I fed Nergal today. I did what everyone suggested on here and found the rat's mouth and stuck the tongs in it.
Unfortunately I was too late--he had wrapped around it in a way that I couldn't find the head very easily. When I found its mouth finally, it had given him a nice bite on top of the head. I think it might have gotten his eye too--it doesn't look right.
WTF!!! I'm so mad. Petco doesn't sell large enough F/T mice, or small enough F/T rats.
I don't know what to do! I want him to be well fed, but the only properly sized food item I can get here is live. >:/
I can't stop him from coiling wrong, either--which is what he did today, he struck it from an odd angle AND curled himself around his head...which is where the rat's teeth were. Any other advice?? I don't know what to do...
Also, I keep checking on him every 5 minutes, I'm so nervous. Not very much blood ever came out but he has a small amount of swelling on his head (enough so it's noticeable after you look for a second). I applied band-aid cream two times already, after it dried out on him each time. What should I do?
I'm nervous to take him to a vet, because I don't know if any of the ones around here work with snakes--and I'm assuming they'll give him Baytril, which I know can eat holes through the snake's skin if injected incorrectly (i.e. sub cutaneous).
I'll keep an eye on his swelling. Is there anything I can do to keep it down?
I feel like a failure of a snake owner.