Problem if bp gets his prey’s blood on him? Also, not good at striking the right spot

[BrujaPitón]

Feeding my almost 1yo bp a f/t medium mouse, and he gets the blood all over his throat and belly. I’m wondering if this is posing a health issue for him, and if it is something that usually happens. I’ve noticed sometimes his meals get a little bloody messy, and sometimes they don’t. Usually the bleeding happens when he doesn’t latch onto the mouse properly, and after he strikes he’ll let it go, so I have to offer it to him again until he gets a good position to swallow (for example he tries eating it sideways or backwards, then gives up). Every now and then he ends up striking and letting go 3 or 4 times before getting a good latch to swallow it. So the blood gets spread. I put paper towels down over his substrate but it comes close to soaking through sometimes.
Should I bathe him or wipe it off? I replace the substrate when it gets messy of course, but I haven’t felt comfortable with handling him after a meal for fear of risking stressing out his digestion process.
Is it ok if I leave him alone like that for a couple days?

[Luvyna]

If your F/T mice are bleeding a lot it could be because you are warming them too quickly, which can even cause them to explode in extreme cases. It can also help to heat the rodent's head more than the body so that the BP can find the head more easily (they use infrared sensing to aim). I tend to let my frozen rats thaw out at room temperature for 1-3 hours, heat the prey with warm water for 15-20 mins, and then dip just the rodent's head into the water to make it warmer than the rest of the body before I offer to my BP.

Having a little blood left on your snake for a few days won't harm him, I'm sure that happens in the wild as well. After letting your snake digest for at least 48 hours you can wipe off the blood with a damp towel or paper towel. There's generally no need to bathe snakes unless they have stuck shed, are very dehydrated, or constipated, as this can be a stressful experience for them.

Also - please do not feed your snake on paper towel! This is dangerous as paper towel can easily get stuck to damp rodents and accidentally ingested by the snake, which has been known to kill snakes as they can't digest it It's better to use something stiff like cardboard, a plastic place mat, or a plate.

[KMG]

When this happens to any of mine I will use my mister to spray the blood and rinse it off while the snake is killing it's dead food. Usually when you touch either the snake or rodent during this time the only thing that happens is a clinch. I've never had food abandoned because of a little spray. But I'm not saying all snakes will respond the same. If you're not comfortable with that then I would wait two days and take care of it then.


I feed my snakes that are on a cypress substrate directly on it. No paper towels, plates, or mats.

[BrujaPitón]

Thanks! I would have never thought to warm the head of the rodent up a little more than the rest of it, that’s something i’ll try next time. Yes, now that i’m looking at more people’s thawing methods, I think i’m making them too warm too fast. I use hottish/warm water to thaw the rodent, so i’ll try it with cold water first next time, then switch to hotter.

As for not feeding on paper towels- I hadn’t heard that before! Since i’ve seen people use it as a substrate before, I thought it was not harmful for them, but I won’t risk it next time, I certainly don’t want him eating anything he can’t digest. Thanks for the tips!

[BrujaPitón]

Thanks! I have a little mister so if it happens again I’ll see if I can take care of it in the moment. I think I was hesitant last time to disturb a good latch when he finally got it right, but you’re right, he’d probably just clinch tighter rather than let go if I touch him in that moment. I have cypress substrate as well, good to know I can feed him directly on that. I just didn’t want him swallowing any. I used to keep him on aspen briefly when I first adopted him, since that’s what I was given, but he’d always swallow small amounts that would stick to the mouse, and it sucks for humidity also, so I switched substrates ASAP. I got into the habit of putting him on paper towel to feed him back when I had the aspen.

[KMG]

Thanks! I have a little mister so if it happens again I’ll see if I can take care of it in the moment. I think I was hesitant last time to disturb a good latch when he finally got it right, but you’re right, he’d probably just clinch tighter rather than let go if I touch him in that moment. I have cypress substrate as well, good to know I can feed him directly on that. I just didn’t want him swallowing any. I used to keep him on aspen briefly when I first adopted him, since that’s what I was given, but he’d always swallow small amounts that would stick to the mouse, and it sucks for humidity also, so I switched substrates ASAP. I got into the habit of putting him on paper towel to feed him back when I had the aspen.

I put all my feeders in a tub and add hot tap water. I thaw them and then put fresh hot water in again before I serve them to make sure they are nice and warm. I serve them wet. Some cypress can stick but for the most part it doesn't.