She bit me

[Wrath]

Anoushka bit me today! She's been really hungry lately. I usually feed her every two weeks, but when I fed her 6 days ago she seemed still hungry so I got her another rat today. I did not realize that the rat had bled a bit into the paper bag that I had it in. I must have smelled or she could smell it from far because when I reached into the tank to rouse her to eat she bit me! I usually handle her before feeding to prevent a pavlovian response, but in the future I'll make sure that the rat is not even in the room and that I wash my hands before I do.

I'm only concerned because where her lower teeth struck there is a purple bulge. It happened almost immediately, maybe she just struck a vein. I don't want to get an infection or anything. Oh well, I knew it would happen one day.

[mango]

the bulge sounds like a bursted blood vessel or she did strike a vein. Do you feed in her viv??

[Wrath]

Viv? You mean live? No, fresh killed.

[mango]

vivarium... do you feed in her permanent enclosure??

[Wrath]

Ooooh. Yeah, I do. It's never been a problem before though. That's why I usually take her out before I feed her, then put her back in. She usually doesnt care about eating, but lately she's been ravenous. Must be the heat.

[HetForHuman]

feeding once every 2 weeks is not enough in my opinion.
even as adult i dont think it is enough.

how old is your BP?
also what size of mouse/rat are you feeding?

[sapphire_moon]

I feed my 3 year old every thursday in the A.M....My little baby the same.......

[Wrath]

Yeah, you're right.

The guy who I got it from used to feed her every 3 weeks, and she never really seemed to have much of an apetite when I would feed her every 2 weeks. She would just contemplate the rat before eating it. As I said, lately I've noticed that she's hungry real quick (and the last 2 times she has actually attacked), so I'm going to start feeding her weekly.

I feed her medium rats (which look pretty small to me), so I'm going to move her up to large ones. Interestigly enough, she seems repulsed by males, so I only feed her females. I fed her a large rat once and I got scared that it would hurt her. (Always dead of course).

I got her 3rd hand, and I've had her for 1 year. She's probably about 4 years old.

[HetForHuman]

well thats good your going to try every week.

i feed mine every 6-7 days, and he is not quite 1 year old and he is taking medium rats for me already.

i sometimes try to feed more than 1 but he is never interested.