| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| thistle |
Posted - 07/10/2011 : 19:46:10
I picked up my new caramel motley yearling from the pet shop on Wednesday. I was so shocked when I saw him, he had the biggest food bump I have ever seen (wish I'd taken a pic of it). I asked and was told he was fed a large mouse the day before.
Now this is not a big snake, he's probably only around about 2' long, so I couldn't believe that he was being fed such large meals. I asked the guy in the shop and was told that he manages medium/large mice without any problem and I shouldn't feed him anything smaller. Here's a photo I took of him last weekend, does this look like a snake that should be eating large mice to you?
Well, unsurprisingly after all the stress of being moved, he regurgitated the mouse yesterday morning (OMG, possibly the worst smell EVER!). This was almost 48hrs after they fed him and the mouse was hardly digested at all. It was massive, easily over double the size of the medium mice my 3' yearling amel is eating. No wonder the poor snake was having problems digesting it. I'm amazed he managed to swallow the thing.
So now he's going to be left for 10 days and then I'll try him with a small mouse. He's retreated into his coconut hide. He couldn't fit all of his body into it when he had the food bump but now takes up less than half the floor space inside it. |
| 16 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| mikerichards |
Posted - 09/10/2011 : 09:45:09
quote:
Originally posted by Spreebok
Sheesh, calm down mike! Noones saying the shop crammed it down his neck! More that it was an error of very poor judgement on the shops behalf! I know my Lister would almost certainly have a good go at a large/jumbo mouse, but I certainly wouldn't feed one too him, because I know very well it would be too big of a feed, and he'd bring it back up! You wouldn't expect someone who knows what they're doing and selling these animals to people to offer food that it too big, especially when the snake had been reserved for pickup!
Calm down?? from what?? Contrary to popular belief i dont get wound up posting on here at all, its not worth it, i just say it how it is.
The reason he regurged is not because it was too big necessarily, but because he was moved.
You've said more or less what i have already! |
| thistle |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 23:40:53
Just because he could swallow a meal that size doesn't mean he should get it. I'm sorry but there's no way that a 2' long snake should be feeding on large mice or bigger (the mouse he brought back up certainly looked bigger than any large mice I've seen). Going by the 1 1/2 times the width of the snakes widest part rule, he should be on small mice at the very most. He regurgitated 2days (which is normally the time it takes most snakes to digest) after being fed and the mouse didn't look even partially digested.
My friend bought a snake that was a fair bit bigger than mine the same day. It was fed by them last Tuesday as well. She picked it up today and it still has a prominent food bulge 4 days after being fed. We were told that they are fed weekly, so surely it can't be good for them to be given food so big that it takes them most of the week to digest, just in time to be fed again? Their stomachs never get a chance to recover.
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| Spreebok |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 23:06:54
Sheesh, calm down mike! Noones saying the shop crammed it down his neck! More that it was an error of very poor judgement on the shops behalf! I know my Lister would almost certainly have a good go at a large/jumbo mouse, but I certainly wouldn't feed one too him, because I know very well it would be too big of a feed, and he'd bring it back up! You wouldn't expect someone who knows what they're doing and selling these animals to people to offer food that it too big, especially when the snake had been reserved for pickup! |
| yola |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 22:58:51
Awwww poor snake, i do hope hes ok.
You mite find they hadnt fed him for over a week so therefore the poor snake was hungry and would try to eat any size mouse.
If snakes eat food thats to big for them it can damage there insides (im sure i read it somewhere), But atleast he regurgitated before it got to far down, althou thats tramatising enough for him i know. I would maybe try 1 or 2 fluffs on his next feed just to ease him back into an easy feed.
My 1yr olds that i kept from a clutch last year are all eating Small mice (i put pics up in the photos bit the other day). |
| mikerichards |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 21:43:27
You cannot force a snake to eat something willingly, if he doesnt want it, hes not gonna eat it.
If he ate it, he wanted it, he dealt with it, it was the SNAKES choice.
Dont think for a minute that snakes are creatures that are unable to think for themselves, they have been around for a very long time and have evolved into something thats probably better suited to making choices about food than we are.
A snake is more than capable of deciding whether something is too big, greedy ones will have a go anyway, and may decide half way through that it was a bad idea, the point is, either way, THEY made the choice, if they didnt WANT to eat it, they wouldnt have.
The petshop may have made an error in judgement sizing the food, but they didnt force it down his neck. |
| Spreebok |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 21:31:40
Sheesh, that's pretty crappy of the shop to feed something that large! My 4 year old, 5' corn is fed on large mice!
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| mikerichards |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 15:00:41
poor snake???? why?? He ate it, he was obviously happy to eat it, otherwise he wouldnt have done.
However, just cos he can doesnt mean he needs to, stick with mediums.
Eating a large meal isnt going to do him any harm. |
| Hissyfit |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 14:23:47
He's lovely, bit of a worrying start for you though He looks the same size as Voldemort (who's 14 months and 32" long) and I gave him his first med mouse last week. |
| Mort13 |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 09:29:34
Oh no,I bet you were fuming,never mind worried. 2 of mine are a similar size and they are on smalls.
Hope he recovers ok,he's a beautiful snake. |
| garrie |
Posted - 07/10/2011 : 23:38:38
He is such a stunner too...hope all goes well from here on |
| dejvid |
Posted - 07/10/2011 : 21:13:13
Well, i offered an adult mouse to my rogana, and she was smaller than that gorgeuos thing of yours. Iwe done that just for curiosity, newer expected that she would atually ate it. i was woried for her all week, till she diggested all and pooped all out. she hawe to poop fife times. Although eweryhing went fine and she is a healthy and without consequences, i will NEWER do that again! |
| EmSquem |
Posted - 07/10/2011 : 20:57:12
Aww poor little fella  |
| Laws |
Posted - 07/10/2011 : 20:50:51
hes just like my girl kodi , shes a yearling too and shes happily munching on 2 fluffs atm , no way would i give her a large mouse! ive not long moved her up to fluffs as she was always hungry . she manages 2 fluffs easy which means she will put weight on from the nice stuff in the fluffs , then maybe in a few months a small mouse maybe |
| kdlang |
Posted - 07/10/2011 : 20:27:17
He is lovely. Poor thing. |
| scottishbluebird |
Posted - 07/10/2011 : 20:09:36
Poor thing, hope it does not put him off |
| Sta~ple |
Posted - 07/10/2011 : 19:55:21
Bless him :( Pet shops seem to either over feed or under :( |
