Daddy's little girl has a healthy appetite!

[Cody]

*Warning*- Readers beware. Long and rambling post follows. If you have to use the toilet or get a snack, do it now. You might be here a while.


Well, it was Friday, Pelota's usual feeding day with her previous owner. I didn't want to change that, so although she has only been with me for 3 going on 4 days, I decided to chance it and attempt to feed her tonight. Earlier today I went to pick up the 3 frozen mousicles I reserved from the pet store uptown(sadly I found out they freeze them live- :shock: seems rather inhumane). Anyway, I guess I wasn't exactly sure about the size of an adult mouse because I asked for smaller adult mice. Today I picked them up and discovered they were weanlings. A bit small for Pelota, but it'd do till next week when I get some actual adult mice. Anyyyway, I got a margarine container, filled it with hot water, and placed the little bagged mousie in it. I expected to be thawing it for a few hours, but found that since they're so small it only took me 20 minutes tops for them to be fully thawed out, lol. So I left them in the fridge till it was 9 o'clock when Pelota usually comes out to explore. So yep, right at 9 on the dot, I went to check upstairs, and she was slithering around her warm hide(still has yet to go in it though! ). So I called my mom and sister and her boyfriend up(had to be a family experience I guess) and put the heat lamp over the mousie for a few minutes. While it was warming, I opened up the cage, removed the branch, cool hide, and water dish so there was room to eat. I hoped that with the cool hide out, she'd eat the mouse then go to the warm hide. I was wrong.
Anyway, my mom decided she suddenly wanted to hold Pelota, after seeing how cute she looked tonight. I won't lie...my mom had been drinking a bit(it's a friday, what the hell right? ). As an inside joke, I tease my mom by calling beer her anti-venom. It seems as soon as she gets a few beers in her, she's fearless and wants to see Pelota. Anyway, I didn't want her to hold Pelota just before feeding, as I didn't want to stress her out too much. So I just picked up Pelota, and held her a bit as my mom pet her tail. She was surprised that Pelota felt smooth and silky, and not scaley and rough like she expected.
So anyway, I seen Pelota was getting antsy, and she was flicking her tongue pretty wildly at the margarine container with mousie in it, so I put her in the tank again, in the feeding area I had cleared out. Then I grabbed my tongs and gripped the mousie's butt with them. I slowly put the mousie on the tank floor and did a little wiggle. Right away, Pelota got in the S-strike position and BAM! Dead on strike to the face. I was kinda proud. I had heard that balls can sometimes miss the prey pretty bad, but she was dead on. She constricted and sat there still for a few minutes. I thought maybe she lost intrest, but then I seen her tightening up. Guess she wanted to make sure it was "dead". Then finally she started positioning her mouth over the head. 5 minutes later, mousie was no more than a small lump in her tummy. My mom was going nuts when she was swallowing the mouse. She was actually more excited about it then I was, lol. She was all "OMG LOOK! SHE'S GETTING HER MOUTH AROUND THE HEAD! HOW DO THEY STRETCH SO MUCH! WOW LOOK AT HER NECK ALL STRETCHED OUT!" and I was just "yeah mom...it's cool. Now stop flipping out, or I'll have you escorted out. ".
After Pelota got the mousie down, she curled up to the cool side of the tank, right where her hide would usually be. This disappointed me, since I was hoping she'd go to the warm hide for a change. I don't know why she only sits in the cool hide. The warm hide is always around 93 degrees, and the cool hide is around 84. Yet she seems to only prefer the cool hide. I hope she digests the meal good enough with just sitting in the cool hide.

And now to finish the thread off with a question. The ones that usually get ignored since no one would read all this from start to finish.
Should I be worried about the fact that she never goes to her warm hide? Should I maybe place her in it come monday when she's all digested and I plan to hold her a bit? I'm thinking maybe she doesn't know it exists. I dunno. I guess she'd know whats best, so if she's content on the cool side, I shouldn't worry?

[led4urhead]

*Warning*- Readers beware. Long and rambling post follows. If you have to use the toilet or get a snack, do it now. You might be here a while.

