Bad owner (me), Poor care, hoping for the best...

[Blitzjg]

So I got two kittens and while dealing with settling them in I didn't realize that the mouse I have fed my four month old BP was still there. I didn't realize this until I went to feed him his next meal which was four days later.

He gobbled the fresh one up but obviously the old one was rank-smelling.

What should I look for? When I took him out today it looked like had incomplete shed on his nose. But no other evidence he's shedding.

[Anya]

It can happen. Just clean and disinfect his enclosure, and keep an eye on him.

[Skilla6000]

I thought one of your cats was going to be eaten/bit lol. (Sorry for not helping)

[John1982]

I always check enclosures the day after feeding but occasionally a snake drags the rodent under some newspaper or into the hide and I miss it. An hour or two after locating and removing the stink bomb then wiping down the enclosure things are back to normal scent-wise.

[JLC]

"Stink bomb". Yep....that's exactly what it is!

I think anyone who has kept a number of snakes for a number of years has probably experienced that at least once. Most likely with f/t feeders, but even live feeders may kill a rodent and make you think they've eaten it, then lay on top of it and smirk at you as you frantically search for the source of that awful stench. I always check to make sure everyone has eaten, but they can be tricksy sometimes.

It's gross....but it won't harm the snake. Just clean it up and chalk it up as a stinky lesson.

[SquamishSerpents]

UGH SPEAKING OF STINK BOMB! Don't worry, you're not the only one who has had a rodent go sour...

This is literally the worst thing...After I feed all my corns, 2 days after like clockwork...... "holy Hannah Montana, all of the corn snakes took dumps!!" Colubrid poop STINKS worse than ball python poop. So the day after feeding the corns, I go in the snake room. It was not "dump day" yet, but a lot of the ball pythons had pooped. So it stank and I cleaned them all up.

I could still smell something funny though when I was done cleaning. I went through every single corn snake bin looking for poop. Nothing. So I just assumed the odor would disappear now that everything had been cleaned up.

Went back in the next morning and nothing was amiss, there was a faint smell because some of the corns HAD took their clockwork dumps by now, but I scooped it up quickly and that was that.

Well about 5 days after THAT (so....approx a week maybe slightly longer, after I had fed everyone) I was doing a big excavation of some of the corn bins and swapping out substrate. I had been using Sani-Chips for some of the corns. I like them because they are semi-clumping so taking out poop is easy, and they have a nice smell and are great at cutting down on odor. Well I am NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN using Sani-Chips!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I was scooping substrate out of one of the bins I saw something moving. Upon closer inspection, there were many things, wriggling. There were maggots of some sort buried under an inch or two of substrate!!!!!!!!!! I LOST IT. Shrieked, the whole 9 yards. As it turns out, no matter how well I checked all the bins (multiple times, mind you) the "stink bomb" had been buried underneath the Sani-Chips, attracted maggots of some sort, and they were all just wiggling around like some horror movie.

The weird part? That bin did not even smell AT ALL.

Seriously F My Life. I almost threw up. Worst, most disgusting thing everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So don't feel bad.

I'm going to go vomit now just thinking about it.

[trevo]

My little guy refuses to eat F/T. Only goes for the live ones. But every week before I give him a live one, I try to see if he'll take a F/T as I have a bunch in the freezer. Never takes them, and I leave them for 12 hours overnight and it never fails to smell in the morning. I can only imagine 4 days of rot! Cheers.