Thinking about it makes me laugh, I think of myself as someone who doesn’t scare/startle easily. And my heart just jumped out of my chest when that happened. Since I’ve been keeping again over the last five years I never remember snakes more easy to take care of then ball pythons. And to have to feed by just laying the mouse down, well my guard was also down, and boom I literally jumped. I’ve been keeping on and off for like 35 years. I have made my fair share of mistakes over the years. I fed a collection of close to 15 boas in feeder tanks (NEVER FEED OUT OF THEIR ENCLOSURE TANK TUB ETC) I was young, what can I say. Youth is wasted on the young. Don’t even get me going on hot rocks (least I was smart enough to hook up a dimmer). Anybody else remember the Tom Crutchfield sales flyer?