New to forum, and new BP owner...

[clmclark]

Hello everyone. I am a new Ball Python owner. My family has had snakes in the past so I'm not totally new to this...but still a little green. :)
I have a 7month old female BP. Named her Fluffy. I've had her 6 days. Today is when she would've been fed by them, she's used to live. Eventually I'll switch to f/t but I want to make sure I can get her eating on a regular basis first.
My gut is telling me that she wont eat today. I've been trying to leave her be completely. She hides 99% of the time. I really didn't anticipate housing a live mouse in the event she doesn't eat. I had a co worker that used to have snakes suggest that I give it an extra week before I even try to feed her. Ensuring that she's hungry and that she'd be more likely to eat. I just don't want to stress her out any further. I've been planning to completely leave her be for another week before trying to handle her. I tried it once and she didn't seem comfortable with it. Any suggestions?

[infernalis]

http://www.thamfriends.com/mat.jpg

[Steve'O]

Hi, congrats on your new beeper. BP's are shy animals and will stay hidden during the day since they are nocturnal. You shouldn't cause her any harm by gentle handling. If she appears stressed simply put her back. You can try to feed now. I recommend switching to FT as soon as possible. I place mine in a ziplock or tuperware container and put them in hot water to warm them up after thawing. I recommend feeding off tongs and wiggling it a bit to simulate live prey. If she is still hesitant, you can try and split the rats head and expose the brain, sounds gross, but yummy to a snake... If it doesn't strike you can leave it in overnight and check again in the morning. Many people wait for a week or so to feed the first time. I don't really pay much attention to this as I feed all my animals on the same days. Don't usually have problems, but sometimes one won't eat if going into shed. Good luck!

[clmclark]

Last night she actually came out and checked things out...before sneaking back underneath her water dish...
I hope that means she's getting more comfortable. I just want her to be happy. Once I see more of this I'll feel better about feeding her. Then I'll leave her be again for awhile. I'm in no rush to disturb her.
Another question... do they go after the F/T the same way they do live? The strike and suffocate I mean... I'll confess, not my favorite aspect of having a snake. I'll get used to it. My guy friends all think it's cool and want to see it. I referred them to youtube :)

[Ch^4]

^^ My BPs strike and constrict, but my other snakes simply swallow (why waste energy on an easy meal?!). Sometimes my Cali King will think he's a big, scary snake and will lunge at his F/T food!

[clmclark]

Thats awesome :) The more I think about it the less I want to feed live at all. I might just start with F/T now instead. She's still young so it might be easier... wow, I'm too used to training dogs... does their age even matter with stuff like that?