First time feeding my Kenyan Sand Boa + Looking for advice on tank reset and F/T transition
On June 19th, I purchased a female Kenyan Sand Boa who was already over 7 months old. After letting her settle in for a week, I tried feeding her a frozen-thawed (F/T) mouse on the night of June 26th. Initially, I tried tapping the mouse on the surface of the substrate to entice her out, but that didn't work. So, I left the mouse on a dish. After over 4 hours, she still hadn't touched it, so I replaced it with a fresh F/T mouse. By 6:00 AM the next morning, it was still uneaten.That evening, I decided to switch to a live mouse. However, to find my sand boa, I ended up completely tearing the enclosure apart, eventually finding her underneath a heavy decor item. I placed the live mouse right in front of her, but she still refused it. I then decided to just leave the live mouse on the dish to see what would happen. After about an hour or so, she successfully ate it!However, I left the tank in a complete mess. I'm not sure if I should fix the enclosure back up right away, or if I should wait a few days to let her digest first. Does anyone have any advice on this? I know for next time I should just leave the live mouse in there and walk away instead of messing up her tank.Also, when I bought her, the breeder mentioned that she wasn't very accepting of frozen-thawed prey and prefers live. Is there a chance I can train her to switch to frozen-thawed? What are the best methods to try? Thanks in advance!
The first color photo shows what the tank looked like before I messed it up, and the second photo shows it after my search, with many items taken out.
The first color photo shows what the tank looked like before I messed it up, and the second photo shows it after my search, with many items taken out.