Odd behaviour after feeding...should I be concerned? where do I go from here?

Before I start...I deserve all the negative comments that I get from this but I have learned from it....

So here goes...

A couple of nights ago, I happened to catch a mouse in the house and just because it was late (2 am) and it was a couple of days before feeding day, I did some things that I know I shouldn't have but couldn't resist:

1. I fed my ball python a live mouse
2. I fed my ball python a wild mouse
3. I fed my ball python in his home

Previously he was fed frozen, store bought mice and in a separate tank.

The only thing I was thinking at the time was that the mouse is about a third of the size that he can take and so that it would not be a problem for him. Before I go on, I will say that he seems to be physically fine in that there are no visible scratches, no open wounds that I can see and he is just as active as before. I watch him during the entire feeding as much as I could (he eventually took it into his hide).

Here is what I noticed:

1. He had problems killing it. Good bite, on the neck, coiled around it but it was like he was not applying enough pressure to suffocate the mouse. He wend to start swallowing and the mouse would start to move again and he would recoil around the mouse. Did this a couple of times then brought it into the hide. Is this normal when they go from frozen to live or is it just because this was his first live and he has to learn this skill?

2. During consumption, I was using a flashlight to look into the hide to see how he was progressing and I noticed that there was some bedding sticking to the mouse. I don't know if it was consumed or not. Is this a cause for concern? Using Exo terra Jungle earth substrate. I am hoping that in the wild if they consume leaves or other things on the floor, they just pass it.

3. After consumption, I was still shining the flashlight on him and he struck at the light twice, hitting the tank twice before I shut the light off. After that, he just yawned and coiled up in his tank. This was his first time showing aggression after feeding. Was this because of the light or something else? Before, after he ate, we could pick him up right after and put him back in the cage without a problem.

Should I be concerned?

1. Feeding live is perfectly fine as long as it is supervised

2. very bad idea, who knows what that mouse has gotten into/parasites it carries. (What if the mouse had recently eaten some poison? that poison is now in your snake)

3. Feeding a ball python in their cage is actually better than feeding in a separate container. Cage aggression (a snake getting aggressive because of being fed in its cage) is a myth with no merit.


1. I only feee live so I can't say but I wouldn't be too concerned

2. A snake eating a small amount of substrate shouldn't cause any problems

3. Your snake was probably just striking at the heat produced by the light.

I agree with Aaron. The only thing to be concerned about is the fact you fed a wild mouse. I hope nothing comes of it and it was a healthy mouse. Don't go doing that again :P

My little live eater has done the multiple wrap thing before. He kept trying to consume a rat pink and it wasn't quite dead so he would have to rewrap it and try again.

Feeding in the enclosure is perfectly fine. I feed all of mine in the enclosures and none have ever offered to be cage aggressive.

I would be most concerned with poisons in the mouse. Mice don't like to be caught and make it rather difficult. if it was easy to catch, pity may have been sick.



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