Do your BP's....

[STORMS]

Hi guys!

So I fed both my snakes last night and they both did some "odd" things, well odd to me anyway.

After my male ate his adult mouse (only one he wouldn't take the second one) he started digging around in the substrate with his head. It looked so funny. I am curious is this normal behavior? Do any of your BP's do this? What would make him do that? (this was the second time i fed him in his enclosure I used to feed him in a separate tank)

And while I was feeding my female (she ate 2 small mice in a separate feeding tank) she was in her hide in hunt mode with her little head poking out and she was almost shaking when the mouse was introduced kinda like twitching from side to side. She's never done that before.

Both eat f/t and I do the little zombie dance.

Is all this normal or do I worry about these snakes too much? not that its a bad thing...

[invadertoast]

Sounds normal to me. Sometimes my girl will rub up against stuff after eating, I think she's just trying to re-align her jaw. Usually when I turn the hair dryer on she pokes her head out and starts to do the s-curve and "side to side" thing, it almost looks like since she has some of her upper body up off the floor, she can't hold herself completely steady/still.

[STORMS]

Sounds normal to me. Sometimes my girl will rub up against stuff after eating, I think she's just trying to re-align her jaw. Usually when I turn the hair dryer on she pokes her head out and starts to do the s-curve and "side to side" thing, it almost looks like since she has some of her upper body up off the floor, she can't hold herself completely steady/still.

Cool thats what I was hoping to hear. It was just weird with the female, because they were very stiff jolt like movements and she was kinda shaking too. Hard to describe - just weird.

Thanks!!!

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Hi guys!

After my male ate his adult mouse (only one he wouldn't take the second one) he started digging around in the substrate with his head. It looked so funny. I am curious is this normal behavior? Do any of your BP's do this? What would make him do that?

I've observed a BP or two "wiping their face" on occasion. My bearded dragon does it all the time, i should get her some napkins.

I have a male spider who only eats mice. One time I tricked him into striking and latching onto a big juicy rat. After about 10 seconds when he realized it wasn't his normal tasty mouse he let go and then wiped his face all over the newspaper as if to say "ew! ew! get it off me!!!" :-)

Your BP's sound like they are doing just fine.

JonV

[invadertoast]

Cool thats what I was hoping to hear. It was just weird with the female, because they were very stiff jolt like movements and she was kinda shaking too. Hard to describe - just weird.

Thanks!!!

Yeah I know what you mean - it's hard to describe but I'm almost posotive she's doing the same thing my girl does, lol. Just part of being a snake I guess, act normal and drive us crazy with worry

[STORMS]

One more quick question... I don't think it's worthy of a new thread so I'll just ask it here.

For those of you that feed f/t have you ever had one explode when your snake wraps it up?

It happened to my female last night. The 2nd mouse I fed her, she struck it and wrapped it up and there was mouse goo everywhere . Should I have taken it away from her? I let her eat it which she did with no problem. Is there any harm in that for the snake?

Just wondering....

[snakelady]

I've had them drip blood but not explode.
As long as it wasn't a really old mouse. (Old as in when it was frozen.) It should be ok.


PS
I see you now have a dragon egg. They are spreading.

[STORMS]

I've had them drip blood but not explode.
As long as it wasn't a really old mouse. (Old as in when it was frozen.) It should be ok.


PS
I see you now have a dragon egg. They are spreading.

No the mice aren't old, so thats OK. When see squeezed all the insides decided to come out. It was nasty! Then she went and slithered through the goo after she ate. YUCK!

[missi182]

Usually what causes a f/t to explode is when it is heated too quickly. Let it sit out for an hour or two to thaw, then blast it with the hair dryer for a minute or two.

[nevohraalnavnoj]

No the mice aren't old, so thats OK. When see squeezed all the insides decided to come out. It was nasty! Then she went and slithered through the goo after she ate. YUCK!

Ah yes, the exploding smelly mouse trick. I have had this happen before, and it's nasty.

Some things that I have noticed about rodent explosions:

For whatever reason they seem to happen more with mice than rats, maybe a thinner stomach wall?

It happens more if you get the rodent really hot on the heating pad. As a result, I've tried a more gentle warming procedure and it seems to have helped. I let the FT prey thaw to room temp, then do a human heating pad on low for quite some time. After they are warm, I crank the heating pad to high for just a couple minutes to give them that nice heat signature.

Hope that helps,

JonV