Hurray! Elysia ate today!

Well today was an odd day, I called all the petstores in the area and nobody had fuzzies >_< Finally I found a place about 40min away that had them, but he wasn't open today >_< BUT, he understood how a snake needs to eat so he let me come in to get some! So I went out and got 10 fuzzies, he gave me 12 cause he breeds them himself and always has extra. This guy had a dwarf caiman in the window lol scared the crap out of me when I walked in, it must have been around 4-5 feet long.

He had tons of snakes and helped me out a bunch ^_^

So I came home and held her for a few minutes but she got stressed pretty quick so I put her back in and offered her a fuzzy. It took her a few seconds to get interested, but after I jiggled it around and did the "mouse dance" struck and started to eat. But she kinda tried to eat it from the middle and after that didnt work out, found the head and started to swallow. I was kinda worried she couldnt get past the front feet as they stuck out a bit and she just sat there at that point for a few minutes. But she got by them eventually and the rest went down easily. Then she strolled on over to the hot hide and dove in ^_^ Glad to see her use the hot hide when I'm watching.

She seems to favor the cold side a little more then the hotside, but I have seen her inside both of them everyday since I got her so I think my temps are ok ^_^

Not bad for my first feeding I guess, considering it was her first F/T meal ever. The guys I bought her from were feeding live fuzzies.

I'll post 2 or 3 new pics later, along with a pic of her "hugging" her meal ^_--

Picture time!

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/...r/9b824af8.jpg

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/...r/0509a19e.jpg

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/...r/DSCF0053.jpg

Mmmmmmm...mice taste yummY!
http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/...r/DSCF0054.jpg

Well its about 7 hours after Elysia ate and she went and rested in the hot hide for about 3-4 hours but the last few hours shes been extremely active, more active then I have seen her since I got her. *though she could be this active at night when I'm sleeping, I dunno* Is she just happy to have some food in her stomach and feeling like bouncing around? I'm glad she ate and is happy, as long as its normal behavior ^_^ Wish she would just settle down and digest her mousey o_O

I know how great it feels to have a new snake eat for their first time with you. Great thing about kings is they're soooo easy to get to eat f/t meals. I think it's a good sign when you see a snake using both temp sides - means they are thermoregulating. If they spent all the time in one temp I'd worry. My Cal King is pretty active after a meal (well she eats , takes a rest and is then all over the place). Except this last feeding, I gave her 2 fuzzies instead of her usual one and she was one fat happy Cal King. She did something different after eating that meal, she went and lay in her water bowl for a bit - maybe she worked up a sweat eating that larger meal. How's the humidity?

Humidity is fine now, down in in 40%'s now ^_^

My cold side is getting a bit too cold now being 75-78 all day today, hope it rises tomorrow.

I also forgot to mention, that this morning I noticed some poo and urates on the newspaper so that confirmed that she had eaten about 5-7 days ago correct? I changed her newspaper and her water right before I fed her.

I plan on feeding her every 5 days, do you think thats good enough? Right now I have 11 fuzzies left, plan on going to get some more when I have 2 left. 11 fuzzies should last me almost 2 months at that rate right? I think I'm gonna have to go get her a bigger water bowl soon, I dont think mines big enough.

Right now I'm pretty stable I guess. I have lots of food, I can't do anything with her for about 40 more hours besides watch her ^_^ Temps are pretty ok between 88-93 on the hotside and 75-81 on the cold side. I hope it doesnt drop below 75 tonight though >_<

I just hate when she goes under the layers of newspaper cause its going to be hard to find her poo and urates in all that paper. I was lucky last time that she went on the top o_O

Glad to hear the humidity is good now. You can feed every 5-7 days - either is fine. Down side to every 5 days means there are less days for you to handle her. :) Every 7 days is fine as well - just as long as it's an appropriate sized meal. My kings defecate/urinate the 2nd & 3rd or the 3rd & 4th day after eating and then again the day before next feeding. It's wierd, but nice that they're on such a regular schedule. From the picture the water bowl looks plenty big. Mine have even smaller bowls. If they decide to soak, they'll like the size of the water bowl to be like their hides - snug and tight. Nice pics - thanks for sharing.

