Wiggles, the Children's Python

[Homebody]

Yesterday’s target training was a bit of a muddle. I got a pinkie to go with the hopper that I usually feed, so I had two opportunities. The pinkie went normally. He didn’t have a particularly strong reaction to the target, but it was good enough. For the hopper, I decided to set up a little foraging exercise for him, but I didn’t what to break with the target training, so I put the mouse in front of the target. Well, that didn’t work.

First, he is not used to taking two prey items. After the pinkie, he went into his hide to digest. He came out halfway a few times, flicking and yawning. I think he sensed the hopper, but he wasn’t interested enough to go hunting for it. After a while, I moved his hide closer to it. He came out of the hide completely but couldn’t find it. So, I gave up on foraging and decided to have another target training. That didn’t work either.

He saw the hopper as soon as I picked it up, so he ignored the target and went straight for it. I put the target directly between him and the hopper, but I don’t think he noticed it. I fed him the hopper anyway.

It was a muddle because I started target training, switched to foraging, and back to target training all with a snake that not adept at either. No wonder he was confused. You live, you learn. Even experienced trainers have bad sessions. At least he ate.