Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a small BP that I adopted from a pet store. She had been being fed live mice (ugh) and also was in too-cool, not-warm-enough conditions.
She had a nice (well, nice is a strange word in this situatuin, lol) bowel movement a few days ago and I decided to try feeding her a f/t mouse. She retracted her head and balled up, appearing terrified.
I know that she had been fed live mice; I walked in last month to find them feeding her one, and she did eat it, but after that they tried another one (I heard) and it bit her. Is there any way to get her to know that mice are not going to hurt her? She is not starved-looking, but does appear a bit thin.
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*~Ginevive~*

I wouldn't be too worried. Depending on how old the snake is, he still may be really timid towards unfamiliar things. I know when I first got my bp, he knew enough that the mouse was food when he was hungry, but when he wasn't hungry, was very shy towards the mice. He even seemed like he was scared at times(which sounds like what you're going through). Although he was never bitten, I doubt your snake is afraid of the mouse, especially if he's f/t. I would wait a couple days before feeding him again. If he's healthy, he'll eat. If he's a small snake, he may get pretty full from one meal, and it may hold him over for a longer period of time, and you'll have to wait it out. If you strongly feel that the snake is afraid, I would put him in a shoebox with the f/t mouse and some crumpled up paper and let him sit for a little while in some darkness. He'll eventually come out of his ball and search around. The more exposure he has, the more he'll be used to being around mice (his food). This is just my opinion, and I'm sure there are other ways of handling this. Good luck and healthy herping!

Thanks! I know that he ate a few weeks ago, and so is not in any imminent danger of starvation. I am going to try the BP-and-mouse-overnight-in-rubbermaid idea and see what happens.
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*~Ginevive~*

Along the same lines as what Tidus said. You can also leave him in his cage, if you want to feed in the cage. Just set the mouse in front of his hide and cover the front of the cage with a towel. It should be the same result as the shoebox.