they played a switcharoo on me..

[Super_Smash]

Pandora's been eating really crappy lately... taking 4 hours just to eat. but tonight she ate WONDERFULLY

Apollo, on the other hand, reconginized my stupidity tonight. he only strikes when the f/t mouse is moving by me tonging it (hence him being fed live before), and so he snatched it and i was really excited.... then, right when he went to swallow it, i made the mistake of putting the lid on, causing him to drop the mouse and go hide. since then, i've been trying and he wont go after it. UGH, so close... i really dont want to feed live, so im hoping since a new mouse is sitting in there, MAYBE he'll eat it if i leave him alone..... :?

[First_time_herp]

Link will only eat if left alone. So I think he will eat it.

[Super_Smash]

meh, the mouse has been in there for over 3 hours... its starting to stink, so i just gave it to Pandora. she's such a pig, even though she ate a rat the size of a dollar, as soon as i starting putting the little mouse fuzzy by her, she snatched it out of the air. i can tell she likes mice better....

Question- when snakes eat, is it normal for them to sorta grab the rats/mice's head and sorta.... shake?? like not violently shake, just like, jiggle back and forth. i dont know how to explain it..

[Cody]

I dunno. Pelota just grabs and coils. Then sits coiled for a few minutes, "killing" it. Then she'll uncoil and swallow. Never seen her shake or anything though.

I don't even put the lid on when Pelota's eating. I don't need to, since I sit and watch her eat everytime. I like to be there to help her out if I need to. Usually she'll take them down fine, but her last three feedings she's had trouble finding the head after a strike. The first however many feedings I had with her until recently, she would strike it right on the head, and then just open up and swallow after coiling. Now she strikes near the belly, and then gnaws at the stomach and butt before giving up. Then I have to pick up the mouse, and place the head to her nose so she'll bite on the head and swallow successfully. Anything to be a hassle.

Speaking of hassle...tonight I didn't have an adult mouse. Had to give her the little mousie that used to be my sisters "pet". She had an adult white feeder mouse as a pet, and then went and got a more expensive brown long haired mouse as a companion. Well she never took care of them, and I was getting tired of cleaning their mess, so instead of letting them suffer, they became mousicles. Anyway, all I had tonight was the smallish(probably a weanling) mouse for Pelota. I think I heated it up too much, because as it was under the heat lamp for my usual warming before feeding, the gut busted on me. Nice bloody mess on my bedroom night table. Pelota seemed to enjoy it though. Now I have to bath her sometime today or sunday to get the dried blood and guts off her. lol

[zennygirl]

ewww! that's pretty funny though and i've had a similar experience. if non-snakers could only hear what we go through for our babies!