Clumsy, Blind? Normal?

[AK907]

I think the environment is good for the snake. Its clean, has a warm hide, and a cooler side with water. The bedding is aspen. He has grown a lot over the past year.

I took the rat out and put it in it's own box. Great, I don't want to get attached to it. It's been a month since the snake ate. He's been coming out at night, knocking things down in the terrarium, which is usually a sign he's looking for food.

I've wondered before if he's blind because he will miss when he attacks. I thought it might be because there's a heat pad on one side of his terrarium, so the body heat might be camouflaged by that, so I turned it off last time. He missed a few times but did get the rat. This time I put him in a different box with no heat sources around it, and he missed many times, never getting hold of the rat. I could see the rat fly away from him, he hit it pretty hard, but didn't coil up on it.

I'll wait a week and see...

Temps? Humidity? Do you have more than one hide? Is he in a heavily traveled area/loud area or held a lot? How are you controlling the temperature of your heat mat? Heat mats MUST have a thermostat of some kind. How are you measuring your temps?

I cannot imagine a rat's body heat being camouflaged by the heat mat. I've never heard of such a thing. Misses do happen. Some are just clumsy. Some are just bluffing and trying to scare this would be attacker off. This sounds like what is going on so far. Feeding a separate tub is generally frowned upon. It adds unnecessary stress an is often a cause/factor for hunger strikes.