She did make a squeaking noise a few times while eating last night. She had dropped it after wrapping, then picked it up the wrong way, dropped it again, and finally taken it by the head when re-offered. It sounded like a hard exhale around the blockage of the food. She got it down ok and otherwise acted normal. I didn't think the rat was particularly big, but I haven't seen symptoms of breathing issues at other times. She also stayed kind of vertical and squeaked a few times with a bunch of substrate in her mouth after the rat had gone down.
I wonder if I should try to reduce the amount of substrate sticking to her rats. I didn't think feeding on a plate would work too well since she always drags the rat around after grabbing.
Edit: This was also the first time I fed her without the lid of the enclosure (since temps/humidity were high in the whole room.) I had previously noticed the low ceiling limit how vertical she could go while swallowing the rat, so maybe not having the lid just meant she exerted herself by going higher?
Reply With Quote