Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My new BP ate for the first time tonight. What a relief. All I can say is - read the posts on this board, follow what they say EXACTLY and you will have a much better chance at success.

I got my new BP last week (about 16 inches long). I put her in a spare bedroom in a ten gallon tank with a hide on both sides of the cage and a large water dish. I made sure the temps were right and then I left her alone for the next seven days. with the exception of me peeking in on her once in the morning and once at night I kept everyone out of the room. I gave her a hopper mouse tonight and she ate it within 2 minutes. What a relief.

Now I have more questions. I put her in a "feeding container" rather than feeding her in her cage. How big should this container be? I had her in a giant rubbermaid container. Is this too big?

Also, how long do I need to wait until I move her back into her cage? I waited until the mouse was "gone". I couldn't see any tail or anything and then I waited another five minutes. I didn't want her to get too cold after just eating.

Lastly, I want to switch her to F/T as soon as possible. I only went with the live to increase the chances she would eat on the first try. Should I go straight to F/T, or should I feed a stunned hopper next?

Thanks again to everyone on the forum for all of the advise and for easing my nerves while I waited for her first feeding time.

Nick

A don't feed my guy in a separate feeding container, but have done this with other snakes in the past. Your container sounds just fine. I always waited about 5 minutes after the tail vanished before moving the snakes, and tried to do so quickly and with minimal jostling, and then leave them alone for the next 24 hours.

My personal feeling is that, if you are wanting to switch to FT, do it sooner rather than later. I got my BP as a baby, and after his "intro mouse", switched immediately to FT. He has eaten them readily now for 3 years, never refusing one. Just make sure that the mouse is fully thawed, meaning warm and soft to the touch on both sides. I recommend thawing under heat lights (incandescent is fine) rather than in warm water, as some snakes don't like the wet mice, and there is this weird "exploding" problem that sometimes occurs with this method. I thaw the mice on top of Monty's cage, so he can smell them as they are thawing. By the time they are ready, he is generally in his "mouse worshipping" pose, staring up at the mouse and waiting for me to give it to him. I use a pair of metal tongs, pick the mouse up by the tail, and dangle it in front of Monty's face. He takes it the instant it is in range, but I know some people say they have to shake the mouse a bit, so the snake sees movement. I've never had to do this, but I think Monty is part Hoover. He then squeezes his dead mouse, sure he is killing it himself, and eats it.

Sounds like you are off to a great start!
Wendy

Sounds pretty interesting Wendy (thawing on top the cage) and gonna try that the next time with my Monty... LOL yeah, I named mine Monty as well. I usually layed mine out in the sun to thaw and I tried dangling after they thawed but to no luck. So, I just started laying them in the cage with M and afer a few minutes he would sniff it out real good then start eating them.

As for swithing from live to F/T's, I had no problem at all switching Monty over and to be honest, not sure if this is a good thing, but he will eat live or F/T's. His last 2 feedings where F/T's and I let him have a live one last night. He attacked it no sooner than I dropped it in...

Good luck to you both with your BP!!!
Linda

PS,
I'm still kinda new to BP's myself. I've had Monty approx 4 months now and he is great!!! He has grown almost 2 inches since I've had him...