question about feeding.

[suzanne]

I have had thelma for about 3 months. I feed her small f/t mice. This week she has torn up her cage looking around. She is very active, and mostly during the day. Tonight I took her out of her cage to feed her, and she was a little aggressive. When I put her in the cage to feed, she turned as if to bite me, but didn't. Should I up her feeding? Maybe I will try another f/t tonight and see how she does. Just another worried mom.

[suzanne]

I should have included how big she is. I would say she is about as big around as half of my wrist. It is on the small side. She is about 20-24 inches long.

[wendyhoo9]

What are the temps of your hot and cold sides? Also, what is the cage set up like (hides on both sides?). This sort of info is key for the more knowledgeable on the site to help out.

[suzanne]

I have two hides in her cage, one on the warm and one on the cool. Temps are 85-91 on the warm side, and 80 on the cool side. She ate the second mouse last night,but not the first one.

[kurgan]

I should have included how big she is. I would say she is about as big around as half of my wrist. It is on the small side. She is about 20-24 inches long.

Have you considered feeding her in the cage? Moving her to feed her probably stresses her a lot and must be a good way to get bitten.
Also if she is unsatisfied by mice have you thought about trying her with a small rat?

[TekWarren]

a sharp turn or recoil of your snake may not have anything to do with feeding or being hungry at all. Sometimes even the friendlyest of snakes will have their grumpy or startled moments. Also there is no problem feeding in a seperate container, I use this method myself to prevent any bedding being injested. There are plenty of feeding tips on this site but I still don't think that has anything to do with it.

[unimom]

I remember a lot of people posting that their snake knows when it's feeding time. They begin prowling around a lot a day before feed. DD certainly does. As soon as I move him to the feeding box, he KNOWS it's time to feed, and gets ready to strike. Maybe this is all it is. A conditioned feeding response? What do you guys think?

[frankykeno]

Welcome to the club and it's a good thing to worry, keeps you sharp and alert to your snake's needs and besides we all do it LOL.

Just a quick question. In your post you said Thelma ate her second mouse but not the first? Was I reading that wrong maybe? If you could clarify that please.

All snakes are very unique really. Of our 6 we see some that never act different feeding day or not, and some that spend feeding day in hyper-hunt mode, lurking from their hides or nosing about the cage waiting for the tub to open and either live or pre-killed prey to magically show up. Doesn't seem to affect how they eat though, lucky enough they are all striking fast and eating well.

Our youngest snake was around 20 to 22 inches when she started on multiple adult mice if memory serves (she's now on rat weans) but they all eat differently and what works....works.


~~Jo~~

[suzanne]

I thought she might want two mice, so I had warmed up both of them. She struck and killed the dead one, but didn't eat it. When I put the next one in, she struck and ate that one. She is all snuggled up in her hide right now digesting him.