Angry noodle?

Hi everyone! Carl has seemed to have adopted an attitude as of Monday and I'm a bit confused.

I fed her on Monday without any issues and she absolutely inhaled her hopper mouse. Just after that she began striking at me until I was able to get her back in her enclosure. Although she had never done that before, I didn't think much of it because the smell of food was still very much there. But yesterday I went to check in on her like I always do and she whipped her head around and snapped at me a few times even through I never reached in. Today I actually managed to get her out to take a look at her but there's nothing I can deduce wrong. She seemed to calm down after she was in my hands for a while but she was still a bit testy. The only thing I've been keeping an eye on is the poop she's holding in. There's a noticeable bulge above her anal vent but I haven't thought too too much about it. But that's been going on for a bit.

Nothing has changed at all in terms of feeding schedule, enclosure, and handling. I don't understand what the heck happened but if any of you have an idea that would be cool!

Feeding mode can last up to several hours after feed so striking is not unusual and of course the best way to get tag is to feed outside the enclosure and having to move an animal in feeding mode. Feed in the enclosure.


I wonder however is why is your BP eating hopper mice, did she just come out of her egg? How big is he?

Keep in mind that BP get started on hopper and quickly move to small adult and adult mice so depending on your animal's size you may be under feeding him.

If your BP is the Spider male that is 180 grams you need to feed the appropriate size prey.

Hi Deborah! Thank you for your response.

Feed day was Monday and the strikes on that day were no doubt food motivated, but it has been 2 days.

I actually feed every 4-5 days depending on how big the meal was. I moved her up to hopper mice just a little while ago and plan to again move her up as soon as possible! Ever since I had moved her up she had a lot of difficulty eating and would often take 20+ minutes to actually get the mouse down her throat, so I wanted to make sure she could take this size before another switch. She has proved to me that she can so I am 100% moving her up on Friday! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Venoshock

I fed her on Monday without any issues and she absolutely inhaled her hopper mouse. Just after that she began striking at me until I was able to get her back in her enclosure.

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Feed in the enclosure. If you remove the snake to feed it, it learns that leaving the enclosure = getting fed.

I also found the pic of Carl. I'm guessing he's just hungry, a hopper is a meal for a hatchling as Deborah pointed out. I would transition to rat pups.

Like I said, I will be 100% moving her up tomorrow.

When I got her she was underweight to begin with. She was fed one fuzzy mouse every 7 days at the store, and to try to get her back up to a healthy weight I fed her the same sized meal every 3-4 days. When I moved her up after 2 weeks of having her, I fed every 4-5 days. I thought this was a better method than just throwing a large meal at her. If it wasn't, either way she will be getting the appropriate sized meal tomorrow.

I know the feeling. My first bp was fed pinkie mice every week as well when I first got her. I think I got a pic of her when I first got her. What I did is feed her a meal the size of the thickest part of her body. If she still was acting hungry I would give her one more. Carl will plump up quicker if u move him to rats.


http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7cadd8e8.jpg



http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6deb78a9.jpg


My chunky little girl now. Lol

http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...pse4db443b.jpg

Keep at it. He will plump up. Also feed in his enclosure. They don't get cage aggression like other snakes.

I believe Carl was pretty much the same size as yours when I picked her up. She has grown in girth since then (about 2 months).

in the store:

https://31.media.tumblr.com/d2bea366...hnw8o1_500.jpg

Today:

https://38.media.tumblr.com/c599b5c6...hnw8o2_500.jpg

The only reason I didn't feed in the enclosure was because I feared she would ingest her substrate. I'll try feeding her in her cage tomorrow and keep an eye on her.

Unfortunately, my only option is mice right now. Mainly because my mother is grossed out by the idea of keeping a bulk order of f/ts in the house, and my local pet store only stocks f/t mice.

Get yourself a mini freezer. It's only about 50 bucks and you can pack a lot of rats/mice in there. :)

I wouldn't worry about impaction all that much. Even if you have Aspen bedding and it sticks to the food it's not that big of a deal. I try to avoid it happening a lot but if it did I wouldn't be concerned. As Brian on Snakebytes pointed out it happens in the wild and isn't going to harm the snake. Their stomach acid is pretty serious. That sucks you can't get rats. Maybe post an add on craigslist looking to buy some rats for snake food? That being said I have a 3 year old female that lived most of her life with only eating 2 mice every other week. I now feed her 3 mice every week and am trying to get her over to rats but it's a job.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marrissa

Get yourself a mini freezer. It's only about 50 bucks and you can pack a lot of rats/mice in there. :)

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My mother doesn't want them kept in our house in general, separate freezer or not. :/ It's unfortunate but I have to deal with it for a while.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alan12013

I wouldn't worry about impaction all that much. Even if you have Aspen bedding and it sticks to the food it's not that big of a deal. I try to avoid it happening a lot but if it did I wouldn't be concerned. As Brian on Snakebytes pointed out it happens in the wild and isn't going to harm the snake. Their stomach acid is pretty serious. That sucks you can't get rats. Maybe post an add on craigslist looking to buy some rats for snake food? That being said I have a 3 year old female that lived most of her life with only eating 2 mice every other week. I now feed her 3 mice every week and am trying to get her over to rats but it's a job.

