Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What causes this? First time ever I opened the cage & got this response. I put the top back on & continued to talk to him. He's looking at me right now, never went to hide or anything.

He's due for a mouse tonight. Maybe he's starving & needs 2 mice. How do you know when to up feeding? I don't have a digital scale to weigh him & I don't even know how old he is.

They do hiss. If he is acting hunrgy give him more.
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1.0 Het for pied
0.1 Het for Pied
1.5 normal balls
1.1 bearded dragons
0.1.0 Sulcata tort
1.3 kids
1.0 husband
To many little critters list

They usually hiss when they are startled or angry for what ever reason. Like maybe he was deep in thought about another mouse and you interupted him .

If you think he may still be hungry, offer him another one. Worse thing that could happen is he doesn't take it. Is he taking adult mice? If so you might try a small rat next feeding.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

I've been feeding adult mice for 2 months. Maybe this is not true, but I heard you judge the size of the food by the widest area on their tummy to make sure it fits. (I'm laughing at myself for even typing that, clearly I'm a gullible newbie)

I did hold him 15 mins later to make sure he wasn't mad at me. He was a bit squirmy, so I put his lunch in. Lunch climbed up the plant, so I'm watching & waiting for the ambush.

Do you feed 2 at once, or try another mouse in a few days?

I always feed as much as they will eat after he takes the first one....put the second one in there and he'll be full for a week. There are a few that feed small meals 2-3 times per week. It's your call
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Nick

If it was a one time thing, it was most likely a hiss. Being surprised or woken up. I had one that would sigh when I woke her up. If it goes on for a while, well, you shouldn't be able to hear a snake breath. It could be a respiratory infection. Don't want to cause panic but you said loud heavy breathing.
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Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win and never quit are idiots

It was like a puff of air. I could see him flatten out/deflate as he made the noise. I've never been hissed at in my life, so maybe I should not have said breathing. I was a little nervous that I did something wrong, but on second thought I believe I startled him when I unsnapped the cageclip & made a loud noise. I had just entered the room & don't think he saw me b4 he heard the loud SNAP of the clip. It's definitely not a constant breathing thing. It was a quick 1 time deal. But thanks, as I truly appreciate any help people offer me.
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*newbie*

That's good. Like I said, I had a female that would do the same thing when I would reach in and wake her up. It was like an "Oh great, you're going to play with me while I was sleeping."

The worst newbie fear was when she yawned at me on the way home. She was so cute staring at me and then opened her mouth full-wide. First snake I had handled and thought she was sizing me up for lunch. They do some odd things.
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Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win and never quit are idiots

You know they can't hear you right? It kinda doesn't matter if you whisper sweet nothings or if you curse a blue streak, you can still startle the hell out of a sleeping snake with your movements - and since they don't have eyelids either, being able to tell when they are sleeping takes a little finesse, and observation on your part of some very subtle cues.

And while I say they can't hear you, they can definitely detect sounds in lower frequencies or louder intensities because of the minute vibrations that we usually ignore.

Either way, you experienced a hiss. You probably just rudely awakened him, and he hissed because he was startled and felt threatened.

I would advise you some caution though, about how much you handle your snake around feeding time - for the snake's sake. If you handle your snake after he eats, you may cause him to vomit - and snake vomit is oh-so-NOT-pleasant I promise! As I've explained to my husband, it's the smell you've never smelled that you want to ensure you never smell! Since snakes have a fairly slow metabolism (compared to mammals), as a bare minimum, I leave mine the heck alone for 2 days after they eat. Then, because I still worry about "tummy upset" and about being pooped on, I like to wait about 4 days after feeding before I really get them out for handling. Every snake is different though, and I have one that poops like clockwork 5 days after eating. Then aside from all of this pleasantness, if you handle your snake immediately before offerring food or even between prey items, you can expect to get bitten, or to put your snake off his feed.

For this reason I am a big advocate of feeding snakes in enclosures separate from the ones they live in - this way they don't associate hands reaching into their cage with food, just with you handling them. They learn to associate food with the other container, and will expect food once they are put in the other container!

You asked about prey size, and quoted what I refer to as "the girth rule" which I heavily disagree with (eventhough the majority of keepers seem to live by it). Ball Pythons' proportions are not something that makes me comfortable using "the girth rule," since their necks are SO tiny and skinny, and their midsections tend to be quite a bit larger. The reason I don't like this method is that I once had a ratsnake that managed to tear the soft tissue at the corners of her mouth (when we did size by "the girth rule" and obviously misjudged something). Every feeding after the initial injury, she would tear her mouth again, and it was terrible looking, couldn't feel great, and it was not fun to treat. For that snake, we had to resort to feeding prey items that were smaller that the width of her head, to avoid stressing her scars. What I advocate for determining prey size in Ball Pythons and other species is to look at the width of the jaw at it's widest point, and to give prey items that are about 1.5 times that width. Yes, ultimately, they CAN handle larger prey than that, but this isn't some kind of ironman competition, and I think it's better to err on the side of caution, for the health of the snake.

Just thought I'd give you my 2 cents' worth. Welcome to the addiction. I grew up keeping snakes and other reptiles (Dad had turtles in the house before I was born), and after spending a whopping total of four years of my life without snakes, finally realized that this is an incurable addiction. Good luck to you!
~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)