How old is she again? Have you an idea on her length and weight?

She is 8 months old, I dunno her EXACT length but im guessing around 20-24"

Weight I have no idea o_O

I really wish she would come out of the newspaper cause with the hides weighing it down, she cant get to the really warm spots in and around the hide. I figure if she gets cold enough she will come out and go in the hide, seeing as she spent so much time in it today.

Yeah, she'll come out if she wants. My guy is 22 inches long and is 11 months old. He was 75 grams at last weigh-in, but I haven't measured him after his last meal (which was a big one). Your girl looks to be about the same girth as my Indigo. Females do get bigger than males.

hey congrats on the first feed man :)
Sounds like things are going great for you.
You have a really good looking snake there.

Well today she is hanging out under the newspapers on the hotside, she hasn't really moved all day, not that I have seen. I'm assuming shes just sitting there trying to digest her meal. She seems ok to me, I lifted the paper and she looked at me and flicked her tongue a bit, so I covered her back up and left her alone.

Does this seem like ok behavior 24 hours after eating? I'll try handling her tomorrow night, it'll be 48 hours after she ate then.

Sounds normal to me. Sounds like one happy little girl. :)

Ok good. I was kinda nervous seeing as she really hasn't moved from the same spot, that I know of, in like 10 hours or so.

I'm going to get a blacklight now so I dont have to have a normal light all the time.

I got a black light last night and set it up on a wall next to the cage. Its a fluorescent black light like the bar ones ya know? Now I know that Elysia doesn't NEED UV light, but will it hurt her or stress her out if I leave it on all day? Or should I go back and get a normal black light and shove it in my lamp?

https://ssl.adhost.com/noveltylights...?pid=16&step=4

It's KINDA like that, not that exact one. Just so you get an idea.

I'm pretty sure it's okay.

Ok good, cause I think she hated the normal light and she seems to love the fluorescent black light. As soon as i installed it and put it on, she slid up the side of the tank to inspect it, and promptly fell down ^_^

LOL. I use a sterilite storage tub as a quarantine tank. It sits in my bedroom until they're cleared to go into the herp room. I remember when my MBK was in there I got little sleep because I just kept hearing 'thuds" in the middle of the night from him falling all the time-except feeding night and while he was digesting.

I'll take some pictures of the enclosure in a little while its kinda different from before now ^_^

I use a small tupperware thingy to hold Elysia in while I clean her tank. I have paper towels at the bottom as a substrate and she just sits there and waits patiently to go back into the tank.

What a good girl! I tell my snakes (as if they know what I'm saying) that 'housekeeping is here'!

Yeah she is generally a good girl, which is why I was surprised early when she rattled at me. I really wish she would let me handle her for at least a minute or 2. So far I have about a minute total handling cause she gets stressed so quickly and tries to get away. Hope she will be ok tomorrow.

BTW meal number 1 is totally digested from what I can tell ^_^ When can I expect her to shed do you think?

If you knw when she last ate and you're feeding the same size and frequency as the breeders, I'm guessing about 4 weeks from the last shed maybe 6 weeks. It varies. My MBK doesn't rattle at me, but my Cal King does. She's got attitude. I just ignore it and pick her up anyway. Then she stops. Sometimes she'll just start crawling a bit and somtimes she just wraps around my hand for a bit first. Last night when I fed her, she didn't like me being so close, she started rattling at me while she was eating! Then I think (not sure, but I don't know what else the noise could have been) but she kept striking at me through her tub. She's something!

The 3 times I've actually held Elysia she was in a big hurry to get out of my hands which tells me she doesn't wanna be held correct? I held on as long as I could but she was too quick and slithery each time so I just gave up and put her back in her tub.

I hope she likes me soon. Afterall, I'm gonna feed her again in just 3 days o_O I want some lovin' for all this food I'm giving her ^_^

LOL. Could be she is just trying to explore? Keep trying though - she needs to get used to you.

Yeah I won't stop trying. I will attempt to hold her everyday if I can until she allows me to hold her for at least a minute without going nuts, then I will wait every other day to handle ^_^