Scary Snake!!!

[lars5277]

I haven't had any frozen mice for about 2 weeks now and the next ones aren't due in town until the first so I decided to break habit and feed a live rat to my babies for a change. Salina and Baby went fairly well and routine. They each cruised over took a few sniffs and tagged the live rat pups. Then it got crazy! I opened Scars tub and dropped a rat pup in and he went nuts! He struck about a foot out of his tub at me. Then he lunged at me two more times. I managed to slide his tub in with out getting tagged, and he hit the sides two more times. He finally saw the rat pup and nailed it. My snakes usually feed pretty quick on F/T. I have just never seen one of my snakes so aggresive before. I guess this is a good thing. Feeding live isn't the norm around here, but I felt so bad making them wait two weeks much less 3. I know the snakes will be perfectly fine waiting for meals, but I don't like waiting so long. Shannon refuses to feed him because he was so aggressive. I don't know Scars routines yet this is only his second feeding here. Is the normal behavior for a BP. I have heard of strong feeding responses but he tried to tag me three times. I had rat scent on my hand and that was probably what made me look like lunch.

[cassandra]

I had rat scent on my hand and that was probably what made me look like lunch.

I'm certainly no expert, but smelling like food is not good. Get a little pump bottle of hand sanitizer so you can quickly and easily de-smell your hands between snakes...but, he could have just been hungry and smelled the rats anyway. =)

[xdeus]

He struck about a foot out of his tub at me. Then he lunged at me two more times.

I have a 2500g girl that does that from time to time. The problem is her cage is at about eye level so she can get close to my face. :eek: I use 18" hemostats, but her aim isn't the greatest and it seems like she's more interested in my hand temp. than the rat. Still, it makes for exciting time while feeding.

Anyway, you asked about normal behavior. I'm not sure there is such a thing when it comes to Balls. They all seem pretty unique and behave differently. I have two other girls that won't strike at all and will only eat a F/T if I leave it in their cage in a dark room. It's nice to have a snake with an aggressive feeding response, though. A couple of suggestions: Get some long tongs, and wash your hands in cool water before feeding.

Oh, and stock up on some band-aids.

[kavmon]

that is a good solid feeding instincts at work! i feed live and feeding day keeps you on your toes. almost all of mine have strong feeding responses. they are laid back the rest of the week.


vaughn

[frankykeno]

Hmm...normal....

Brannagh at over 2,000 grams lunging up out of her tub and ending up hanging upside down half out her tub with her rat in full constriction....

Kyna nearly standing on her tail like a cobra when Mike was at least 3 feet back from her (and I) with her dinner coming in....

Malachi trying to strike anything that moves and is warm on every feeding day but not other days....

Brannagh after just eating her rat and not even readjusting her jaws trying to get from her tub to Orlah's to steal Orlah's rat (wish I had the camera then...it was hilarious!)....

Rionach who decided for two weeks running that a rat only tastes "right" if it's dunked in her water dish repeatedly...then consumed...then decided that rats aren't nice wet and went back to her old ways....

If there's a normal feeding response I'm still looking for it LOL. All of ours are however very aggressive live feeders but since I'm not using hemostats...I can just stand back and watch the feed without my hands being involved like when we fed f/t and p/k.

With Brann we do sometimes have to distract her to introduce prey if she's really in the mood and patrolling the area of her tub that she knows from habit is where the rats show up. A quick spritz of water, a snake glove in front of her, stuff like that usually backs her up enough so we can put the prey in without a problem.


~~Jo~~

[Shelby]

Get a little pump bottle of hand sanitizer so you can quickly and easily de-smell your hands between snakes

Just to let you know.. This DOES NOT WORK. If it did, I wouldn't have been bitten and hung on to for several minutes by an 8' burmese python.

Soap and water.

[cassandra]

Thanks April...=)

[Krynos]

Okay so it may not get rid of o'der-le-rodent, but we've gotten into the habit now before and after handling either snake - especially important being as we are doing the whole quarentine thing.

[Shelby]

Hand sanitizer is not good enough IMO for good quarantine practices.. again, hot water and antibacterial soap. Scrub for 30 seconds.. yes, I count EVERY TIME.

[lars5277]

I usually feed F/T mice with tongs. I heard rats have stronger oder and the fact that they were alive probably gave off more of an odor that usual. He just suprised the hell out of me coming out at me. He is usually the most shy snake we got. So his agressive behavior really took me by suprise. I also moved them into a new rack this past Monday that I finally got built and out of that 55 gallon tank.

Now that I look back over the past week, I shouldn't be suprised at all. There were a lot of changes in housings and routine.