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I'll probably just keep feeding her on mice until I can find a pet store that sells f/t rats. There's a few around that I have yet to check but going to our local Petco is easier and more convenient. I'm not in any rush to switch her to rats just yet. Good luck with switching your girl, though!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Venoshock

I believe Carl was pretty much the same size as yours when I picked her up. She has grown in girth since then (about 2 months).

in the store:

https://31.media.tumblr.com/d2bea366...hnw8o1_500.jpg

Today:

https://38.media.tumblr.com/c599b5c6...hnw8o2_500.jpg

The only reason I didn't feed in the enclosure was because I feared she would ingest her substrate. I'll try feeding her in her cage tomorrow and keep an eye on her.

Unfortunately, my only option is mice right now. Mainly because my mother is grossed out by the idea of keeping a bulk order of f/ts in the house, and my local pet store only stocks f/t mice.

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You can also feed him two mice if one isn't doing the job. I had to do that with my female cause I had the same problem with my wife not wanting dead rats in freezer. Lol. I let her be the judge of how much she wants to eat. She doesn't go past three mice a week when she was little. They know when their full. Lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alan12013

I wouldn't worry about impaction all that much. Even if you have Aspen bedding and it sticks to the food it's not that big of a deal. I try to avoid it happening a lot but if it did I wouldn't be concerned. As Brian on Snakebytes pointed out it happens in the wild and isn't going to harm the snake. Their stomach acid is pretty serious. That sucks you can't get rats. Maybe post an add on craigslist looking to buy some rats for snake food? That being said I have a 3 year old female that lived most of her life with only eating 2 mice every other week. I now feed her 3 mice every week and am trying to get her over to rats but it's a job.

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Ive been feeding out of enclosure with no problems. Not for fear of aggression or impaction but I've seen her struggle getting bedding stuck in her mouth. I guess they can deal with that as well but it looks so uncomfortable. Somebody convince me please, I would rather feed in cage.

I just got my girl and she has eaten substrate twice...with both of her mice. She can't strike worth a darn, but she's had no issues. Like Veno, I am still on mice because the pet store didn't have f/t rats of appropriate size. She's only about 70-80 grams and is I would assume on rat pinkies at her size. She's only about a month old. She's eating two hoppers every 5 days as of now, but will be on adult medium mice on her next feed. I don't want to order 100+ small rats mainly because they'll go bad before she can eat them all and she's not big enough to eat bigger ones yet. Suggestions?

Note: I've fed in her enclosure twice already and she has no hand aggression accept when feeding. She's very easy going when it comes time to be handled and she's still very young so I assume that's a good sign

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tbrown806

Ive been feeding out of enclosure with no problems. Not for fear of aggression or impaction but I've seen her struggle getting bedding stuck in her mouth. I guess they can deal with that as well but it looks so uncomfortable. Somebody convince me please, I would rather feed in cage.

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If you're worried about it, put some newspaper on top of the substrate before you put the mouse in, and feed on that. You can remove the newspaper after the snake eats.

Hey again everyone! It's been about 3-4 days or so and I wanted to give you a little update on Carl.

Friday she ate without any problems and I am very glad that she is where she should be. However, the "cage aggression" is a little worse and I've discovered something else entirely.

The cage aggression has escalated to a point where I can't even go near her enclosure. She has her head poking out of whatever hide she's in and she's almost always poised to strike. I have her in a tank so I thought maybe trying to put a towel over her cage so she doesn't freak out when I move around my room. It hasn't worked. Nonetheless, she acts completely normal when I get her out of her enclosure. It would concern me more if she had always been this way, but its just the sudden switch that makes me believe its something else entirely

What is most concerning is that last night, after a long drink of water, she began making popping noises. I thought that maybe she just got some water in her nose or something but I looked around online and found out that popping noises are a symptom of a RI. Today I still heard the popping but it was much more faint, so I decided to take a look in her mouth. I didn't see any bubbles but I did see a little blood running down from her top jaw. Is any of this at all concerning?

Her general husbandry hasn't changed at all. I've been absolutely on top of her temps and humidity since day 1. She is handled regularly, except after eating. She has never refused a meal for me. Everything in my control seems to be perfect, but her behavior tells me otherwise.

If anything, I'm trying not to be concerned over everything Carl does, but its hard when everything seems to be really concerning.