| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| lr2188uk |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 20:07:24
Hey guys!
Good news, Today was our first day that we could handle Del, we opened the tank and both of us were slightly worried to start with because we didn't know how he would react.
He was very twitchy, which inturn made us twitchy, after a couple of minutes of handling we put him in a shoesbox lined with kitchen towel and i held the mouse by the tail, he wasnt interested and seemed very scared of it... After dangling this mouse like a muppet for about 5-10 mins i dropped it in the box, He went straight up to it, and grabbed it straight in the side, moving he way around to the back!
It was great! the whole thing took about 10 minutes to do and he went back in his viv and seems happy!
2 Questions! First ive read that once a snake eats they become very inactive and go and find a warm place to digest their food, so far Del hasnt stopped moving and has been climbing up and down his trees and exploring his hide, is this a problem?
Also he took the mouse tail first instead of head first, he didnt seem to have any problems with it but what are the hazards of this?
Thankyou! |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| lr2188uk |
Posted - 06/01/2010 : 12:27:04
It was very strange! It's settled down now but in the one place i didnt expect.... The cold end of my tank in the hide! The tank temperature flucuates alot even in the hot end and is barely 27 so i expected it to be there... but no, in the freezing cold end.
I hope he'll be alright! |
| Kellog |
Posted - 06/01/2010 : 04:16:50
Lee, sounds like a very successful first handling and feed for Del and for you! 
When you do next handle him (which mustnt be for the next 48hrs, of course, to allow him to digest his meal) you need to try and be calm and not let on how nervous you are - if you dont feel it then fake it! May be worthwhile fiddling with his substrate a bit so that you get some of his smell on you before you pick him up and it also lets him know you are coming. Just be gentle and calm, with no sudden movements. Let him feed through your hands slowly...or as slowly as he will let you  ! Keep it to about 5 mins depending on how stressed he is getting. You can slowly build up the handling time as you both get used to each other. Amazing, isnt it !!
Glad you are feeding him outside of his tank and it sounds like you did everything right. It is worthwhile continuing with the dangling each feed, then if he doesnt take it drop the mouse in for him to eat. Hopefully he will suddenly strike one day and scare the living daylights out of you  !
There arent really words to describe watching a snake feed, are there. The way they seem so small compared to their dinner, the way their mouths open and just get wider and wider, the way they seem to 'walk' their jaws down their prey!!! At least Del was sensible enough to work his way from the side to the back! And as GP has said, there is no real issue in him eating that way...quite a lot do. Have seen pics and it does look strange when they are bigger and you have this mouse head poking out of a snake's mouth!
Think your question about his activity has also been answered...so all is well!! 
xxx |
| PunkAsF82 |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 23:37:16
put it this way danny If it goes does, don't worry My snake swallowed a few backwards sometimes and did her no harm. The snake wouldn't do it if it was struggling |
| DannyBrown91 |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 23:26:09
quote:
Originally posted by gingerpony
and regarding which end goes down first there's no real issues, though the snake will generally find it easier to swallow them head first, the hair lays smooth, the legs tuck up neatly and the whole thing goes down more easily
Do you think it would make much of a differnece with picnkies though? They don't have much of a tail, if they have hair at all its tiny and with the frozen ones all the limbs seem to fall off in the bag anyway, lol. |
| gingerpony |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 22:45:32
if he was still in 'feeding mode' he was probably looking for more.......not that more is necessarily a good thing but he doesn't know that lol
in the wild if a corn came across a mouse nest it would eat as much as it could in one 'sitting' as it never knows when it'll come across it's next meal
and regarding which end goes down first there's no real issues, though the snake will generally find it easier to swallow them head first, the hair lays smooth, the legs tuck up neatly and the whole thing goes down more easily |
| nails |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 20:31:16
congrats on you first feed, my little corn was quite active after his first feed with us, but he settled later in the day and hasn't been as active,not sure like you if this was ok. as for eating tail first, i am to inexperienced to answer that but sure someone will be along soon to answer it. |
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