First feed and miss

[zreon]

I forget the exact date off of the top of my head, but I bought another snake around a month ago. She was about 6 months old and had been feed live mice.

My previous snake, which is still MIA, I fed f/t mouse and never had a problem taking them. My new snake though didn't seem to have much interest in the f/t mice.

Finally after 4 or 5 attempts every week she has finally taken an adult mouse I read in one of the guides about pre-scenting the room. I tried this and when I came to check on her, she was out of her hide looking for food. So I grabbed the mouse and heated it up a little bit with the hair dryer. The second I was dangling the mouse in there she struck and recoiled, but no mouse in her mouth.

She was kind of in a tight place (wedged between the water dish and glass). So I'm not sure if she didn't get the full strike or what. So I dangled it there again and struck and missed once again. She missed a total of 4 times before she finally grabbed it and constricted it and is consuming as we speak.

I'm not sure if I just didn't heat the mouse up evenly or was moving it too much. Or could it make a difference that it was her first f/t mouse?

Anyways, I'm finally happy to see her eat after a month. I hope the next go smoother.

::EDIT::

I forgot to mention that I moved to the basement a couple of weeks before I got her. This was about the time the weather started to change and get pretty cold at night. It took me a while to regulate the temperatures, but I finally have them sitting at 81-82 & 91-92. So maybe she just had to settle in a little more.

[joepythons]

It could be you moved the prey item before she was locked on or right after she was locked on.Once you notice she is cocked and ready to strike barely move if at all.At least she has eaten now

[zreon]

Ya, usually I just hang it there. But since she hadn't eaten yet I was trying different things to get her to eat. The first time I hadn't even got the mouse all the way in before she jumped at it.


That reminds me of something funny that happened last week when I brought her into petco. As I was at the register there was a mom and kid in front of me. The mom kept looking at me and then saying to her son "Don't get too close, those things are poisonous". I just ignored her. When I got to the register to pay, the cashier asked if the snake was going to jump on her, lol.