, which caused him to miss. Right after though he struck again, hot, and wrapped around the rat. I watched for about a minute then left. I came back about 3 minutes later and he was starting to put it in his mouth. After about 20 seconds of watching him, he saw me, dropped the rat and started slithering to me !! I left right after that, and barely peeked my head around the corner and the rat was still on the floor and he was just smelling all over and around it. I left right after that and haven’t gone back in. It’s been about 30 minutes since then and I’m not sure what to do. This is my first ball python and first feeding so I need some help. I hope he eats it!!


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BTW, what I would have tried under the circumstances: after you watched briefly to see if he'd pick it up & he didn't, I'd have retrieved the rat using tongs, warmed it (probably with a blow-dryer) & re-offered it via feeding tongs. What went wrong there, besides the distraction, is that the rat cooled off. BPs rely heavily on their heat sensing pits to find & pounce on their prey- they get confused if they drop it & it cools off- they can still smell it, but may fail to find it & eat.

Re-warming the prey can often help. No guarantee, of course, some snakes will just be intimidated by your presence, but that's what I'd have at least tried, rather than leaving it in his home overnight. (Leaving it works okay for some snakes that rely on scent, but BPs rely more on warmth & "signs of life".)

The fact that your BP was slithering toward you suggests to me that he's not as shy as you think, & that he was after your motion as the potential prey he just "lost". If you had just reached in to retrieve the rat right then, you'd likely have found out what a BP-bite feels like- it sounds like he shouldn't be too hard to feed, once you both get on the same page.