Another new dad worry post; first BP

[Bogertophis]

We were all new to snake-keeping at one time or another. I wish there'd been a forum like this when I first got into snakes, & we're just here to help make it easier, if we can.

BTW, I'm glad you're keeping her on paper towels for a while, to make sure there's no mites.

As far as finding live prey that's more substantial than a fuzzy mouse, the sizes basically go from pinky (way too small- first food for corn snakes), to fuzzy (slight hair, still nursing, eyes closed) to hoppers (eyes open, weaned or nearly so, eating solid food & very active) to adult mice. It would be really nice to know if your snake has taken hoppers before- if you can call or text the breeder, I would certainly ask.

If not, you'll have to decide if you want to risk offering a hopper, or try a "crawler" rat? That's like a fuzzy, eyes closed & harmless, but much bigger than mouse fuzzy, & about as filling "meal-wise" as a hopper mouse. The "risk" is not from the crawler rat itself, but from the fact that rats & mice smell & taste very different to snakes- some snakes like one or the other, but not both. BPs especially tend to be fussy eaters but yours may not be? Some snakes will happily take either one, but some snakes will fixate & only want rats from then on- no way to know. Yours might even show fear & refuse a baby rat. Yes, really. No way to know until you try. The other thing is that rats with eyes open are far more formidable to snakes than mice are, so you really need to be committed to getting your BP on f/t or p/k prey. Rats are much smarter, bigger & bite harder- larger rats can kill snakes that aren't good at dealing with them. (Rats also make great pets, whereas mice really don't.)

I don't know what area you live in, but also think about making sure you have a steady supply of whatever live prey you're using- some places, people can't get them at all, or it's very hard (or expensive). That's a huge advantage to f/t prey- having a supply in your freezer- instead of dealing with a local pet store if they don't have a lot of business with live feeders; you need the right size for your snake & suppliers can be very sporadic. That's a big reason I got into breeding my own rodents- then ended up supplying others, including pet stores. But I had many snakes- you don't want to raise rodents for one or 2 snakes, trust me.