Question about feeding

[Pearlblue94]

I got to feed my new BP tonight. Its the first snake I have ever owned and was given to me by a friend. It guess it to be around 2 feet long and was told its about 1 1/2 years old.

I fed it a F/T mouse tonight, it almost seemed to wanna go after my hand at first as I just kinda held the mouse into the cage by its tail. Freaked me out a little so I dropped the mouse. ANYWAYS...

What does your BP usually do after it eats? Im just curious to their post feeding behavior. Currently he is hiding inside his rock with his head and about 6 inches of his body sticking out. Is this normal? I figured he would completely hide out of sight and digest his food. He looks like he wants to eat again or something.

Help me

[STORMS]

I got to feed my new BP tonight. Its the first snake I have ever owned and was given to me by a friend. It guess it to be around 2 feet long and was told its about 1 1/2 years old.

I fed it a F/T mouse tonight, it almost seemed to wanna go after my hand at first as I just kinda held the mouse into the cage by its tail. Freaked me out a little so I dropped the mouse. ANYWAYS...

What does your BP usually do after it eats? Im just curious to their post feeding behavior. Currently he is hiding inside his rock with his head and about 6 inches of his body sticking out. Is this normal? I figured he would completely hide out of sight and digest his food. He looks like he wants to eat again or something.

Help me

If your hand is warmer than the mouse they will go for your hand - I use tongs so not to get tagged. After mine eat their 1st mouse they go back to there hide to realign their jaws and then its back to hunt mode for mouse #2. After the 2nd mouse they hide for almost 2 days to digest. I guess if they were to poke their heads out again I would probably offer a 3rd mouse, but that hasn't happened yet. My baby gets 2 small mice and my 1 yr old gets 2 large mice. Seems to work for now. I'd try to offer a second one at the next feeding... Good luck! And yes its normal.

[Argentra]

Ok, first of all congrats on the new friend.

Now then... next time, offer the mouse WITH TONGS. Holding it by the tail is just asking to be tagged since you are warmer than the rodent.

A sated snake will curl up in their hide (usually warm side) for a day or two to digest. Some snakes will lay with their heads out, so that's not unusual. If he were actively searching around, he would still be hungry and seeking more food. Of course, I defer to the more 'in the know' people on that one...

What size mouse did you give him? It's best to offer a prey item that is about as big around as the snake's widest part.

[starmom]

I don't feed mice but some of my bigger girls will hang partially out of the hide and watch the rest get fed. They're opportunistic feeders and so I suppose if I offered more then they would take it, but if they're just hanging and not hunting then all is well.
And I agree with everyone else~ you'd probably feel more confident if you fed with hemostats or tweezers or tongs or something that will put some distance between the prey and your hand

[Pearlblue94]

Yeah, right now he is just kind of relaxing with his head and about 6 inches of his neck out of his hide. He isnt searching around his habit for another mouse.
It was a good size mouse, from what I could tell it was about as big as his widest part or maybe slightly bigger.

[littleindiangirl]

Yup, next time hold the mouse or rat head up next to a light bulb for a minute to make sure the head is really warm.

Always make sure the animal is warm anyways. This can be done with hot water (prey in ziplock baggy of course), hair dryers, heat lamps etc... The snakes have heat pits and "see" their prey by the heat they give off.