Not Constricting? Trying to get out? And other questions...

[Pandora]

I'm in the middle of feeding Pandora a hopper mouse as I write this... tiny little thing, that mouse. Anyway, it was barely moving because I'm guessing it's almost a newborn, it's got hair but not very active, looks almost blind. I put the mouse in the tank and Pandora crawls up to it and very casually puts her mouth around the thing's head. I didn't even notice she had it in her mouth until I turned on the light. So she's got it in her mouth trying to swallow it and it's still alive!! She finally realizes it's not dead and tries constricting it but she doesn't have a good grip on it and eventually kills it and eats it... what's up with that? She's never done it before. I feed her live, so I'm not sure if when they're frozen BPs normally don't constrict or something?

For the last two nights, missy has been trying to crawl up her plant and push her way out of the tank. All of last night, for a good hour or so, she crawled up both her plants, hung on her hygrometer and tried everything in her power to nuzzle her way out of that tank. I haven't seen her do this before. She got so high up on her plant and desperate to get out at one point that she fell onto her log and scared herself and then continued on her little exploring journey. She's just over 20 inches in a standard 10 gallon tank so she's basically just a bit longer than the length of the front of the tank and I was told not to upgrade until it's about 2/3rds the length of the snake. I was planning on getting her a 20 gallon within the next week or so because I think she might be cramped in there. I've heard of snakes hurting themselves or flattening their noses from trying to push against the sides of the tank and I don't want her to hurt herself by falling again. She got out just over a week ago, and I know the only reason they make good escape artists is by exploring but she was hardcore trying to nuzzle her way out last night and I'm not quit sure what it could mean. Here's a picture from the night before


In addition to that, when my boyfriend and I took her out of the tank, to handle her for a bit because she clearly wanted to get out, she was extremely active. Moving a lot faster than normal. She's normally a bit more... slow? It was the middle of the night and I know they're nocturnal so maybe this is normal behavior since I normally handle her during the day. But we noticed she was acting like this a few nights ago as well (moving rather quickly) Is any of this at all normal? I mean, she is my first ball python but I want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

On a less serious subject... I was planning on buying those jungle vines for her tank and possibly getting rid of her log. I've seen this vines zip tied or twist tied to the lids of tanks from looking at other people's set ups. However, I don't want to lift up the vines every time I take her lid off to change the water or handle her. I'm thinking of putting them in once I upgrade her tank but I don't know of how to set them up so they look good but are sturdy. Any ideas or suggestions on how I can set them up?

[Wh00h0069]

Sounds to me like she is hungry. It also sounds like you need to up her prey size. I suggest feeding her prey that is about the same thickness as the thickest part of her body every five to seven days.

Hope this helps.

[Pandora]

Sounds to me like she is hungry. It also sounds like you need to up her prey size. I suggest feeding her prey that is about the same thickness as the thickest part of her body every five to seven days.

Hope this helps.

This is actually the smallest thing I've fed her since I got her. And this thing was slightly smaller than the thickest part of her body. Everything else has been slightly bigger and she ate it no problem. I only found out yesterday about "as thick as the thickest part of her body" rule, but so far she's been eating like a little pig.

[JayBP]

I follow the 10-15% body weight rule.

[Pandora]

I follow the 10-15% body weight rule.

Okay...

[blackcrystal22]

I follow the 10-15% body weight rule.

Generally in my experience, this rule tends to be either too big or too small.

Try to feed her more than once in a sitting, but the second one probably needs to be frozen or pk.
What have you been feeding her? Have you tried f/t?

[uafgrad]

To answer your question about f/t, mine hits and constricts a f/t animal
Yours appears to be as big, if not bigger (though pics can be deceving) than mine and mine eats med adult mice, fwiw.

[JayBP]

Okay...

have you not heard of it?

[Pandora]

Generally in my experience, this rule tends to be either too big or too small.

Try to feed her more than once in a sitting, but the second one probably needs to be frozen or pk.
What have you been feeding her? Have you tried f/t?

I can't feed her frozen, it's not even an option. If my mother sees frozen rats in her freezer, she will boot me and the snake out of the house. The rules for keeping Pandora were as long as the snake doesn't interfere in any way with her life, I can keep her. Twice in one sitting? Will she eat a second one?

[Pandora]

have you not heard of it?

I have. But the size of the food is not my concern here... lol