First Feeding

[EL-Ziggy]

I'll definitely keep looking. I've looked everywhere and can't find it. Best source for frozen rat delivery? There are a ton of options. They are $15 each at my local shop! I'm thinking that's a lot!

OP- I’m glad your snake ate for you. It’s always a relief when they eat the first time. $15 for a hopper mouse is insane! You can get a bag of (50) hoppers for $26.50 from Big Cheese. Even with the $30 shipping fee you’ll still save quite a bit of coin. Best wishes with your new BP.

First, while you don't HAVE to feed the same as the breeder fed a snake, it just makes the transition easier. When a snake in a new home is offered "familiar" prey they tend to eat sooner & more successfully, & besides, the OP indicated this was their plan, with the goal of changing to f/t prey when possible. Can they try f/t right off the bat? Sure. Some snakes will take it, & some won't.

This also begs the question though, how many BPs have you raised or kept? I have to ask because I don't see any BPs in your list of snakes that you currently keep. And because they're some of the fussiest snakes around, IMO. I try to advise what is most likely to work well, without jeopardizing the health of a snake (from unwanted fasting) when we have no way of knowing (A) just how much experience the OP has with snakes (they're a new member here) and also (B) just how healthy or well-fed their new snake is. I'm trying to recommend methods here that pose the least risk & the best chance for success (not frustration), since I think it's safe to say that none of us will be making a housecall to Idaho to help the OP with feeding their new pet if it refuses to eat.

Boger- You’re correct, I don’t keep BPs anymore and haven’t in decades. I’ve kept 4 BPs in my life and their finicky feeding habits are probably the biggest reason I no longer keep them. I’m not saying that my method is correct or that any other method is wrong. To each their own and different strokes for different folks. I’m just sharing my opinion based on my experience. My philosophy towards feeding healthy animals is pretty straightforward. They eat or they starve, and none of my animals have ever come close to starving. I don’t believe that feeding snakes has to be a complicated process. The bottom line is that we offer food and they eat it. Sometimes it takes a while for them to acclimate to a new environment, or prey type, but I trust nature’s innate survival mechanism that ensures a healthy animal will eventually eat, so I stay the course until the snakes instincts kick in without jumping through a bunch of different hoops trying to figure out what the snake prefers. My snakes eat what I want them to eat or they don’t eat. As long as they’re healthy I don’t care if they eat or not. I feel the same way when my kid doesn’t want breakfast.