Well he ate

Last week Pip refused to eat. I was worried that he was going to refuse again this week.

He ate this week though. It just took several hours and moving him about. He attacked the mouse with gutso, but tried to eat it butt first then from the front side, got discuraged and stopped trying. Watched him for about 45 minutes. I moved his feeding tank upstairs and untop of his enclosure, so he got some heat, and left him alone for a few hours. When I went to bed at 11:30, I put him back into his tank, and droped the mouse inside. Pip went inside his hide. I moved the mouse over to by the enterance, he popped out and grabed it, and draged it inside.

Long story short, he ate. It just took him awhile. :snake: Snakes are crazy sometimes. So I may be feeding him in tank from now on, as that seems to have been what he wanted. I don't like the idea of feeding in tank though, so I'm hoping I don't have to keep doing it.

Currently his substrate is coconut husk, which I hope isn't too bad if he swallowed some.

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Originally Posted by arcane

... I don't like the idea of feeding in tank though, so I'm hoping I don't have to keep doing it.

Currently his substrate is coconut husk, which I hope isn't too bad if he swallowed some.

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Just curious about why you don't like the idea of feeding them in their tank. As for the substrate, it won't hurt him if little bits of it stick to the prey while he swallows. (They don't get fed in sterile plastic boxes in the wild... ;) :P ...they're designed to be able to digest or pass bits of dirt, leaf litter, etc.)

Poor guy got moved around a lot. I'm very suprised he ate for you but congrats.

I agree with Entropy.

I also prefer to feed my crew in their enclosure - they feel safe and secure, and can hunt from the safety of their hides. I don't believe I've ever fed in a separate enclosure.

Pip has a tendancy to rip open the side of the mouse and constrict it several times. It's a real nasty mess which I'd rather deal with outside of this tub, then try to clean around him after he's eaten (he generally needs to be washed off too). It's a lovely smell.

I like feeding outside of the tank, not only for the mouse guts issue, also as that is what he has been used too, and he goes into hunting mode as soon as he's put into the feeding tank.

i'm confused. :rolleye2: you use the word enclosure once and the rest of the time you refer to both as tanks. so i don't know where you want to feed and where you don't.

:coffeemac i think i need more :firstcup:

Arcane, if he goes into hunt mode as soon as he's in the 'feeding tank' then why do you think he ate in his home enclosure? That's a lot of stress to put this guy through and then expect him to eat. There have been a few times with new additions of mine they'd constrict the mouse then leave it for a few hours before coming back to eat it.

I feed mine in a seperate tank, I tried to feed him in his tank once before but I got too paranoid- there's too many places a mouse can go, too many objects in the way. I generally handle Karma for a half hour or so (he's a "people's snake", he loves being handled) before placing him in the feeding tank so he's not as stressed out about being put into a different enclosure.