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[snakey friend]
Aug. 4th, 2008 12:45 amAristotle is a little pig.
For the past two feedings (except for tonight, which I'll get to), he's been eating two mice. Nom nom nom.
Also for the past two feedings (again, except for tonight), he's been very good about not dragging the mices all over the goddamn tank in an effort to get them down his gullet.
Tonight, he struck the prey quite nicely. He hasn't, however, quite worked out how to get it into his mouth for a proper swallow once he's done his killit!killit!killit! squeeze (apparently, he believes the prey to still be alive). He works his mouth all over the mouse in an effort to get it aligned correctly and in doing so, moves it all over the cage. And moving it all over the cage involves dragging it off the paper towel I've laid on the tank floor in an effort to avoid another aspen shaving incident.
With his most recent feeding, it was almost as if he was trying to plow with the damn thing. And in doing so, managed to get a fairly large chunk of aspen wedged in his snoot. Cue me doing a nervous dance in front of the tank, trying to work up the nerve to grab him and pin his noggin, so I can get the wood chip out of his mouth. By myself, I might add. And if anyone reading has ever attempted to get something out of a snake's mouth, they will understand that it requires, nay- demands, the use of at least three hands.
Luckily, I managed to do it. But, not without a good bit of flailing (from him) and almost crying (from me). I had to tease his jaws open with a hairstick held in my frigging teeth to do it, but in the end, I got it done and retrieved the errant piece of wood. It was soggy with snake spit, but luckily- not bloody in the least.
I reckon I need to change the substrate of the enclosure, which I am loathe to do. I like aspen. It's easy to clean, it holds humidity well, and it looks nice. Anything else of the variety that avoids being lodged in the mouth will be a pain in the ass to clean up, will be a bitch for humidity, and will look like crap.
hoom.
And on top of everything, he didn't eat the second mouse. Not that I can blame him, after the excitement of the evening. He stared at it quite a bit and did his snakey dance around it for a while, but it was a no-go in the end.
I think it's also time that I started pondering buying a larger tank for him, which I knew was going to happen sooner or later. He's already out-grown one of his hides and has been spending a lot of time in a hollow he's carved beneath his climbing stick, which I don't like because it's not a proper shelter. I moved things around a bit tonight, once he calmed down, and put his half-log back into the tank for him to use as a cool side hide. I have another hide, a large fake rock that the Engineer gave to me, but he's not quite big enough for it and neither is the tank.
It looks nice enough, I suppose, but it's not going to be suitable in the long run.
For the past two feedings (except for tonight, which I'll get to), he's been eating two mice. Nom nom nom.
Also for the past two feedings (again, except for tonight), he's been very good about not dragging the mices all over the goddamn tank in an effort to get them down his gullet.
Tonight, he struck the prey quite nicely. He hasn't, however, quite worked out how to get it into his mouth for a proper swallow once he's done his killit!killit!killit! squeeze (apparently, he believes the prey to still be alive). He works his mouth all over the mouse in an effort to get it aligned correctly and in doing so, moves it all over the cage. And moving it all over the cage involves dragging it off the paper towel I've laid on the tank floor in an effort to avoid another aspen shaving incident.
With his most recent feeding, it was almost as if he was trying to plow with the damn thing. And in doing so, managed to get a fairly large chunk of aspen wedged in his snoot. Cue me doing a nervous dance in front of the tank, trying to work up the nerve to grab him and pin his noggin, so I can get the wood chip out of his mouth. By myself, I might add. And if anyone reading has ever attempted to get something out of a snake's mouth, they will understand that it requires, nay- demands, the use of at least three hands.
Luckily, I managed to do it. But, not without a good bit of flailing (from him) and almost crying (from me). I had to tease his jaws open with a hairstick held in my frigging teeth to do it, but in the end, I got it done and retrieved the errant piece of wood. It was soggy with snake spit, but luckily- not bloody in the least.
I reckon I need to change the substrate of the enclosure, which I am loathe to do. I like aspen. It's easy to clean, it holds humidity well, and it looks nice. Anything else of the variety that avoids being lodged in the mouth will be a pain in the ass to clean up, will be a bitch for humidity, and will look like crap.
hoom.
And on top of everything, he didn't eat the second mouse. Not that I can blame him, after the excitement of the evening. He stared at it quite a bit and did his snakey dance around it for a while, but it was a no-go in the end.
I think it's also time that I started pondering buying a larger tank for him, which I knew was going to happen sooner or later. He's already out-grown one of his hides and has been spending a lot of time in a hollow he's carved beneath his climbing stick, which I don't like because it's not a proper shelter. I moved things around a bit tonight, once he calmed down, and put his half-log back into the tank for him to use as a cool side hide. I have another hide, a large fake rock that the Engineer gave to me, but he's not quite big enough for it and neither is the tank.
It looks nice enough, I suppose, but it's not going to be suitable in the long run.
