What just happened?

[UltraViolet]

I've had Pandora for a while now. She's pretty small at almost a year old, under 200 grams. When I got her a couple of months ago she had been getting a mouse hopper every two weeks. I moved her up to weekly, then an adult mouse, then two. She finally pooped... She's been doing well, but still hunting for a bit after the second mouse. So last week instead of going to the pet store, I went to a local guy to get mice He suggested I switch to rats so she would have the nutrition to grow. On his advice, I got an adult mouse and a rat that was just a tiny bit bigger. I brought them home in the same carrier and fed the mouse first. Pandora loved the rat and for the first time wasn't still hunting for more. She pooped, peed, passed urates, and had a lovely complete shed on the one week mark, so it's been 11 days.

Today I went and got 2 little rats, adult mouse size. Pandora struck at the first one as soon as I dropped it in her tank, and ate it. I waited until she was done swallowing and started moving around again, then dropped the second one in. Again she immediately struck and coiled. When the rat seemed dead enough to not be a problem I turned my attention to something else, so I'm not exactly sure what happened next... but it seemed like she was starting to eat it. Maybe not, she was still pretty coiled up. Anyway, she huung n for a bit

[BlueMoonExotics]

Did you accidentally post too soon? If not then I don't quite understand the question?

[UltraViolet]

Did you accidentally post too soon? If not then I don't quite understand the question?

Not sure what happened- the site ate half my post, then it wouldn't let me edit it... Here's the rest:

Today I went and got 2 little rats, adult mouse size. Pandora struck at the first one as soon as I dropped it in her tank, and ate it. I waited until she was done swallowing and started moving around again, then dropped the second one in. Again she immediately struck and coiled. When the rat seemed dead enough to not be a problem I turned my attention to something else, so I'm not exactly sure what happened next... but it seemed like she was starting to eat it. Maybe not, she was still pretty coiled up. Anyway, I smelled a hint of something weird and looked over. Pandora had her mouth around the rat's head (not how she caught it). I watched for a minute and it seemed like she was backing off the rat. She got all the way off, uncoiled, and went into her hide. From the wetness on the rat's fir and what looked like compression, it seems that Pandora had gotten to just past the front legs. Just as I was starting to think about what to do about the dead rat in the tank, she came out of her hide, sniffed all around it like she was looking for its head, but then went back in the hide. A few minutes later she came out again, hovered in the guarding position that I've seen in pictures, then went back in her hide. She came out again, went to her water bowl and took a long drink and gave one sniff at the rat and back in her hide again. At that point I took out the rat.

So what was that? I'm freaking out a little bit: Is she ok? Is there something I should do/should have done? Is she sick? And what about next time? Should I switch back to mice? Only get 1 rat? A slightly bigger one? I really really really don't like dead stuff so I'd rather not do this again- and I'm worried about my girl!

[Anya]

From personal experience, I've had balls strike, kill, then leave it alone for awhile, only to come back later to finish it off. How long did you leave it in with her? If you feed her in the evenings/night, I would have just left it alone till morning.

Then again, I keep thinking...maybe she changed her mind?

I wouldn't worry. She doesn't sound sick, she might have been waiting, or might have realized one was all she wanted. If you froze the rat immediately after she killed it, you can offer again next week, or in a few days.

[Jonas]

Maybe you spooked her a bit so she decided to not eat it. For 200 grams, 1 rat will be perfectly fine until you get her up to wait

[UltraViolet]

From personal experience, I've had balls strike, kill, then leave it alone for awhile, only to come back later to finish it off. How long did you leave it in with her? If you feed her in the evenings/night, I would have just left it alone till morning.

Then again, I keep thinking...maybe she changed her mind?

I wouldn't worry. She doesn't sound sick, she might have been waiting, or might have realized one was all she wanted. If you froze the rat immediately after she killed it, you can offer again next week, or in a few days.

Had she just struck, killed, and left it I wouldn't be worried. I used to have a redtail that wouldn't eat until he had taken a few victory laps around his tank to celebrate his kill. This was different, Pandora had started eating already and un-swallowed half a rat!
I was thinking she changed her mind, too - but really?
I'm housesitting for a friend, so I had to leave. I probably left it in for 15 minutes or so... and I didn't want to leave it because I wasn't going to be back for a good 24 hours. Eww. The only thing worse than dead stuff is maggots. Being totally creeped out by dead stuff is why I was a vegetarian for 23 years, and why I will not do frozen/thawed. My agreement with Pandora is that I am responsible for the provision of live rodents, she is responsible for the death and disposal of them.


So what do I do next time? Just one rat? Maybe a little bigger? Does this count as regurgitation?

[rocknhorse76]

1 appropriately sized prey item is better than multiple smaller ones. A hopper or weaned rat weekly should suffice at this point (depending on her current weight.....a good rule of thumb is prey weight should be about 10-15% of the snake's body weight). Just because she's still looking around after eating doesn't necessarily mean she needs to eat more....snakes sometimes stay in feeding mode for days after a meal. Wild snakes don't have a meal tossed at them weekly lol.

[Seth702]

I don't feel its a full regurgitation, but it does sound like something spooked her to the point she reacted defensively by spitting the rat out and going into a defensive posture. I would continue to feed her the same way you have been, with no change, unless this becomes a pattern. I would suggest after she takes the rat slowly leave the room ( be sure to secure the cage) and let her be for a period of time before returning to check on her. If you like me, and prone to getting caught up in another activity and forgetting to check on her, set a timer for 5 - 10 minutes and return whent the time is up. If she continues to only eat one rat I would simply feed one rat per meal and use the behavior as a hint that's all she wants. She sounds like she is healthy other wise and I wouldn't begin to worry on the first incident.

[rocknhorse76]

F/t poses no threat of maggots either lol. That's all I've ever fed my snakes, and they are all quite healthy. If you do insist on feeding live though, please be attentive for your snake's sake. The smaller sized rats you feed now pose virtually no threat, but even a medium rat can inflict some serious wounds on an unattended snake!!

[Annarose15]

Just offer her one appropriately-sized rat. Now that she has switched off of mice, there is no reason to feed her multiples. It sounds like you have upped her total feed quite a bit in recent weeks, so she probably just wasn't hungry enough to eat the second one, and therefore got distracted mid-(oh look, a squirrel!)-meal and left it.