adopted Bp wouldn't eat thawed mice and gets spooked easy when handled

[drugaria]

Ok here is the deal,
I adopted this female BP last week, She is about a year old @2.2 ft. SHe shed on friday, and had mites when I got her . ( now she is all cleaned up and otherwise looks very healty and active, except that she gets spooked very easy especially when handled. Almost always hydes her head or is looking to hyde somewhere in the wrinkles of my clothes unlike my other Bp which is 4 months old and doesn,t care what I do with him and never curls into a ball. So anyway I tried feeding her (the 1yr old) a thawed mouse and it smelled it a few times but it never even got in a striking position .She smelled it the way she smells my hand. After 15 min I gave up and offered the same mouse to the younger Bp. It too hesitated a little bit but ate it. I thawed another mouse after that and tried again with the bigger snake ,left the mouse with the snake for an hour but still didn't eat it . I gave up again and gave the mouse to the smaller snake and it ate it no problem.So should I frozen rats or offer live mice or small rats ?
The guy that had it before said it ate frozen mice n.p. sometimes with a little hesitation but like I mensioned before he never took good care of her so I don't believe a word because he said he got the snake from another guy only a month ago. Also like I mensioned before I'm guessing the snake hasn't been handled too often before and perhaps that's why it gets spooked like that. Please advice , Thank You confused:

[casperca]

Ok here is the deal,
I adopted this female BP last week, She is about a year old @2.2 ft. SHe shed on friday, and had mites when I got her . ( now she is all cleaned up and otherwise looks very healty and active, except that she gets spooked very easy especially when handled. Almost always hydes her head or is looking to hyde somewhere in the wrinkles of my clothes unlike my other Bp which is 4 months old and doesn,t care what I do with him and never curls into a ball. So anyway I tried feeding her (the 1yr old) a thawed mouse and it smelled it a few times but it never even got in a striking position .She smelled it the way she smells my hand. After 15 min I gave up and offered the same mouse to the younger Bp. It too hesitated a little bit but ate it. I thawed another mouse after that and tried again with the bigger snake ,left the mouse with the snake for an hour but still didn't eat it . I gave up again and gave the mouse to the smaller snake and it ate it no problem.So should I frozen rats or offer live mice or small rats ?
The guy that had it before said it ate frozen mice n.p. sometimes with a little hesitation but like I mensioned before he never took good care of her so I don't believe a word because he said he got the snake from another guy only a month ago. Also like I mensioned before I'm guessing the snake hasn't been handled too often before and perhaps that's why it gets spooked like that. Please advice , Thank You confused:

I would leave her alone and not handle her at all for one week. If she is "active" she is probably stressed out and needs some time to adjust to her new home. I would advise leaving her alone completely except to clean and check temps etc. until she does eat. Just make sure the cage setup is correct with tight hides, temps and humidity right on.

With the eating situation, I have found that if my snakes don't eat within 15 minutes, they are not going to. When offering food, I recomend doing it on a weekly schedule. If the snake doesn't eat, leave it alone and try again after 7 days. Offering it more often will likely put more stress on the animal. If it still refuses F.T after about three weeks I would try something else, either a live mouse or rat pup. Something fairly small. Also, it is ok to re-freeze mice if your snake doesn't eat. Just as long as they aren't sitting out for an extremely long time.

They are being housed seperately, correct?

PS: Hide is not spelled hyde

[drugaria]

sorry I'm multitasking and I suck at spelling.
yes, they are sagregated by size in different size enclosures. As far as refreezing mice I do not think it is a good idea since freezing doe not kill the bacteria and microbes which multyply in great numbers after the mouse /rat has been thawed. Remeber frozen mice/rats still contain their gutts which are full of bacteria. Fortunately I have my other snake , which is always eager for extra food so no mice get wasted .LOL

[casperca]

I wouldn't worry too much yet. Some take longer than others to settle in. Just wait a few weeks and see if she comes around.

[drugaria]

Oki, 10x Catie

[MATT FISHER REPTILES]

my rule is that i dont handle a snake till it eats for me and i only try to feed once a week. if you are haveing trouble feeding f/t drop a live mouse in there then go watch a move leave the room turn the lights off. do this about 10 at night. come back and look if he has ate yet for you. if not just take the mouse out and try in 1 week. this can go on for about 3 months before you need to start to worry.

[littleindiangirl]

I dont think you should be offering your food from an animal you just aquired to any others. That is a HIGH risk of contamination. You have had this animal for only a week. I hope that you do practice quarantine, and should probably hold back offering your already settled animal anything that has been in the enclosure with this new one. Along with that, have separate cage furniture and water bowls etc. It would be best if this new animal was in a different room all together, but sometimes that is impossible. Always wash your hands inbetween handling different snakes
As for the original problem. Snakes are all different. I don't see what the problem is having a ball python act like a ball python. These are very shy timid creatures that would rather hide in a burrow, than be handled and in the open.
Follow the advise from earlier, it is usually a good idea to let new aquisitions become familiar with their surroundings for 2 weeks. No handling, disruptions, peekings. Just change the water once a few days, and try to minimize the stress put on her, make sure that your husbandry is spot on!

You can offer her a ft mouse after 2 weeks of alone time. Do the zombie dance, if she doesnt take it, leave the mouse in over night. I have a few animals that wouldn't eat until the room was pitch black, and quiet.
If she doesn't eat, remove it the next morning, and only check on her to change water, substrate when soiled. and repeat the same thing after 7 days. Feed late at night, offer ft, leave in over night.
If you can tell that she shows no interest in FT, try a live one. The extra stimulation usually spurs them to eating.
Remember, we want her to eat before you should worry about handling her. Handling will only stress her out and prolong the fasting, so it should be at the very bottom of things to do. I hope that helps~

[rabernet]

I dont think you should be offering your food from an animal you just aquired to any others. That is a HIGH risk of contamination. You have had this animal for only a week. I hope that you do practice quarantine,

Couldn't agree more. You should NOT be offering refused prey from the new animal to your established animal. If it turns out this new animal is sick, you've just contaminated your new animal.

[drew5337]

At her age she could very well be used to rats and not want mice. My shy girl eats best when the room is empty and dark, and the f/t prey is left right outside her warm hide. I'm with you about not re-freezing prey, I don't like cleaning up popped mice on the second re-thaw

[frankykeno]

As well as not sharing prey, husbandry tools, etc. between a snake that should be in quarantine and an established snake, you want to be doing all the work with the new snake last, not before you work with your other animals.

Did you ask when you got this snake what prey it's used to eating and what feeding method was used?