feeding at the animal hospital

[bchapman]

There is a 995 gam 5 y/o bp at the animal hospitals boarding facility that my wife manages, and I had to stop by and feed it this morning. I brought it two large mice (it usually eats 3 or 4 - but ate only about 4 days ago because they only had one mouse) - i dropped the mouse in her little feeding container with her and she struck about 3 times unsuccessfully. the final time she bit a lump of carefresh and then started to attack it. she constricted this big lump of carefresh and had it held firmly in her mouth.

i managed to uncoil her a bit - until she wrapped around my arm and started constricting that. I managed to remove the bits of carefresh from her mouth using my hemostats, gently. i put her back in her feeding box and she ate both of the mice.

has this ever happened to anyone before? what would have happened if she actually swallowed the carefresh?

would it be safe for her to eat small rats now? she eats about 4 medium/large mice in a sitting.

is her weight okay? i really don't have much of an idea as to how fast they grow

[elevatethis]

If she gets 4 mice down, she should be able to take a small rat just fine.

I would, however, be careful about changing anything that could throw the snake off while its at the rescue facility. Is it in the process of being re-homed? I just figure in your situation, if she's eating mice regularly, don't change anything if you don't have to.

Also, you might be feeding it too often...especially if the snake's been neglected and hasn't been eating regularly. Widen your interval to once every 7 days.

As far as the carefresh goes, it probably would have been fine. Snakes have been around for millions of years eating dirt and sticks that come attached to food in the wild. One piece of carefresh wouldn't be anything to worry about.

[bchapman]

If she gets 4 mice down, she should be able to take a small rat just fine.

I would, however, be careful about changing anything that could throw the snake off while its at the rescue facility. Is it in the process of being re-homed? I just figure in your situation, if she's eating mice regularly, don't change anything if you don't have to.

Also, you might be feeding it too often...especially if the snake's been neglected and hasn't been eating regularly. Widen your interval to once every 7 days.

As far as the carefresh goes, it probably would have been fine. Snakes have been around for millions of years eating dirt and sticks that come attached to food in the wild. One piece of carefresh wouldn't be anything to worry about.

nah she is being boarded - her owner had to go out of country for 6 weeks or so. her entire enclosure is here with her, she has been eating fine after about 2 or 3 weeks.

[elevatethis]

If her current owner was feeding mice, I probably wouldn't switch her up in case that person has an issue with rats (availability, price, other reasons) without asking the owner first.

[Spaniard]

I agree with the not switching feed type, but I'm curious on how she managed to strike at a lump of carefresh, why was it even in the feeding vicinity?

[elevatethis]

Probably because they are using carefresh as a substrate for the snake and he was fed inside of his cage.

[bchapman]

Probably because they are using carefresh as a substrate for the snake and he was fed inside of his cage.

she is never fed in her cage - they have a little rubbermaid type carrier for the snake - there is carefresh in there

she struck at the mouse, missed, and hit a chunk of carefresh at which point she tried to kill it

[Spaniard]

HAHA I'm an idiot, when I read carefresh I though some sort of chewing gum...sorrrrry!

[elevatethis]

Oh my...

[Spaniard]

Cut me some slack, the human brain is tricky sometimes.