If the females just laid eggs they should have been pretty thin. How you interpret this depends on how much experience you have with BP's. If they're wild-caught gravid, many of these females require long periods of peace-and-quiet (you KNOW what I mean) before feeding. In the early 90's I bought a wild-import gravid female, and she never did eat on her own after laying, but I had her for only a few months post laying. The person I gave her to had tried for nearly 18 months w/o success. Captive-raised females usually will start feeding on their own within a few months. Often it's best to offer live or fresh-killed to a recently oviposited female to get some nutrition into her, and then monkey around with f/t. One trick is to heat up the f/t food item with hot water first so the females can zero-in on it.

Either put the food item directly in the water, or put it in a baggy first so it won't get all soggy! I use a 16" hemostat to

offer food so my (warm) hand won't distract the snake. The "knee-jerk" reaction will go away with more experience. Often when a BP misses on the first strike, they sort of have to "recharge"

their batteries before a second strike, and this can take anywhere from a few seconds to several days, depending on the confidence of the individual snake! As far as when to let go, I

kind of hold on lightly until the snake takes it from me. Also feeding in subdued light is another plus for less-confident specimens. You'll get the hang of it. Scott J. Michaels DVM

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