hi! has this ever happened to anyone else?

I normally feed my BP live mice.. well, actually half live as i normally stun it with a firm squeeze on the back of the neck first , so when i put it it the cage to feed my BP it is still alive and twitching , but not dead.

Normally, my Bp will not hv any problems , and the meal goes down quickly.
But the last time i noticed , after putting the mice in her cage , she sort of knew there was a mice there.. however, she snapped and totally missed the prey ..TWICE!! .. and she was way off too... she finally caught it the 3rd time, but what happened b4 really got me curious.. is her heat sensory not doing the job? she getting blind? or do this things just happens ...

thanks alot in advance..

Rhema

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Originally Posted by rhema

I normally feed my BP live mice.. well, actually half live as i normally stun it with a firm squeeze on the back of the neck first , so when i put it it the cage to feed my BP it is still alive and twitching , but not dead.

Normally, my Bp will not hv any problems , and the meal goes down quickly.
But the last time i noticed , after putting the mice in her cage , she sort of knew there was a mice there.. however, she snapped and totally missed the prey ..TWICE!! .. and she was way off too... she finally caught it the 3rd time, but what happened b4 really got me curious.. is her heat sensory not doing the job? she getting blind? or do this things just happens ...

thanks alot in advance..

Rhema

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Even snakes have "off" days ... don't sweat it. Is she due for a shed soon?

-adam

hi adam,
thanks 4 d advice
she is roughly due 2 shed in abt 1.5 - 2 weeks..
so this is just one of those off days aye?

sometimes during feeding they can get so worked up that they strike at any movement, even outside of the tub.


vaughn

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Originally Posted by kavmon

sometimes during feeding they can get so worked up that they strike at any movement, even outside of the tub.


vaughn

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good point! ... and sometimes they just start striking into the air at nothing at all! .... I got nailed pretty good by a big girl today that went right past the end of the tongs when I wasn't paying attention!

-adam

she didn't miss, she probably meant to get you! lol


vaughn

mine will occassionally miss the target but on the second (or sometimes third) try they usually nail it. they don't have the greatest eyesight to begin with and they do sometimes just get really excited and strike out before they really know where the prey item actually is. it's nothing to worry about.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kavmon

she didn't miss, she probably meant to get you! lol


vaughn

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LOL ... nah .. it wasn't that one female pastel, now she means it when she comes after me!!!

-adam

yeah that female pastel must have some viper/cobra blood in the family tree! lol


vaughn

thanks 4 all d advice guys... i feel better already. i was curious cos it never happened b4.

btw, wht do u all think of my style of feeding ? by putting a half alive mice in her cage? It may be just me but the reason i dont want to feed pre killed or thawed mice is cos i notice tht my BP becomes less and less of a constrictor when i do tht. I wanted her to keep the contricting nature and instinct alive. Does this happen to u guys or is it just me?? the last time she got used to feeding pre killed, she merely opened her mouth and started swallowing the mice head 1st, without attacking it or constricting it.. hence my new feeding style...

how you feed is purely up to you. i feed f/t right now and i have two bps that do not strike or constrict at all. they check the rat out and then just start swallowing it. i don't have any problem with them eating this way because they are never going to live in the wild where they would need to eat a different way. it is actually easier for me that they eat that way--i just lay the rat down and move on to the next snake, knowing that when they are ready they will come out and eat. your main goal is for your snake to eat, the way that you go about getting it to do so is up to you.

LOL Adam, Mike's having that problem with the 7 month old dang near crawling up the hemostats at him some days. I think Baby just gets way overexcited at feeding time. Oh and if that pastel female really doesn't like you she can always come live at Auntie Jo and Unckie Mike's house! :P

The one we have with the hardest strike will sometimes coil her already pre-killed prey for ages! Longest was almost 15 minutes or so. I think Baby is just waiting for that darned mouse to breathe just in case! LOL Most times she's must faster to start eating, but sometimes she takes forever and I haven't a clue why...the mice are already expired. :confused:


~~Jo~~