First ball and i got a couple questions

[Skeet]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and to ball pythons. I've got 2 corns but they don't even compair. Anyways, I get Jezebel a week ago and have pretty much left her alone the whole time. She's just under 2 feet and I was told about a year old. The Breader told me that he fed her an adult mouse last wednessday(the day before i got her). He told me before i got her that she was taking medium rats but then when i got there he said he had just fed her a mouse. I'm confused and i don't know how to figure out food size. Also he said he was feeding live, and i wanna get her on frozen/thaws.
Sorry that was long but my 2 questions are:
1) When should i atempt to feed her?
2) what would be the best thing to offer her?

[Princess Erica]

You can try feeding her now, if it's been a week that you've left her alone. Don't take it personally if she won't eat though, some take a long time to acclimate. Mine didn't eat for the first 2 months after being brought home.

As far as food size... the rule of thumb is nothing bigger than 1.5x her girth at the widest part. I like to go with prey about equal girth, but I'm paranoid about regurgitation and stuff. As far as mice/rats go, if she's eating adult mice, that's about equal to small rats. If you want to start her on rats, try a rat. If you're fine keeping her on mice just to get her eating, that's fine too. Mine ate adult mice at that size every 5 days and gained weight no problem. I'm sure you know about the dangers of live prey though, so you might want to see if you can con her into eating at least pre-killed and possibly work to frozen/thawed... just my opinion though.

[Skeet]

i tried a thawed small rat and left it will her overnight and nothing. no worries, but i wanna just get at least one meal in her, so I got a live mouse today, and nothing. she was terrified of the mouse, that didn't even seem to notice her. I stunned and killed the mouse and left it with her now in her hide. She is currled upto the mouse in the hide. something's gotta be wrong that she's so scared. maybe a husbandry issue?
-She's in a 29 gallon tank with newspaper substrate. two hides one on each side, a large corner water bowl and a piece of driftwood for climbing.
-I use a undertank heater on one side that gets between 88-93 with a hide not directly on the hot spot, but it's warm in there.

[Princess Erica]

If she's scared, I'd definitely stay away from live. Did you do the "rat puppet show" with the F/T rat you tried to feed her? Mine wouldn't take the rat unless I put on an elaborate show to make it seem alive in the beginning. Now he's gotten to a point where I can just toss the rat in there and leave him be and he'll eat it. I find the most success when I feed in the enclosure while he's in his cave hide. I just drag the rat across the door of the hide, poke the head in a couple times, make it generally seem like the rat is looking for its burrow (since that's how they feed naturally). I use tongs and keep hold of the very end of the tail until he hits it. I try to keep the rat as "flat" as possible, so as not to make it seem like it's bigger than it really is and scare my guy away.

Like I said, you've just gotta be patient. Her not eating for a week is SOOOOOOO far from needing to worry. Just keep trying like once a week and eventually you'll be like the rest of us who had bad feeders and do a happy dance when they finally take their first meal for you.

[Skeet]

I know, sometimes it's just human nature to worry too much about the things we love. But I'm not really worried, I just wanna be able to play with her, so i wanna get her eating consistantly first.
As far as my attempt. i did the whole pupet dance with it and she didn't even move. I think she's just not comfortable yet. I'll give her another week and try again. I talked to the breeder and he said that he has always fed her live, and he never had a problem with her eating except for the hiberantion.

[CARLiTO_]

U can't really "play" with a bp. They get stressed really easily and like to hide most of the time.

If i was you, I would have gotten a boa constrictor.

[zero&stich]

How are you measuring your temps? If she's under 2 ft, a 29 gal might be too big for her. Snakes like to feel secure. You could try setting up a 10g(if you like housing snakes in aquariums) or the rubbermaid enclosure. And I have a 7 1/2 month fast here, so no need to worry bout getting one meal in her.
Best of luck.
Ps I love the name you gave her. :D

[smeagel]

Do not try feeding her every day. If she doesn't eat, try a week later, not the next day. It may be just taking her a little longer to feel safe enough to eat, she will be fine. She will eat when she gets hungry, no need to worry.

[Skeet]

Thanks guys. I know not to keep trying, i'm not worried about her, I'm sure she'll get used to her new home.
-Carlito-I ment play loosly, just that i want to be able to handle her and chill w/ her.
I got these digital thermometers in the super market. you just leave them out and they tell what temp it is, and i have one on the cool side and one right in the center of where the uth is.