Woke up to gruesome scene

minniemouse · 05-01-18, 07:24 AM

I have a ball python that I got three weeks ago named Minnie. She hadn’t been switched to rats before I got her, so I’m still feeding her mice while she adjusts to living with me. I put two thawed adult mice in her habitat last night, and she didn’t eat them in that hour before I went to sleep, so I left them in overnight after reading that it’d be okay. It was apparently not okay as I woke up to find a gruesome scene in Minnie’s habitat. I’ll link to the photo as it’s pretty gross, and some people might not want to see it. https://ibb.co/djfyUS

Were the mice just bad so they started rotting? Is this normal if they’re left out overnight? From now on I think I’ll take them out after a couple hours..

**EL Ziggy** · 05-01-18, 08:55 AM

Welcome to the forum MM. I can't tell what's exactly wrong with the mice in the pic. The one mouse looks to have burst open but that could be due to overheating when thawing or it could just be an older prey item. How are you thawing and presenting your feeders? It's ok to leave prey items in overnight but I'd only leave one until she's eating more consistently. On another note are your temps and humidity dialed in? If they're off if could cause your snake to not eat.

craigafrechette · 05-01-18, 02:00 PM

Welcome to the forum!!

If I had to guess I would say the mice were heated too quickly with too much heat. But that's just an educated guess.

How are you heating the prey??

Also, I'd stick to one at a time until your snake is eating. It's just a waste otherwise.

There are typically 2 reasons BPs will refuse food:
1) husbandry
- what are your temps and how are you measuring?
- ARE YOUR HEAT SOURCES REGULATED BY A THERMOSTAT??
- what is your humidity and how are you measuring?

2) stress- in the picture it appears pretty wide open, BPs rely very heavily on security
- what size enclosure is the snake in?
- is that log hide the only hide? (There should be 2, and those log hides are actually not good for BPs. They prefer single entry caves like hides that offer more security)
- ARE YOU HANDLING THE SNAKE??