Sickening feed...

So for the first time, I fed my new girl, "Big Mama" today.. A medium rat.. Wow- that was by far the worst feeding I have EVER seen- SOOO much blood- I was exspecting there to be some, of course, but it was literaly the second he had his body around i there was blood going everywhere and.. Wow... It made me feel sick- and normaly it doesnt boher me...

My other girl's almost her size and she takes rats almost that size- but she's not as agressive as that at all!!!

I would post pics- but their pretty sickening... Just thought I would tell you guys.. Im in shock.. WOW

I just put her back in her cage- but before I did I had to rinse her off.. she was COVERD in blood- I could smell it the entire time I was rinsing her off, then after I put her back I rensed my hands with ALOT of soap- my hands smelled like blood, too.. It was sick...

I've never heard of a feeding that bloody before. Was it a f/t rat that exploded? Those are the grossest stories I've run across. Or, I guess, maybe if it was live, the snake's teeth just got lucky and punctured a major vein...and then the squeezing...well.... ewww.

I would imagine that is definitely the exception rather than the rule and probably won't happen again. Even with highly aggressive feeders and live food, I've never seen more than a few drops of blood.

Nope- it was live.. And yea, Ive seen some drops of blood come out of a mouse or rat before.. But NOTHING even compares to this!! It was EVERYWHERE! Thats why it almost made me sick- I have NEVER seen anything like this.. One time my pastel squeezed a mouse so hard one of its eyes popped out (EW!), but that wasnt even as bad as this.. I cant even describe..

And no, I dont think she hit a vein- shes just REALLY strong.. She got the rat in the side, closer to its butt. And like I said, within seconds blood was just pouring out... I closed the lid after the schock started to wear off..

The bloodiest feedings I've seen is where I pre-kill the rat first by thumping it over the head. Lots and lots of blood comes pouring out the nose (which is why I don't do that anymore). Live feedings can be a little bloody but usually just a few drops if anything. I rarely ever see any blood at all in feeding frozen since the blood is already pooled in the organs. The only grossness I've seen in feeding frozen is when a poorly processed rat that was half decomposed was frozen and then thawed out. They will explode when they get constricted and then you have guts all over the place, but thats pretty rare and only happens if you happen to get a really bad order of rats in which case you should be complaining to whoever you bought the rats from. So, if it really bothers you a lot, you might want to consider going with frozen/thawed if your snake will take them.

Mark

I think I might for this girl- the otehrs are fine on live, and it never bothers me, even if there is blood. And yea, I've had to pre-kill a rat before and it bled quite a bit- but not like this. My boyfriend did take a pic or two of it (even though he was gagging- he wants to show it to our friend, Julian), but their just sick..

I cant even emagine giving this snake a mouse- it WOULD exsplode... So yea, I tink Ill give her one more chance on live next week, but if it happens again- F/T for sure!! I dont like the smell of blood- or having to clean it off of my snake and everything else in the area! ... And by that, I mean it leaked through the box... I'm buying some big storage tubs to feed them in from now on...

Yikes. I feed live all of the time and don't usually see any blood. Sometimes there's rat urine that squirts out, but that to me is grosser than blood. I used to prekill using the whack method. I would kill the rat right away with no suffering.. but WOW.. the blood was enough to make people wonder if I was a mass murderer or something, if they had walked in at that time!
I don't mind blood in itself. I have helped hang and cut up too many deer during hunting season for it to bother me much.. but it does get to some people. As long as it is not my own blood.. then we have issues!

You say a medium rat? i read on here that people mostly in the states feed a small rat,but here in the uk a medium rat is usually the norm for an adult royal.

Yea, shes a BIG girl, so a med rat is no problem. She could do a lage- but I think it would stress her out and do more harm then good.

And normaly I dont mind blood- but there was ALOT!

Could it be that her strong squeezing caused a rib to puncture the lung, maybe aspirated the heart and/or stomach? Sounds like the most likely cause of blood on par with the levels you describe.

Or... it was possessed. :please:

In any event, I wish you well in the cleanup and Big Mama better luck in her future feeds!

Try smaller prey, it will be much easier for the snake to safely take down. 1-2 weaned rats is ALOT easier than a huge medium/large rat, and also not as fatty.

Just because she CAN take something that large, doesn't mean she needs it. She will gain weight and do just fine on 50-60g of prey a week.

One of my females laid 6 eggs in late May. She weighed around 1350-1400g afterwards. On only 3-4(about 20g mice) medium adult mice a week, she is up to almost 2200g, with barely any fat layer on her.

Smaller meals every 7 days will keep her feeding consistently.

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Originally Posted by mischevious21

Yea, shes a BIG girl, so a med rat is no problem. She could do a lage- but I think it would stress her out and do more harm then good.

And normaly I dont mind blood- but there was ALOT!

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Just because your animal can take a large meal doesn't mean that it is the most beneficial meal.

The rule of "a slight bump" I think is generally for juvenile animals. Once they reach that weaner rat size (4-5 week old), or the equivalent size in mice, that's all they will need for the rest of their life. They will still gain weight.
I know there are many many large breeders, and hobbyists that feed their large 2400-3000 grams females one small rat or like Becki said '3-4(about 20g mice) every week'.

When they get older, their metabolisms slow down. Just like humans, when you reach your mid 30's- 40's, you can't eat what you used to when you were in college. I think the same applies to snakes, who have by far slower metabolisms. I hope that makes sense.

Of course, anyone can do what they want, just something to think about. ;)

Don't wanna sound like a sicko but could you post some pics. I'm really curious to see what this looked like. I feed F/T and have never encountered blood. Of course I only have a few ball pythons...

I'd also like to see pics :)

i third that.... pics please. lets see just how "disgusting" it was haha

My Columbian Red Tail was strong enough that he occasionally squeezed the internal organs out of his prey. That was pretty disgusting when it happened but thankfully was an infrequent event.