Question on feeding, for KLG (or others...)

[Ginevive]

I have a question for you K, regarding BP perception .
Goblin, my pre-'99 male, seems to have "bad aim" when he's striking at his rat. He sees the rat as I open the front sliding doors on his cage, and his head "snakes" out eagerly. But then as it's dangling in front of him (on tongs) he will strike at it and miss several times before finally grabbing hold of it. I know these are not defensive strikes because his mouth does not close if he misses the prey (plus one time he got my hand, and tried coiling around me, and that was definately a feeding response!) Now I use tongs... Incidentally, the rats are f/t.
So why do you think he is like this? My other younger BPs are dead-on with their aim. Goblin did have a bit of a scratch on one of his eyecaps when I got him (in sept. '03), but he has shed a lot since then and there's no visible damage to the eye. but I don't know if this would affect feeding because they use the heat pits. I always make sure the rats are noce and warm before feeding. Any theories?

[First_time_herp]

Thats strange. Link is dead on also but thats with llive mice. I don't have any theories though, sorry.

[Kara]

Maybe he's just a goofy snake - could be he picks up on your heat signature before he clues in on the rodent. I have some snakes (different species) that are the same way.

When you're offering the rodent to him, how do you hold it w/the tongs? If you grab it behind the shoulders & get it nice & close to him, it should help him key in on the rodent. Also, how long are your tongs?

K

[Adam_Wysocki]

I'm way too ugly to be Kara, but I can help a little on this one.

This can be common if you're feeding frozen thawed. Ball pythons hunt by sight, smell, and heat. When you dangle the rat into the cage/feeding container, your snake will smell the rat first ... then see the rat (but their sight is only good for things that are moving) ... and then look for its heat imprint (kinda like infrared). If you're standing behind the rat (especially if it's frozen thawed) your heat imprint will be stronger than the rats. Your snake will strike in your direction (sensing the heat coming from your body) and miss the rat. Sometimes they'll pick up on the heat in your hand and arm.

If the rat is the same temp or warmer than your body temp your snake should hit it dead on everytime.

That said, sometimes they seem to miss just because they are so eager to eat that they almost get too excited to hit their target. But that's just a crazy theory of mine and I don't have any evidence to back it up.

Hope this helps.

-adam

[Ginevive]

That said, sometimes they seem to miss just because they are so eager to eat that they almost get too excited to hit their target

I think he does get overexcited. Funny, this time last year, he was off-feed and not interested in eating at all. Now he literally whips his head out of the cage door the second he smells a rat.
I hold the rat at the neck with the tongs, not by the tail. I found that when I held it by the tail, it would be extremely hard for him to get a good aim.
I will try to stand a little to the side next time, rather than right behind the rat.
I think that next feeding, I'll videotape it to show just how funny he is when he "leaps" out of the cage.
But once he coils around the prey item, he pulls it back into the cage.