Finally Fed :)

Hey there guys I'm a long time lurker but first time poster. I recently bought a baby female Normal. I had tried to feed her last tuesday but she just wasnt interested in the frozen mouse I bought. So today I went and bought a live mouse to try that out. When I offered it out to her on the tongs she seemed a little scared of it. Being as it was a really small mouse I didnt think it would pose any threat to her. So I just put the mouse on the opposite end of the cage and let her stalk it. I'm happy that she ate but I'm wondering if that's a good way to go about this. Will she be in danger later on if I continue to do this?

Did you watch all this or did you just walk away? First one's good, second one's bad.

Any food item with teeth is a threat because if the snake is not interested and you're not around to stop it, it will chew on your snake and she will do nothing.

As long as you supervise, there's nothing wrong with feeding live.

While I didn't watch the whole thing I had it my peripheral vision to track the movements. But I did watch the last 5 minutes or so. Was very interesting to see the circle of life in action.

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Originally Posted by DMeis

While I didn't watch the whole thing I had it my peripheral vision to track the movements. But I did watch the last 5 minutes or so. Was very interesting to see the circle of life in action.

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I agree that it is amazing to see. But you really do need to watch closely. While accidents rarely happen, they will happen even less if you are paying close attention and have those tongs ready to pull the mouse back out.

Alright thank you, I'll do that for next time. In the mean time I managed to find some of the pictures of her:
http://i310.photobucket.com/albums/k...s_2008/BP2.jpg
http://i310.photobucket.com/albums/k...s_2008/BP1.jpg

Can you post a picture of her next to a dollar bill or something? She looks really tiny! It's not a bad thing. I just want to see how tiny.

I recommend you get a second, identical hide so she can thermoregulate and still feel as safe and secure as possible. Read the caresheet thoroughly if you haven't.

This is pretty unrelated, but I really feel like I should ask what you're measuring your temps with (I see nothing).

I can in the future once she's done digesting. If I get a second hide ill buy two smaller ones as the 10 gallon is pretty small. The picture is angled down, just above there's a Thermometer.

Your thermometers should be at the snakes level, not at the top of the tank. Also, they should be digital. Those round gauges are useless.

To be perfectly honest, there is nothing wrong with leaving a prey item in with a snake unattended for short periods of time. Less then 30 minutes will be fine.

Serious feeding injuries happen when a feeder has been left alone with a snake for LONG periods of time, overnight or for days. Almost all the breeders who feed live just drop the feeder in and check on them again in 30 minutes. If it hasn't eaten then the feeder comes out.

Oh ok thank you. I'll move it then when I give her some fresh water and ill pick up a digital on the weekend.

Small and crowded is good. Though I suppose smaller hides would fit her better.

I was unsure to answer about how you just watched out of the corner of your eye. The two opinions above are both very valid for the reasons they state, but I think that I would prefer to be on the cautious side. I think I once heard of rat running right up and chomping down on the snakes neck, severing it's spinal cord and killing it. Obviously an exceptional case, but I wouldn't trust them alone with my snake.