Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So here I am at Traders Village, (a big market in Dallas) and I came across this store selling exotic reptiles and the first thing I saw there was the Boas and Pythons. I've always wanted to own either one, so the Pyhtons were on sale and against my girlfriend's will I bought one, a baby one Im guessing 20 inch long give or take.
And there she is now chilling in her own Aquarium, with a water rock, a red light and Heat pad, a really cool cave with a branch so she can climb and keep herself busy exploring her new home. Digital Thermometer and Hygrometer are also set up so I can keep track of the aquarium's settings temperature and humidity. Everything is perfect except one thing, I dont really know if she was fed before I purchased her, and if she was a how long ago.
So today I decided to buy a lil' mice, a small one (white with red eyes) and try to feed her, but before I did that I decided to do some research on "feeding your Python", and I found out that you should wait a few weeks to let them settle in their NEW home and just leave them alone all that time so they'd get commfortable and feel safe and secure to go ahead and eat the poor lil' fuzzies.
What did you REALLY did to feed your first Ball?
What should I try to feed her the fuzzie?
Should I leave it alive and give it to her, or just kill it and leave it in there?
Any suggestions??

Thanks

ladromar

People say you should wait and let the snake settle in. (I didn't know that my first time, and fed her within three days. It was fine.) I feed in a seperate feeding box (lined with newspaper), but in the cage is okay too, as long as it isn't on substrate that the snake could accidently eat (like bark chips).

It's better to feed killed mice because live ones could injure the snake. There are old posts on how to kill mice.

I put the food in the feeding box, then put the snake in. If the snake is in first, I use tongs to drop the food in. That way my hands are never confused for dinner. Leave her alone with the prekilled mouse. She will find it and eat it if she wants it. Give her some time and don't hover-mine is sketchy about eating if people are moving around above her.

PS. Mine strikes at killed the same as live mice.

Last night I killed the mice like around 11:30 when I noticed she was showing more interest in wondering around her aquarium. Then I placed the killed mice in front of her and she just looked at him and she just sat there, then I turned the light off and I went to sleep thinking may be the mice wouldnt be there in the morning. So today I went and chek and the mice was still there!!!! So Im thinking now, may be the mice was a little too big for her? I know they can unhinge their jaws so they can swallow larger animals but she seems very small to me her jaws and upper throat are not really that big. Is there any breed of small mice or even baby mice that I could find, what would you recommend?

thanks

ladromar

Baby Ball Pythons can eat small adult mice with no problem. When I get a new snake, I try and feed it along with all the others on the same schedule. Most eat no problem. The only one I had trouble with was a baby corn snake that went 1 month before eating a pink.
-----
1.1 Ball Python 0.0.1 corn snake 1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish 1.2 cats 3.1 kids 1.0 husband and now...
0.0.1 Pink Zebra Beauty Tarantula
2.0 Solomon Island Boas