Quote Originally Posted by kc261
Thanks for the responses everyone! It is good to know this is fairly normal. Sounds like maybe she still doesn't feel 100% secure in her new home, but I'll take slow to swallow over a refusal!

I think it was bigger than before, by a larger margin than I thought just by looking at it. Or at least there is some reason why she has stayed in her hides even in the evening since she ate it. Usually I see her out & about in the late evening, but not these past couple of days. She is switching from one hide to the other though, so I assume all is well except a full tummy.
If she ate recently, she'll likely hide for 2 to 3 days while digesting. Our snake has taught me what it means to be nocturnal - hiding all day and coming out at night to poke around when it's dark. But after he's eaten, he ONLY hides, even at times when he would normally slither about. This is normal.

Our funny feed story might tell more about my paranoid parenting than our snake, but seems comparable to yours.

We have only had Mr. Snake for about 2 months. He was eating fuzzies initially, then we moved up to adult mouse (F/T). Two weeks ago, after thawing the mouse I smelled it as I carried it to Mr. Snake's eating box. Peee-u! I was worried something was wrong with the mouse (too old, rancid, etc.) due to the smell. But, admittedly, I had never smelled one of the F/T's before, so I didn't know if it was normal or not.

I did the dead mouse dance with the tongs. Mr. Snake seemed intermittently interested, then not so interested. But after a few minutes, Mr. Snake took the mouse, constricted him, then seemed to lose interest, sort of going around the box. Well, I didn't know about the "check to see if it's safe" routine. So I got the mouse's tail with the tongs again and tried the dance again. Then, I realized the mouse must have cooled off somewhat, so I took it out and warmed it up with a blow dryer. Then I tried again, all the while wondering, "Is something wrong with this stinky mouse? Maybe I should give him a new one." He struck at the mouse and constricted it. After awhile, the snake seemed to be looking for the mouse's head, but also losing interest. He opened his coil and was loosely around the mouse, just hanging out.

So I was still worried the mouse was bad and decided to go thaw a new one. I got one out of the freezer, set it in warm water to thaw and went back to go get the mouse from Mr. Snake. When I reached in with the tongs to get the mouse, he knew it. He coiled tightly around it as if to say, "No! It's mine!" I left him alone again and went to check on the thawing, thinking he would "trade" me later.

When I came back a few minutes later, eating had begun and the mouse was 1/3 the way into his mouth! I shrugged and put the thawing in process back into the freezer. He's been fine ever since, so I guess some F/T mice just stink!

Last week, we were out of adult F/T mice, so we gave him two fuzzies. He took both right away, one after another. Our 3 yr old son was very happy since it was his first turn to feed the snake!

By the way, I learned a great trick to encourage him to eat. After the thaw, I hold the mouse near the CHE to warm its head. The heat signature on its head makes Mr. Snake crazed and he eats lickety split! (Mammals' heads are the warmest part of their bodies.)