Major SFE!

[Lolo76]

SFE = Stupid Feeding Error (for those who don't know)

Ever have one of those moments when AS you're doing something, you suddenly think "maybe this isn't such a good idea?" Well, I had one last week! One of my rats had a litter that mostly died after birth, so I was left with about 6-7 freshly dead rat pinks. After doling them out to the smaller snakes (never waste a f/k), I stupidly thought to give the last one to my Spotted Python... she got confused by tiny rat on giant tongs, and decided the tongs were the rat instead. The result almost really hurt her, but thankfully she seems to be just fine (I inspected her mouth afterwards).

To summarize, she coiled the tongs and tried to swallow them! She had a really tight grip, so I just had to sit and wait until she loosened enough for me to gently pry them out. I took photos in case they were needed (for a vet visit), and thought you'd like to see why tiny rats need tiny tongs & snakes. Anyway, lesson learned.





She stared at me for a few minutes (still confused by the whole thing?) after I removed the tongs, and didn't even swallow the rat for another minute or so - you can see it in her neck here, along with the blood I thought was from her.