Python regius nottus eattus

[thejunipertree]

The photos aren't that great because I had the lights turned low in my bedroom, as to not freak her out. But, here they are:











She still hasn't eaten so far, despite a few different attempts. It mostly appears that she believes me to be bringing her little friends, from the way that she lays with them. The one time, I put the mouse carcass in her tank and she laid her chin on the damn thing and stayed like that for three hours. The other night, she seemed VASTLY interested in the wee mousie I brought her, all tongue-flicking and slithering closer, but she just stared at it the entire night. The next morning? Poop in the tank, which was an interesting phone call to the Engineer because honestly, I wasn't entirely convinced that one of the cats didn't wrestle the tank lid open, hang their fat ass over the side, and crap on Charlie's hide rock.

What does ball python poo look like?

The Engineer reassured me that the poo was indeed of the snakey variety and that she would then possibly be very hungry. So, I went against the normal pattern of you-didn't-eat-so-I'm-waiting-a-few-days-before-trying-again and tried to feed her again last night.

This time she was sleeping next to her log and I dropped the mouse on her head by accident. hoom. She didn't seem all that upset by this turn of events.

Oh look, you brought me another little friend to love!

When I went to bed later on, the new little friend had been abandoned by the wayside and Charlie was in her rock. I put her new little friend in the doorway to the rock, hoping that maybe she would stumble across it in the middle of the night and perhaps it would accidentially fall into her mouth. But, the new dawn broke with one dead mouse still in the tank. And a wee python zooming all over happily.

grr.

Who's idea was it that I buy a notoriously difficult to feed breed of snake? What douchebag came up with that gem?

Oh, right.
It was me.
heh.

I'll get better photos of her, once she's eaten for me. I've been avoiding handling her (except one time, when I couldn't freaking resist) until then, just so she doesn't get stressed out.

Comments

[babyraven.livejournal.com]

If she only just pooped, I'd give it a few more days. It's not like they really need to eat that often. Also, are the mice, well, warm? Some pythons don't like them cold. Some also want them to "act alive," so sometimes jiggling it by the tail a little can help encite interest.

I can ask my sister (reptile keeper at the zoo) for more tips if you want...

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

rawr. LJ smash. It ate my comment. :/

I've warmed the mice up with very warm water, after the inital thawing soak. And I've done the GET YOUR LIVE NAKED MICE HERE! dance for her, but that doesn't seem to accomplish much but make my boyfriend think I've completely lost my mind.

I've also composed a song to go along with the dance, entitled "Come Eat Your Mousie Before I Eat It".

heh.

[morsobscena.livejournal.com]

Also, snakes sometimes will NOT eat for a bit after being introduced to a new environment, and at least if the snake just pooped, you know it's a) eaten recently, b) its digestive tract is working and not bound up, which is a good thing.

Give her time to settle in, and when she's relaxed and hungry, she'll eat.

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

I was glad to see that she had pooped because it let me know that her internals were probably ok. The store told me that the last time she ate was on 05-24-07 and I bought her on the 31st, I believe.

[morsobscena.livejournal.com]

Also, I've discovered that sometimes, it helps A LOT to heat up and dry off the dead mouse or rat with a blow dryer so it's at least warm to the touch and not all wet and disgusting after thawing. Some snakes are insanely picky that way.

One thing I've noticed about my carpet python is that he's often really shy about eating, unless he's ravenous, and putting a towel over his tank so no one can see in will get him to eat without stressing him out.

[rhiann31.livejournal.com]

Ditto to everything that's been said...

We use the boil-in-bag method basically, but without really boiling the rat...put mouse into plastic bag, put bag into pretty warm water - not hot enough to cook it, but enough to warm it up...we also make the rats "dance" on the forceps when we feed the "kids" to get them excited (although it doesn't take much for Jackson).

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

The mousie dance!

Up in my comment to Jill, I described my GET YOUR LIVE NAKED MICE HERE! dance, which really amuses only me. There's a song that goes along with it, too. :D

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Pretty girl!

How long have you had her. Balls take a few weeks at least to settle into a new place, so they generally won't eat at all during that period.

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Her color is really beautiful (high gold, from what I can tell), but you unfortunately can't see it all that well in the photographs.

I believe that I bought her on 05-31, so it's been a couple weeks. She comes out of her hides all the time and zooms all over her tank, exploring.

My boyfriend also has a ball, and his didn't eat for basically a month after he got her. I'm mostly just paranoid because mine is so wee, I'm afraid of her being malnourished.

[kenazf.livejournal.com]

I purchased Nimbu, my 0.1 lemon pastel ball, in late March. She has not yet eaten for me, so I feel your pain.

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

Oh jeez, since late March? I'd be freaking the hell out.

How big is Nimbu? Captive-bred?

weird questions

[serpent-sky.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit of a snakephobe, really... but how do you have rat pets and a pet that eats rodents at the same time? That wou;d just really freak me out; I don't know that I could differentiate rat to love and mouse to feed...

