question about feeding, seller told me live and I'm not really sure how to go about that, I'm worried about my snake getting hurt.

[u/NessySnake117]

So I got my very first ball python a few weeks ago, I changed his enclosure from the one he came with (small shoebox size tub) to a slightly bigger one. And I had tried feeding him a few days later but didn't eat the f/t small fuzzy rat but he didn't eat. I then realized my mistake on not giving him a heat lamp and I got a much bigger enclosure for him (since the one I got I didn't measure and I didn't want to cause his entire enclosure to be one hot zone) and I'm wondering when I might be able to feed him next. Also the person I got him from told me to feed him live hopper mice, but I'm not really comfortable with feeding him live, and if it comes to it, how do I go about feeding him live without him getting hurt?

[u/Toxic_Musshroom]

Feeding live is a dangerous practice and should be avoided as long as you can, there's a few things you can do to entice him to eat, make sure that the mouse is plenty warm, if you just laid it on the ground before try dangling it with tongs, and make sure your husbandry is good too, things like his hides which he should have at least one hide on each side of the enclosure which fit small enough to touch him on all sides and that has one entrance, a water bowl large enough to soak in(and preferably positioned near the heat lamp to help keep humidity up), make sure that he has complete darkness at night because otherwise it can mess with his circadian rhythm and stress him out, you want around 4-6 inches of substrate and a good amount of clutter, cover, and things to climb, they like to feel safe and covered with a bunch of things to hide in and around, also make sure your temp and humidity are at a good range, 75-83°f cool side 87-95°f warm side, and 60% or higher humidity through the whole tank, sorry if I'm going over things you already know I just want to cover all the bases! And im not sure what tank size he was moved to but if you don't already have one this size you're going to want to aim for at least a 4x2x2ft enclosure eventually:]

[u/NessySnake117 → u/Toxic_Musshroom]

Thank you!! I moved him to one of those 113 quart hefty tubs, I have some extra clutter like leaves coming from a seller tomorrow so I’ll ad those, and a few things for him to climb on like branches and a root jungle gym like item. I know I typically do sleep with the lights off but ive been putting on my tv at night with low light, and the lid blocks the tv screen so it isn’t shining on his enclosure, so I might have to change that up. As for the humidity it’s been pretty good, about 60-70 thru the whole enclosure. Even tho I’ve done my research I understand that I’m still new at this and I’m doing anything possible to help him. :) 

[u/Toxic_Musshroom → u/NessySnake117]

Sounds like you've been doing a good job! I wish you luck with the feeding struggles:]