My First BP.... Please Help

[eckoxblayze]

Give him a nice hide and leave him alone for about a week before offering him another meal.

[GirDance]

You've already gotten some good info... I'd just like to say congrats on having done so much of the research on your own and getting the majority of the basic husbandry sorted out and settled for him

Sounds like he's still a little stressed is all, give him a bit of time and things should work out!

[waltah!]

If it's 23 inches long, then an adult mouse should be just fine. It depends on how thick he is at his widest point. Give him a few days without bothering him at all and you should be in good shape....and I second that you need two hides.

[missi182]

How big is he? An adult mouse is big for a baby.

First, i would crumple up some newspaper and put it in the tank so he's got alot of cover and will feel more secure.

Then give him a few days to a week to just settle in and down.
Then, if he is a small baby you should be giving him a mouse hopper or rat fuzzy(live preferebly). You could leave them in ther overnight, at that size the rodent cant harm snake. If you were soaking him in water to help with shed he shouldn't be too dehydrated.

If you tried to do too many things at once(bring him home, assist with shed, handle, etc..) this will stress him out before he even got a chance to settle in, that could cause him to go off feed.

Hey just thought id say, don't leave a LIVE mouse with him overnight, F/T sure, but a live mouse unattended can cause damage to a snake so extensive it will need to be put down. You can chose to feed live or thawed but with a live mouse watch carefully the entire time he is in with your snake (in his enclosure of separately) and if it is not eaten within half an hour, or as long as you want to monitor it, remove it and try again later.

[Brimstone111888]

Hey just thought id say, don't leave a LIVE mouse with him overnight, F/T sure, but a live mouse unattended can cause damage to a snake so extensive it will need to be put down. You can chose to feed live or thawed but with a live mouse watch carefully the entire time he is in with your snake (in his enclosure of separately) and if it is not eaten within half an hour, or as long as you want to monitor it, remove it and try again later.

Wrong. Fuzzies and pinkies are ok to leave, as they have no teeth. Raul has been breeding for a while and knows his stuff

[AriesEarth]

Ah! Silly me, of course he has a hide also. Just one but seeing as two are required I will get him another one very soon. I assume he's a baby as he seems small and when I compare him to pictures of the grown-ups he's definitely dwarfed. He's not very thick either, so I guess mouse hoppers is the best choice here. And no live mice with him unattended, gotcha. Thanks ever so much! I've only had him (or her I guess) for a whole week and I love him already!

[trumetal96]

Can you get pics of him? I don't think my bp is 23 inches, I feed him 2 hoppers every week.

[AriesEarth]

I can take pictures next week when he's no longer off limits

[West Coast Jungle]

Hey just thought id say, don't leave a LIVE mouse with him overnight, F/T sure, but a live mouse unattended can cause damage to a snake so extensive it will need to be put down. You can chose to feed live or thawed but with a live mouse watch carefully the entire time he is in with your snake (in his enclosure of separately) and if it is not eaten within half an hour, or as long as you want to monitor it, remove it and try again later.

Thats why I said mouse hopper or rat fuzzy. It's done all the time to get babies to eat for the first time.

[missi182]

OK well i will agree to disagree I don't think leaving live mice regardless of size overnight is intelligent but I can understand why you would say it is o.k. Im just saying this to be sure that people who are new to ball-pythons are better off safe than sorry.
I apologize if I seemed rude but like I said, safer than sorry, its better to teach good habits right from the start than introduce bad ones(not that feeding live is a bad habit, I just don't agree with it, but no argument needed, my snake is not fussy and if he was Im sure I would need live eventually)