An update, some pictures, and a question.

[Mindibun]

Ok, so my update is in regards to Adalae: She has finally outgrown her baby hides! They were paper boston market gravy cups and she fell out of one the other day. When she went to stretch she knocked off the rock that's been holding it down, and she popped out of the cup as it ripped and turned over. It was quite comical.

But, now here's my question. Ever since I fed her a baby rat the other day for the first time, she's been acting like this (I call it her pit viper impersonation):

It's been days since she was last fed and she still keeps doing this whenever she knows anyone is in the room. The last time I opened her tub I almost got bit. Any suggestions on how to get her to snap out of feeding mode? I don't want to allow this behavior to continue...

And finally, here are some cute pics from tonight. I'd say they rival Orpheus from the thread about funny pictures.




Boo-yah Orpheus! -lol- It's even cuter because I wasn't even doing anything, just wrapping gifts. She knows what everyone is getting! Shh! It's a secret, Harlett.

[joepythons]

The only thing i could suggest is you take her out a few extra times.This way she will not always think when she sees someone its food time

[Mindibun]

Are you crazy? I'm not touching her...




Just kidding. I was going to wait until tomorrow night to pick her up (so she has time to digest). I just don't want to get bit tomorrow night... *dun dun dun* >_>

[frankykeno]

Aww look at the little lurking snake! Sorry but I love that posture. I wouldn't worry hon, she's likely all excited about that yummy rat and wondering if another is going to wander by. Take it as a good sign she's interested and a good little hunter. Babies are snappy things but I'd rather one snappy and alert than curled up and not wanting to eat.

Right now she's just all about eating and growing is all. That's pretty normal really and not a bad thing if you think about it.

[Mindibun]

franky, I completely understand what you're saying. If she stayed snappy the rest of her life I would still keep her and love her, and continue to feed her and make her happy. It's just that this behavior is out of the ordinary for her. She's never *ever* struck at me before, and so I was a little concerned. Even more so because usually after a day or so, the feeding response disappears. Today is day three and she's still on edge.

Could that mean that she's still hungry? Or just that she was particularly excited about rats? Like I said, she'd never tried rats before. It was previously hoppers.

[cueball]

You might try feeding her outside her tub. This way she might not associate her hide/tub with feeding as much. Great looking ball pythons

[Christina]

instead of feeding outside the tub, i just take all the stuff out. she looks around and sees that all the stuff is gone, and just after a few rounds of this, she knew that everything missing=feeding time! i like this way because then she doesn't associate getting taken out with eating. it's worked for me so far!

oh and i loved the pics by the way- sweet camera

[Mindibun]

I dunno about taking all the stuff out. She usually knows when it's feeding day so I might get nabbed as I'm reaching in to remove her stuff.

I used to feed her out of her tub when she was very little but it took her an hour to eat. Her feeding response is 100X better in her tub. I'm not so sure I'd like to go back to the old way.

I guess I'll just wait it out and handle her for a while tomorrow. Maybe take her outside so she's forced to chill out and see me as safety or something. It's probably nothing, but she is *really* on edge. *shrug*

[ravenspirit360]

Cute pics

[frankykeno]

I'm guessing she's just over excited about the prey change as it's unlikely she's still hungry if that rat was the right size for her. Just go ahead and do your normal routine with her. If she's a bit snappy, well personally I give mine a spritz from the water bottle and they back right down. If I'm particularily concerned a bigger snake might nail me I'll block that by flipping up a hide between us. It's not good for them to get used to having the upper hand (or is that upper fang lol) so I just go about my routines and I just sort of "feel" who is just grumpy or who is really seriously not about to put up with me that day. Most of mine seem to be big bluffers more than anything but occasionally I can just sense they aren't fooling around and would nail me if I crossed a line with them at that particular moment.