*Warning*- Readers beware. Long and rambling post follows. If you have to use the toilet or get a snack, do it now. You might be here a while.


Well, it was Friday, Pelota's usual feeding day with her previous owner. I didn't want to change that, so although she has only been with me for 3 going on 4 days, I decided to chance it and attempt to feed her tonight. Earlier today I went to pick up the 3 frozen mousicles I reserved from the pet store uptown(sadly I found out they freeze them live- :shock: seems rather inhumane). Anyway, I guess I wasn't exactly sure about the size of an adult mouse because I asked for smaller adult mice. Today I picked them up and discovered they were weanlings. A bit small for Pelota, but it'd do till next week when I get some actual adult mice. Anyyyway, I got a margarine container, filled it with hot water, and placed the little bagged mousie in it. I expected to be thawing it for a few hours, but found that since they're so small it only took me 20 minutes tops for them to be fully thawed out, lol. So I left them in the fridge till it was 9 o'clock when Pelota usually comes out to explore. So yep, right at 9 on the dot, I went to check upstairs, and she was slithering around her warm hide(still has yet to go in it though! ). So I called my mom and sister and her boyfriend up(had to be a family experience I guess) and put the heat lamp over the mousie for a few minutes. While it was warming, I opened up the cage, removed the branch, cool hide, and water dish so there was room to eat. I hoped that with the cool hide out, she'd eat the mouse then go to the warm hide. I was wrong.
Anyway, my mom decided she suddenly wanted to hold Pelota, after seeing how cute she looked tonight. I won't lie...my mom had been drinking a bit(it's a friday, what the hell right? ). As an inside joke, I tease my mom by calling beer her anti-venom. It seems as soon as she gets a few beers in her, she's fearless and wants to see Pelota. Anyway, I didn't want her to hold Pelota just before feeding, as I didn't want to stress her out too much. So I just picked up Pelota, and held her a bit as my mom pet her tail. She was surprised that Pelota felt smooth and silky, and not scaley and rough like she expected.
So anyway, I seen Pelota was getting antsy, and she was flicking her tongue pretty wildly at the margarine container with mousie in it, so I put her in the tank again, in the feeding area I had cleared out. Then I grabbed my tongs and gripped the mousie's butt with them. I slowly put the mousie on the tank floor and did a little wiggle. Right away, Pelota got in the S-strike position and BAM! Dead on strike to the face. I was kinda proud. I had heard that balls can sometimes miss the prey pretty bad, but she was dead on. She constricted and sat there still for a few minutes. I thought maybe she lost intrest, but then I seen her tightening up. Guess she wanted to make sure it was "dead". Then finally she started positioning her mouth over the head. 5 minutes later, mousie was no more than a small lump in her tummy. My mom was going nuts when she was swallowing the mouse. She was actually more excited about it then I was, lol. She was all "OMG LOOK! SHE'S GETTING HER MOUTH AROUND THE HEAD! HOW DO THEY STRETCH SO MUCH! WOW LOOK AT HER NECK ALL STRETCHED OUT!" and I was just "yeah mom...it's cool. Now stop flipping out, or I'll have you escorted out. ".
After Pelota got the mousie down, she curled up to the cool side of the tank, right where her hide would usually be. This disappointed me, since I was hoping she'd go to the warm hide for a change. I don't know why she only sits in the cool hide. The warm hide is always around 93 degrees, and the cool hide is around 84. Yet she seems to only prefer the cool hide. I hope she digests the meal good enough with just sitting in the cool hide.

And now to finish the thread off with a question. The ones that usually get ignored since no one would read all this from start to finish.
Should I be worried about the fact that she never goes to her warm hide? Should I maybe place her in it come monday when she's all digested and I plan to hold her a bit? I'm thinking maybe she doesn't know it exists. I dunno. I guess she'd know whats best, so if she's content on the cool side, I shouldn't worry?