Last week, I tried feeding Auryn a rat pup for the first time. After sniffing around it (sniffing as snakes do, of course ) for about 15 minutes, my arm got tired holding the hemostats. I left the rap pup (F/T) in his tub, covered it up and left it for the night. I figured, if he was hankerin' for a midnight snack, he'd eat it.

Well, the next day, the pup was still there, so I tossed it.

It's been a week, and Auryn's been acting weird. Last night I found him out of his hides, kinda stretched out across his tank with his head propped up on his warm hide. When he saw me looking at him, he decided to hide under his substrate (paper towels). Then this morning, instead of being in his hide, I opened up his tub to check on him (the way he was last night was off his routine, so I'm a little worried) and he's wedged behind his warm hide, with his neck and head S-shaped, on top of the hide.

With his head propped up, I was worried: "Oh God, pre-cursor to an RI!". But, I haven't noticed ANY yawning, labored breathing, wheezing/popping... and after I peeked in at him, he decided to hide under his substrate again--which is where he is now.

Anyone have ANY idea why he's suddenly acting like this? Is it that he's hungry and on the look-out for food? I was going to wait a bit longer to try a rat pup again--so he'd be good and hungry when I tried...but if he's hungry now, I can try tonight.

Thanks for any insight you long-time snakie owners can give me. I'm still a pretty new snake-mom, and when ANYthing not "normal" for Auryn happens, I become a worry-wort.