Success! They ate!

[Nicole N]

I gave our new pair their first meal today.

I feel a bit guilty that I didn't want for the husband to come home from work but I was anxious to see if they would eat as guaranteed. Well, sure enough, in under a minute both snapped and wrapped up. I put them in a separate feeding bin from their individual living bins, one at a time, waited for the food to lower down the body, then exchanged snakes.



I'm a bit embarrassed that after they were done eating, I sort of panicked since I couldn't remember how long to wait to handle and move them back to their home spaces. I ended up waiting until I couldn't see the lump, and they were trying to escape the 55 sterlite.

I hope I didn't do anything wrong. Both are 12 inches long and eating crawlers, this was their first meal here with us. The proprieter of the exotics store told us they all are fed on Wednesdays and since we bought them on wednesday they missed their meal.

[bearhart]

I feed in a seperate tub. I only wait until the snake is done eating and then, very carefully, put him back in his cage. Usually I see the following sequence to let me know he's done:

1) Mouse quits traveling farther down. It usually stops just past halfway. At this point you can see the swallowing action of the muscles along the body stop.
2) Jaw reset. (yawning action)
3) Resume movement and/or tounge flickering. This can either be him sniffing around to see if there is another mouse or it can be him trying to escape. Either way, there is a point where he starts to act more "normal".

Also, I'm especially careful to approach the snake from behind the head when taking him back out as he's still a bit torqued up. But, he knows the routine so he's never even looked about to strike.

I also always heavily mist the cage before putting him back in. (He likes fresh droplets). I've found he usually takes a post-meal drink to wash that furry thing down.

[bearhart]

Oh yea, a couple more things:

1) Mine always misses a feed during shed cycle and I just wait until next week. Don't sweat it.

2) The prey looks a bit too small to me.

[Nicole N]

So might they be ready for the next step up? This was a crawler, what should I try feeding them now? I really don't know the step up between that stage and adulthood.

I'm glad I waited then about the feeding, once they had closed their mouths to reset their jaws and were actively trying to get out of the sterlite, then I moved them back to their home bins. Noticeably free of water this morning when I woke up so they must have each drunk this morning while I slept.

[SatanicIntention]

A crawler what? Mouse or rat?

And there's no need to feed in a separate tub, as you will most likely just stress the little guys out by doing so. They like to feed from where they feel secure, and a huge, open, cold place with no hides isn't very secure to them. They will also not associate your hands with food everytime you go into their enclosure, especially if you don't smell like rodent All of mine are fed in their enclosure every week and no one thinks I am food any other day of the week(other than feeding day, but then everything in their tub is game)

If those were crawler mice, bump up to a small or medium adult mouse. They should be just fine on those.

[adizziedoll]

Congrats on the feed!


What size is a 55 sterlite?

[bearhart]

Yea, I was thinking small adult mouse would do it. Its good if you can find a place that has tons of mice and then you have plenty to choose from. The general rule is a prey item that is about the same girth as the snake at its largest point. You should see quite a bit of neck stretching during swallow and, when they are done, you should be able to see a noticeable bulge (just past the halfway mark).

[SatanicIntention]

Actually, it's best if you don't see a noticeable bulge, maybe a slight thickening, but no bulging and tight skin after they have eaten. If you feed too large of prey, there's a good chance that the snake will fast for 2-3 consecutive weeks in order to catch up. Smaller meals, once per week, will help your snake feed more regularly and stay on a schedule. My adults, even the 2600g girl(now 1900g after egg laying), don't get more than 3 mice every week. The babies/juvies might get 1-2 mice per week, depending on the size of the mice.

[Nicole N]

Ahhh I see. I hear so many conflicts about which path is the right way to go, it's almost as difficult as child-rearing LOL

I've heard both ends of the argument not to feed them in their home enclosure but I didn't know I'd make them feel less safe. There was a bulge in the neck, but once it reached the body I couldn't see the mouse anymore. Yep crawler mice. I think my male got the mouse down the fastest, and had gulped it in under a minute. My female took about 4 minutes, I even walked out the room for a moment to get a drink before coming back to see if she was still working on it. I will move the male up to a larger size.

Does anyone have any tips on switching to frozen, or able to offer some words on whats best? The last time we owned balls there were no frozens available as there are now and everything was done live, with us knocking the prey out beforehand. The place literally does have TONS of mice, so it would be easy for me to pick one out. Should I step them up to 2 crawlers a week instead of a single one each week?

[Nicole N]

Congrats on the feed!


What size is a 55 sterlite?

I'm so proud that I did it on my own. My husband always fed them before because I was too scared and squemish at the time and was new to his snake.

I'm even more proud that they seem in such great health after what I paid for them.

a 55 sterlite is about hm... 3 feet long and 2 wide? I keep tons of them around the house for storing odds and ends, and a pair in each kids room for toys.I wanted a shoebox but couldn't find one.