I'm not being an asshole, I'm just really curious because I know a few people who manage this and never know them well enough to just ask how they deal with that

Re: weird questions

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

Currently, I don't have any pet rats (Simon was my last one to go and I'm taking a hiatus from them). But, I've lived with other reptiles before and had pet rats. While feeding mice to the snakes doesn't really bother me, feeding rats to a snake most likely would, even though I quite like mice and used to have a pet mouse that I was very attached to and who went everywhere with me (Priscilla). I've more of a bond with rats in general than with mice, although I won't lie and say that I completely escape from my heartstrings being tugged over the poor mice.

It really helps that the reptile I personally own and the ones that the Engineer owns are eating pre-killed prey (buy frozen mouses from the store, thaw them out, give them to the snakes). Feeding live is something I am adamantly against. One, live prey can seriously injure a reptile and even kill them. And two, I just can't handle it emotionally.

However, back when the Engineer got his first snake (Betelgeuse, Callifornia kingsnake who is now just over six feet long), it was still eating live prey. So, there was usually a tankful of wee mice in the living room that I was forbidden to go anywhere near because it was just a given that I would make friends with the entrees.

Before that, back when I lived in Philadelphia with tony_s and rhiann31, we always had a ton of snakes and other herps in residence. They ate live prey and I helped feed them sometimes. I wasn't a big fan of this, especially when it involved rats, but it was something that had to be done. Circle of Life and all that jazz.

It's hard to seperate the love/food emotions, though. It always will be. I just have to remind myself that snakes need to eat, too.

On the topic of snake-o-phobes, you may enjoy the Engineer's littlest snake, Dr. Pickles. He's a Western Hognose and is the frowniest wee snake ever. He has these sloping brow ridges that make him look so freaking angry all the time, it's hilarious. Add that to the indignity of me naming him DR. PICKLES M.D. He's adorable.

Re: weird questions

[evilbalddago.livejournal.com]

Hehe.

Betelgeuse is about 5'6" long. Damn near 6ft though and big for a Kingsnake.

And It's Dr. Houdini Pickles M.D. thank you very much! He didn't go to med school for nothing!

Re: weird questions

[serpent-sky.livejournal.com]

that's really interesting. Thanks for writing such a long reply. I figured there'd have to be some kind of emotion, knowing how you were about the ratties you had.

It's kind of like when I watch nature shows and have to close my eyes in any predator/prey situation; I just can't watch it. Circle of life, etc... yes, but not for me.

I'm just getting weirder in my old age.

I could probably look at Dr. Pickles, M.D. [I LOVE the name] but I'd squeal and run if I thought he could touch me or something. I think I saw Betelgeuse? The white one? He was hiding under a rock shedding when I was there last ... so fucking long ago, so he could have grown that big. I remember being all brave, thinking, "good. Shed. Shed. They can't take you out."

:)

Re: weird questions

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

hee.

Dr. Pickles was named after a doctor at the University of Penn who thought it would be a good idea to combine surface proteins of Ebola and HIV to fight cystic fibrosis or something.

And Betelgeuse is the black and white striped snake. It must have been a few years since you saw him, I reckon.

Re: weird questions

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

This is a crappy camera phone photo of Dr. Pickles, by the way:



I have hearts for him.

[dabble.livejournal.com]

She is soooo gorgeous. I love the idea of feeding time with songs too. Heh.

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

hee. I love singing to the snakes.

The Engineer's ball python is also very finicky about eating. One night, she was busy staring at the mice that were put in her tank for her to eat and I sat down on the edge of the bed to have a woman-to-snake conversation with her about it.

It was along the lines of: I've noticed that you haven't eaten those mice. And I was thinking...they look pretty good, if'n you ask me. So, if you're not going to eat them, I'd be more than happy to. After all, they look like a couple of yummy mice and personally, I LOVE to eat mice. So, if you don't eat them, I will.

The next morning? Mice were in the snake's belly.

[serpent-sky.livejournal.com]

That cracks me up. First smile of the day. Thanks. :)

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

:D

I tell the Engineer that the reason why she won't eat is because she's a teenage girl snake and is afraid of getting made fun of in snake school.

Then again, I also tell him that I'm sure she is actually a she (we're not 100% positive) because she has long eye lashes.

He tells me to stop smoking crack.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

i had a ball python for a while.

i can only suggest the standard "snake help desk" check list (sort of like the computer one "is it plugged in? no, really, is it?")

1. check temp of cage is within proper range too hot is as frequent a problem as too cold.
2. check temp of thawed mice is warm enough (but not cooked)
3. make sure mice are DRY, some snakes wont eat wet mice

4. do not attempt to feed too frequently after failed attempt. give snake time to settle.
5. try covering tank during feeding.

dont sweat it too much, mine didnt eat ANYTHING for the first month and a half. i was frantic. The other thing that can help is soaking the snake. Ours didnt shed well unless they soaked, and after soaking they usually were more hungry.

if you CAN feed your snake on frozen, do so... some snakes only accept live food, and the danger of introducing mites that way is very high.

oh, and i bred show rats for a while, and had a burmese python until the city made me find her another home... i fed her rats.. it was hard. basically my theory was any rat with bad temper issues or problems that HAD to be culled was snake food. it was still hard.