Time To Switch to Frozen/Thawed!

[tdrusk]

I just wanted to share a story with you guys about my experience last night.

Last night I tried to feed a live mouse to my snake(with every attempt that I have made he has only taken live - but only twice since I have owned him). This was probably my fourth try with this particular mouse. At first my snake ignored him, then poked his head out after about 30 minutes. The snake seemed very interested in the mouse for the next 20 minutes. I know you are only supposed to leave them in for 45 minutes tops, but he seemed interested so I let him have a shot. Also, the snake was out and I wanted to protect myself from any unnecessary dangers.

I thought he was going to strike, but never did. Every time the mouse got close the snake got scared and backed off. Finally the mouse started messing with the snake. He was trying to get into my snakes hide and was and getting up in his face. It was almost like my snake wanted nothing to do with it, but was defending himself. The mouse went up to my snake and tried to scratch his face one time on the right side of my snake's face. My snake backed off and then came back out to defend himself some more. At this point I wanted to mouse out, but didn't want to put myself in a risky position, since both the snake and the mouse were looking pretty pissed. The mouse came up again and scratched my snake's face on the left side. I yelled, "Backoff Mother ******" and the snake and mouse luckily went separate directions, with the snake going into his hide. I was able to reach in with my tongs and get that mean mouse out. After I put the mouse back in his cage(I considered killing it), my snake stuck his head out. He had a very small dot of blood under his eye, but his eyes looked alright. I am going to take him out tonight and give him a better investigation, just to double check.

I hope all is alright and I learned a valuable lesson. I don't think I did anything wrong. One could argue that I should have taken the mouse out earlier, but the snake looked interested and I didn't want to disturb him.

What would you have done different? I know there are always risks associated with feeding live, so I am going to try to switch to frozen. He should be getting hungry by next week and hopefully we can have some success!

[SnowShredder]

I personally wouldn't have left the mouse in there so long. I've always fed frozen thawed but I've had a few snakes that absolutely refuse it, and only use live in extreme cases (and eventually they do switch over to f/t).
I wouldn't (this is just me) leave the mouse in there for more than 10 minutes, me watching the whole time. If the snake didn't go after it within that time I would be more comfortable about trying again later. Since the snake was out I probably would have grabbed a rag and laid it over his head (so he can't see your hand), and scooped the mouse out real quick then remove the rag.
I don't know if anyone disagrees with me, but this has always worked for me when I need to grab something and my snake is in strike mode, for mine it snaps em out of that mind set and calms em down, and they can't see you to strike, and if they did strike they would get the rag first.
I don't think you did a bad job though. I would just put a dab of neosporin on it though, just plain, not the + pain relief

[Jessssica]

I got lucky, my bp is not picky at all. He was eating live mice exclusively before I got him and I offered a f/t rat and he took it immediately.

[jbabybulldog]

I only leave my live rat in with my snakes at tops 10mins, you can tell almost immediately if they are interested in feeding or not.
However on a side note I have a kind of amusing story (not at the time tho). Last night I went to transfer my live small rat to the feeding tank for my snake, well the damn thing slipped and I tried to grab it but i got away. Yes live rat running in my house thank gosh I got it trapped behind some furniture. So after about an hour or so I finally caught it. Man was I happy to see my snake take down that rat. lol

[tdrusk]

Good points everybody!

That rag trick is a good one.

[Gpoop]

I only leave my live rat in with my snakes at tops 10mins

I hear about this all the time and I find it funny cause my snake eats live (watching him the whole time) and it takes him about 10-20 mins to finally get out of his hide to hunt it down. Ive had him since January and has only missed one meal. Granted, I have him in a animal plastics T8 cage so maybe if he was in a tub he'd be able to smell it better.

[tdrusk]

I would just like to update this post with some good news. It had been about 7 weeks since he ate last. I noticed him getting nosy and looking around a few days ago. Last night I bought some frozen small rats. I did the proper thawing and heating, prescented, and finally dangled it. He was very interested in it when I was dangling it, but it slipped from my tongs and for my safety I didn't want to reach my tongs+hand in there. Instead, he just looked at it and started to eat it without even striking it. He got it down and is resting nicely in his hide. Of course I understand he is not eating as frequent as he should, but this is definitely a step in the right direction since frozen is easier, more humane, and less risky + he is eating rats which are bigger than the mice he was eating and more nutritious. I bought a medium rat too that I may try, but it looks kind of big. This is his widest point. Would a medium rat be best or should I stick with small for now?

[DG76]

try and feed the equivalent of 10% of his empty body weight and you wont go wrong

[danojeno]

I'd stick with the small for now. Glad you got it feeding.

[Don]

Looking at the size of that snake, I'd feed it weaned, not small.