Bad Feed Story

[ThyTempest]

So, tonight was not a good feeding night. I just bought some new feeder mice, which were a bit bigger than the ones I had before, so 2 mice would now be the right amount of food, rather than having to offer 3 smaller ones. Pandora was a little slow to take the first one, I left the mouse in there for about 10 minutes and she was interested, but not interested enough to go get it, just waiting. After that I tried the tweezers + scruff of the neck to no avail, then dangled by the tail, still nothing. I moved the water dish so the mouse was kinda in the corner near Pandora, and once it moved close enough she struck quickly. It took her almost 10 minutes to get it swallowed, but the strike, constrict and swallow went well. I offered the next mouse, which immediately started crawling all over the place, on top of Pandora and around the water dish, convincing Pandora to ball up. Once she uncoiled the mouse went closer to her and she struck very quickly before it could get too close again. It looked like a good strike to me, but aobut 5-7 seconds later, Pandora lets go and the mouse goes running away. Then I saw the problem. A ton of aspen in Pandora's mouth. She got all but two little pieces out on her own, then I got the spatula and tweezers and she was very compliant to let me help her with the rest. Meanwhile, the mouse is a little bloody, so I really didnt want to put it back in the tub with the rest, so all of this is with the mouse still in the snakes tub. Once I got all the aspen out, Pandora took about 30 seconds to recoil, get in strike position and kind of re-orient herself and where the prey was. She struck again and constricted (this time for good, dont worry), but the constriction took a very long time. At first, the mouse didnt move at all, then it tried to scratch a bit, then it stopped, then it tried to scratch a lot and I could see Pandora really squeeze harder, then it tried to scratch one last spurt before there was no more movement. This constriction lasted nearly 10 minutes, with a good 6 or 7 minutes of it being on and off fighting from the mouse. I know Pandora wasnt bitten because I could see the mouth and it was no where near the snakes body, and the scratching didnt seem to hurt her.

Anyway, I am trying to find a place to get unprinted paper to at least feed on. I think Pandora swallowed a small piece of Aspen, however. From what I can tell it wont be a problem, since Aspen is preferred because it supposed to be digest-friendly for occasions like this.

[Corrupter]

I would try lowes or home depot near the packing supplies. Even if you cant find it, paper towels, shop towels, or even regular newspaper are all fine. You can use a tub with no substrate at all if its just temporary for feeding.

[bsd13]

Hope she's alright.

Why not just use plain printed newspaper? It won't hurt anything. The ink isn't toxic to snakes. I use it all the time. Works great.

[ThyTempest]

I dont wanna deal with the ink.

[starmom]

If you can't find what you want locally, try this: http://www.uline.com/Browse_Listing_...sp?desc=Sheets
This is what I use and it works well. I get the 50 weight. I used to get the 60 weight indented paper, which is great, but it is overkill and expensive!!

[LadyOhh]

If you can't find what you want locally, try this: http://www.uline.com/Browse_Listing_...sp?desc=Sheets
This is what I use and it works well. I get the 50 weight. I used to get the 60 weight indented paper, which is great, but it is overkill and expensive!!

What sizes do you order for what tubs? Seems pretty economical

[Schlyne]

You can also just lay down a sheet or two of the newspaper down on top of the aspen before you feed her. Then after you're done, you can pull the newspaper back out.

[ThyTempest]

You can also just lay down a sheet or two of the newspaper down on top of the aspen before you feed her. Then after you're done, you can pull the newspaper back out.

Brilliant!

[Nate]

I dont wanna deal with the ink.

Ink has never been a problem for me Try it..you might be surprised.