Feeding fiasco

[stkkts]

So My BP hadnt eaten in about 6 weeks, believe me, it wasnt because the food wasn't being offered. So I hadnt offered him food in about 2 weeks, and I figured I would offer him a small rat. So I thaw out the rat, and bring it up to my room. This is where the fiasco begins. He has a Neodesha tank with a sliding plexi glass front. Its a pain to slide it all the way out, so I slide it partially to the side. So I put the rat in, right in front of the the hide. The snake looks at it, but no interest. In his tank he has a big waterdish (like for a dog) So I try to prop the rat up, so the snake has room to come out and get into a strike position if he wants. PLOP! Rat fell in the water. BAH! So I dry it off, put it back in, in front of his hide, take his hide away, and put it over the water dish. So Im screwing around on the internet, and I look over and the rat is gone, and the snake is in the hide, over the water dish, but holding the sides so as not to go into the water. I leave him be for a little bit, and then check again. He is crawling around, but doesnt look plumper. I pick up the hide, and the rat is floating in the water. BAH! You dumb snake! :rolleyes: :p So I dry off the rat again, and put it in front of him, and he finally eats it,...cold and wet.

And I had been drying the rat off on his paper towel substrate, so now half of his tank is soaked. So I had to gently move him around afterwards to dry out his tank and put in fresh paper towel. What a mess. At least he ate though.

[sapphire_moon]

Whats better is when they rip the f/t rat in half and they are "slurping" up the insides......much messier than a wet rat.....lol:)

[stkkts]

ewww! How do they rip it in half? Thats gotta be hard without any hands.

[sapphire_moon]

he has the head in his mouth, and his body coiled around a little lower than the belly, he squeezed, and pulled at the same time.........eccccccck, that was a gross one to clean. after he was done eating I had to take him to the bathroom and give him a warm "bath".

[RepTylE]

Yuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[elevation24]

I've had this happen before sort of, but none of mine had a problem with eating them right out of the water dish sopping wet. Maybe it was because they were the ones who actually knocked the rat in there :)

Edit: Let me change that: Tonight she wouldn't take it UNTIL I dunked it in some warm water ;)

[asphyxia]

You dryed a rat off?, am i the only one thats thinks that's funny?

Bruan

[sapphire_moon]

no I've done the same thing.

[Linds]

LOL finicky snake. Whenever mine end up with their food in the bowl they just eat em there. You can hear them bubbling away :p

Originally posted by asphyxia
You dryed a rat off?, am i the only one thats thinks that's funny?

LOL all mine get sopping wet food. I don't bother to bag em before I thaw, just toss em in the bucket :p

[jathoma]

I'm curious if a lot of people feed their snakes in the cage they live in...

I ake mine out and feed him a seperate enclosure to keep him from becoming aggressive each time I put my hand in there...

What do others do?

[sapphire_moon]

if you handle them more than to clean their cages then they shouldn't connect opening the cage with food. Besides if you have a larger number of snakes......then it will be a real pain in the a** to take each one out. After we got out second snake we started feeding in their "home" enclosure. No probs. What do you think breeders do that have 40 and up snakes? Take each one out seperatly?

[elevation24]

I feed them right in their rubbermaids and I've only been biten once -- which had nothing to do with that (I had just gotten him and he was extremely nippy).

The few times I tried feeding outside of their enclosures they wouldn't eat, so I just don't bother.

[kasandra_5]

Hey I heard that BP don't like dead rodents, atleast that was what I was told by the pet store guy who has answered a lot of my questions (it's a private pet store, not a big commercial one). I tried to feed mine dead when I first got it and he wouldn't touch it, now I feed him live, he is just eating fuzzies now though, but I'm worried about when he needs bigger mice.

[elevation24]

No problems with any of my 5 eating dead rodents. I've never fed live, or pre-killed even.

[Jeff_Favelle]

now I feed him live, he is just eating fuzzies now though, but I'm worried about when he needs bigger mice.

You should be worried NOW. Ball Pythons eat adult mice right out of the egg. Its their FIRST meal. A fuzzy to a Ball would be like you getting fed a cracker, for a whole week. One cracker. Yeah, not nearly enough.

[sapphire_moon]

Listen to Jeff_Favelle, he knows what he's talkin about!.......
Feeding live is one of THE LAST resorts when a BP is not eating. Try a fresh killed ADULT MOUSE....they can eat them right out of the egg..............