I'm in the process of switching my substrate to newspaper & paper towel on a need-to-clean basis... I've only switched 4 so far... With this incident though I think I'm going to switch everyone else on Saturday! I was using a reptile-bark, peat moss mixture...

I'm also trying to switch over to f/t from live. Tuesday was the first time I ever really offered f/t... I got a mix of mice and rat pups in little pre-packaged bags from petco, took them home and (thinking the bags were air-tight, and not checking that fact.. like an idiot) put them in hot water. I eventually realized I had soaking wet rodents.

But they thawed well enough. I took all of them out and began trying to dry them off a little and offered them up. I made them dance, I pre-scented the room with live mice, I rolled the frozen ones in soiled bedding, etc. Still, most of my babies wanted no part of them. No biggie. We'll try again. I have more tricks up my sleeve thanks to all of you.

What I didn't think about when I took them all out of the hot water is how long it was going to take to try to entice 10 snakes to eat f/t... So by about number 3 they were getting cold... So I figured to hell with it, they're already wet... And I held the mice directly under the hot tap water... I don't know if their skin is super thin or if their guts boiled or what the science is behind it... But I had mice with guts hanging out as a result... lol... I read that that's a good way to get your snakes interested, so I was pretty pleased actually.

It was Max's turn, followed by his sister Brooke. My little het OG... They're garbage disposals. Never refuse anything I give them. So they took the f/t faster than alot of my babes will take live. Well Max ended up swallowing his mouse down without it's guts. He had the intestines hanging out of his mouth and he was trying to rub it on the ground to get it off... Obviously it became covered in moss and bark. Not pleasant.

So of course I was worried he would swallow his substrate. I plucked him out and sat him on top of Brooke's cage while I turned around to grab scissors. I should have been concerned with getting bit as he was in feeding mode and I smelled like mice... But he stood perfectly still while I picked him up, set him down and cut the guts off with scissors. He didn't ball up, didn't try to move at all. I couldn't believe it. I don't want to sound like the crazy old cat lady but I almost think he knew I was helping him.

Anyway, I know it's gross but it was really hilarious too. I had to share.

Has anything like this happened to anyone else?