So I attempted to feed our BP a medium rat today because he seems large enough to take them. Well that didn't work out so much, so I put him back in his cage and thawed out a small one that I had also bought in case he didnt take the medium. Well when I went to get him out of his cage, i noticed that there was a few rat chunks in one of his hide aways. Now I had cleaned the tank a few days before his last feeding so it hadn't been in there for very long. And then when I began to feed him the small he was a little reluctant to take it. I think I figured out when he reg'ed the rat up was probably the day my sister in law came over and was handling him alot and kinda moving him around a lot, so im thinking it caused him to throw up his last feeding. Which was about 2 days before she had came over. Now would this be the reason why he was being stubborn about eating today? I slightly remember hearing something of this nature before.. he did get down the small rat just a few minutes ago, so he's not being a typical stubborn BP... YET.. lol

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Jer

bp's are sensitive snakes, handling them daily for about half an hour I think is normal, but I never handle my bp on the day I feed him, however if your bp is handled too much he will get over stressed and should be left alone for at least 3 days before feed again, how old is your bp

he's around 9-10 months old. I know that you shouldn't handle them for the three days after feeding, and unfourtinantly my sister in law got in his cage without me or my wife knowing the day after he fed and was handling him pretty rough, so I think thats what made him regerge... I gave her a good talking to after I found out yesterday.. lol. He seems to be fine now, he took the small rat just fine. I think the medium is just a little too big for him just yet. I'm gonna keep my eye on him for the next week before his next feeding to make sure he did regergitate and something might be wrong.. i'll update when the next feeding comes around or if something happens..

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I tried to get rich, but I just ended up with more pets.

1.0.0 Boxer Mix Canine (Admiral)
1.0.0 Ball Python (Bam Bam)
0.0.1 Cali King Snake (Beatlejuice)
0.1.0 Tabby Feline (Nina)
0.1.0 Feeder Mouse (Lucky)

Jer

i was feeding my bp fuzzys at 10 month old, pythons can eat whatever there body diameter is basically, i got my bp at 6 month old and was advised not to handle them daliy until he reached 12 month old, it kind of frustrated me knowing I couldnt handle him for 6 month but it pays of in the end

yeah, well we switched our BP to small rats about 2 months ago (i followed the whole 1-1 1/2 the thickest part of his body rule) , he seemed to be growing fast. So I thought hey, why not try medium just to see if he'd take it, and that was a no go.. but I never have been told by anyone here about not handling him till he was 12 months old... fuzzies at 10 months seems to be a little too small based on my BP's growth rate.. but not all are the same I guess..

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I tried to get rich, but I just ended up with more pets.

1.0.0 Boxer Mix Canine (Admiral)
1.0.0 Ball Python (Bam Bam)
0.0.1 Cali King Snake (Beatlejuice)
0.1.0 Tabby Feline (Nina)
0.1.0 Feeder Mouse (Lucky)

Jer

Thats a new one on ME!
I handled my BPs from the time they were hatchlings.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

sorry I worded that wrongly, i put ''advised NOT to handle for 6 month'', it was more of with him being already 6 month and settled in other substrates, that to let him settle in his new housing and surroundings for a few month before a handled daily... i suppose if I had him from hatchling then yes I would be handling straight away.....

The general rule is to let them settle in to a new place for a week or so and then feed. A few days after feeding you can begin handling.
6 months is unnecessarily long.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

yea i've never heard of that. i've always just heard settling in to a new environment for at least a week and not handling at least 2 days after feeding.

6 months is just really weird.

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~My Babies~

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Skeletor: make sure your BP's temps are nice and warm, and offer him clean drinking water daily. Regurgitating is quite stressful on the snake's whole system, so stick with the smaller sized rats for a while, make sure he has a good 3 days without disturbance to digest.
Hopefully it was just a one time thing, due to the handling. But keep a close eye on him.
Good luck!

Drewalan: Are you perhaps confusing handling with a 6 month "quarantine" period? That would mean you would want to keep your snake away from any other reptiles in your collection for at least 6 months: observe for external parasites, illness and have the stool tested for internal parasites.

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Andrea