First of ... LOL

Should I be worried about the fact that she never goes to her warm hide? Should I maybe place her in it come monday when she's all digested and I plan to hold her a bit? I'm thinking maybe she doesn't know it exists. I dunno. I guess she'd know whats best, so if she's content on the cool side, I shouldn't worry?

As long as your temps are right .. i wouldnt worry. Your snake knows what she needs. She may be going in there when you are not looking or when you are asleep. I didnt think mine ever went in theirs either until i kept seeing their tails dissapear in side it or noticed the substrate moved around under it.

[Cody]

Hmm, could be. That might be the case, but I'd think I'd have a pretty good chance of seeing her in it since I'm around that tank most of the day and night, lol.

[Nate]

you'll eventually see s/he in both hides. i'll walk in and see jeeper chillin on the cool side, 10 minutes later he'll be curled up inside his hot side..and later on i'll see him back on the cool side again..it's just all about preference at the moment. like led said, your snake knows what she needs and could be going over there when you're not around.

[Cody]

Thanks guys. I'm on cloud 9 right now. Such a relief she ate for me so easily, and only after 3 days. My mom thought for sure she'd turn it down, but she snapped that rodent up like it owed her money. That, and the heat and humidity seems to be solid so far. Things are looking good so far. Next hurdle to get over: her first shed with me. :shock:

[Marla]

Congrats on a smooth first feeding. It was a very, um, descriptive post. Next, if you observe her over a period of time and she really never goes in the warm side hide, I would say she wants you to bring the temp down a few degrees. The easiest way to do that is probably just to slightly increase the space between her enclosure and her heat source. The whole 90 warm/80 cool thing is a good guideline, but that doesn't mean there aren't some balls who like to kick it at 92 or 78, and your 93 warm side may a little warmer than she likes.

[Cody]

Congrats on a smooth first feeding. It was a very, um, descriptive post.

Haha, yeah I guess I do that a lot. I'm the type to ramble on in a lot of detail. Hell, in gradeschool we'd have to write a book report and make it a page long. I'd be the kid that handed in the 5 page report on Mother Goose fairy tales. Some like a good descriptive read. Others just skim through thinking "when will it end?"

And yeah, I was thinking she didn't like the high temps either. She seems content on the cool side since it's always around 85 with the heat lamp. I've only got the heat pad on low, and it was bringing my hot side temps to 96+, so I went outside and got a plank of wood. Then cut it into 4 slabs, and put them under the corners of the tank. Now the tank is raised literally an inch off the surface. There's plenty of airflow under the tank where I can put my hand under there. Still, the temps are always 85 and 93. At night the temps drop to 75 and 88, which I didn't like, so I keep the light on all the time. And I have to run fans in my room during the day so the temps don't go up too much. I can't wait till winter. I'll be fighting to keep them up. But that'll be easier I think.
Thing is I can never tell which hide she's in, because I overestimated her size a bit, and I bought hides that were still a bit big for her. She curls up in the back of them, so all I can see is maybe a bit of her head poking out. But mostly I'd swear the hides were empty. I have to lift the hide just to see where she is.


Yeah..there's another one of those "descriptive" posts, lol.

[Marla]

I don't mind descriptive. I suspect you may have ended up with one of the backward-wired heat pads from your description. It seems everyone who's had that much heat on low and tried it on high got a lower temp on high, so you might want to check that. The pad will probably last longer if it's not having to put out its maximum heat.

[Cody]

Nah, it's normally wired. On high it got to well over 100. I think it's because our house doesn't have central air conditioning or anything, so it's warm in my room. Without the heat lamp on, the temps get to 80 and 90 during the day, and 75/88 at night. With the lamp on, it gets 85/95. A bit high, so I run my fans in my room to get the air circulating under the cage, which brings it down a few degrees.

[mlededee]

just to add my thought on pelota not using her hot hide---nellie never seemed to use hers at first either. i brought the temps down and still nothing. so one day when i put her back into her tank after handling her i set her down facing the hot hide with her head partially in it. eureka! she slithered right inside and stayed there for the rest of the night. now she uses it all the time. it was like i just had to show her it was there or something. nutty little things aren't they?