Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, new Cal king, five year old female, always fed live. Here's what happened:

1.) Thawed adult mouse; placed in feeding tank.

2.) Introduced snake to tank; snake tried to climb out.

3.) Wiggled mouse in front of snake; snake ran screaming.

4.) Put snake back in regular habitat, threw mouse into the cool end.

5.) Snake wandered around for ten minutes, then began to eat mouse.

6.) Watched until snake had fully injested head of mouse, then left room.

7.) Fifteen minutes later, snake is back in hide box; mouse, with slimey head, is still in cool end of enclosure.

8.) What next?

My inclination is to leave the mouse overnight, and see if she eats it. If not, the best idea I have gleaned is to feed her a live hopper (something that can't bite her), and the "attach" a freshly thawed adult while she's swallowing it.

Any ideas/comments/experiences?

Thanks!
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Ladythorn
Witch, Redhead, Scotswoman

hello ladythorn, the snake spit it out?........damn

here's what i did:
heated the feeder (boiling,microwave, top of stove etc.)
make sure it's not tooo hot, don't boil the blood or blow it up,

then i took a large black or dark bowl or pot turn it upside down
in a room completly dark with no sound, no kids, no ac , no boom
boom cars outside etc etc etc..

then put the snake in there, with the feeder, leave them alone for an hour or two, you might want to put something very heavy
on top so the snake can't topple the bowl and haul butt,

i had to do this a few times....... but it worked
i'm 24 with 2 kids and a wife so the biggest problem was the sound part, but i don't think it would have worked if there was
alot of vibration in the floor,
GOOD LUCK!
with alittle preserverance everything WILL work out

I'd say there is a good chance that Ladythorn's walking out of the room disturbed the snake enough to cause it to spit the mouse out. Some of my snakes have done just that when I moved.

The advice given above is good. Though I generally just slide the dead mouse into the door of the snake's hiding box and immediately go away for a couple of hours. Another thing to do is to tear a strip of skin off the top of the head of the dead mouse. A bit of blood is a good appetite stimulant.

Paul Hollander

Huzzah!

I got a smaller adult mouse, and tried that after leaving the snake alone for 24 hours. I thawed the mouse, put it in the feeding tank, and put the snake in - she devoured it after about ten minutes!

Thanks to everyone for their concern and suggestions!
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Ladythorn
Witch, Redhead, Scotswoman

I'm really glad your snake finally ate! I bet that was kind of scary. Do you have any pictures of your snake?
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~Banana~

Posted them yesterday on a different thread - let me know what you think of her!

Cheers!
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Ladythorn
Witch, Redhead, Scotswoman

OOoh, so that was your snake! VERY pretty. Good luck in the future if any problems come up!
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~Banana~