here's the story. last week i bought a small rat (still pretty nice sized) and 2 feeder mice for my ball python. he ate the rat first, but then decided he didn't want the mice. i was a little pissed 'cause he usually eats like a pig (fed him a hamster 2 weeks ago bigger than the rat and he was still hungry). anywayz, i took the mice out of the cage and kept 'em in one of those smaller plastic ones for the time being, which is why i was pissed... i wasn't counting on having to keep mice alive for over a week. anywayz, a couple days ago i figured out why he's not eating... he's getting ready to shed. so in a couple days he'll be all pretty again (yay!)... but very hungry. now here's the good part... the feeder mice turned out to be a male and a female... and they've fallen in love.... how sweet... too bad they're destined to become jakie's lunch in a couple days. lol. just thought i'd share... peace
Oh, Cottons.....I have SO been there. Here is the best thing to do. Freeze those babies. Just drop them in a piece of Tupperware and freeze them.....then thaw them out and feed them to Jakie. Some snakes won't eat dead feeders but mine will. Cleopatra actually prefers them that way and I do too since she tries to eat them sideways and backwards. Sometimes I have to stun them just to keep them from biting her since she gets all stupid with her eating habits. Caesar will eat them dead or alive....it doesn't matter as long as he gets to eat. Sometimes love affairs aren't meant to be, Cottons! Especially when it comes to two mice who are destined to be dinner!
i've had good luck with mice... i usually just drop 'em in and they try to run away... haven't seen them go after jake really. and if one does i just hold it by it's tail until jake can snatch it away... he too is stupid when he eats though. he's tried eating mice sideways before, and often will eat them backwards. that's why i'm just going to start feeding him small rats. that way he has no choice but to take it head first. as for keeping the mice alive... i shouldn't have to for much longer. i found a glass lid for an old candle that i use for a water dish, and i just put crackers and pretzel chunks into the cage for food. i think the female's pregnant though. she just lays around a lot now... and she seems to be putting on weight. oh well. jake has begun the shedding process. hopefully tomorrow he'll eat. i told my dad about possibly freezing them and he said i wasn't putting mice in the freezer. lol. i don't think i coulda done it anyway. i don't like the idea of killing things myself... i'd much rather the snake do it than me.
it's not that bad. ya kinda get used to it after a while.... my snake never ate those two mice after he shed... so i gave 'em to my friend, and she fed 'em to her lizard. lol.
We were right in the middle of a fucking reptile zoo! And somebody was giving booze to these God damn things! i dunno, im high
you can get boa constrictors or reticulated pythons for anywhere between $150-$200 as babies. they may look small to start out with, but the boa will grow to anywhere between 12 and 15 feet, and the reticulated python can make it as big as 30 feet. you'll need a 55 gallon tank for when they're younger, and possibly a bedroom for when they get bigger (more so for the retic.), so they can get quite costly. also, feeding them can get expensive as well... especially when they get bigger. you could go with the boa and just make him a home out of a walk-in closet once he gets big enough... my dad did that with his 9' burmese python and 7' reticulated python before we got rid of 'em. they seemed to like it ok.
Are you actually feeding two cute little mammals to a reptile?? You infidel. Mammals are our kind. Not like those disgusting egglaying, hide shedding, fang toting lizards (with or without legs) Come to think of it, I eat cows, pigs & sheep... hmmm... nevermind. Hey, before you feed minnie to the snake, why not wait till she's pregnant and had some some mini-mice eh? Free snakefood afterall
if you plan on freezing them, be considerate and crush their skulls (im being seriouse)...they'll still stay fresh whilst frozen, but they won't have to suffer through the agony of a slow lingering death...just MHO...but hell, ive only had small snakes that ate fish, so what do I know?
sooo...what you're tryin to say is....you put them in your freezer? ehh? ooh? who? huh?AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
hehe when i was younger i had 2 pet snakes, i never fed them tho my uncle always did that.... i had a few pet mice a few years ago as well actually, i asked for 2 girls but the dumb assistant gave me a boy and a girl... lets just say after a few months i had over 100+ of the damn things running around, i took them to the petshop and gave them all away.... expect for mom and a DAUGHTER damn they were cool!! too bad urs will be dinner soon!
i kept them alive and kept trying to feed 'em to my snake. he never ate them, so i gave them (still alive) to be fed to my friend's lizard... and because of so, they are now poop i'm not real big on making things suffer, so i couldn't freeze 'em.
I do stun mine before I freeze them so they aren't living some horrible death in the freezer. I figure it's better than being squeezed to death like they are when I feed them out.
Woody, you gave me chills. Spiders freak me out and then spiders that eat mice just scare the hell outta me!!!
Snakes that eat fish? That's interesting. I've had a rosie boa for a little over a year now and she eats frozen meeces (she's probably a good 2-2.5 feet long and not very big around so she eats frozen "fuzzies" which are baby mice that were frozen after they started growing fur). I thought freezing to death sounded a little inhumane too, but hell... so is feeding snakes live mice! (Momma nature... why'd ya have to go and do that!?) The pet shop says the person they get their frozen rodents from uses carbon dioxide to suffocate them to death, then quickly freezes them. I know what you're saying about the stupid snake probably not being able to take on a live mouse since she grabs it sideways some times. She just won't swallow them ass first either. lol I also use what I call snake vitamins (I don't even remember what it's actually called). Kinda shake and bake (without the baking) the thawed little creatures and dangle it in the tank with a long pair of tweezers (probably a good 8" long). Is she doesn't seem too interested I just touch her with the mouse. Then she usually whipps around and strikes. She usually misses the mouse the first couple of tries. (Poor thing, she hits her head pretty good some times) Usually I give the mouse a couple small tugs when she has it to make her catch a little more sporty. She winds around the mouse a couple more times (I've actually picked her up while she's constricting because she was still dangling from her little fake plant. She didn't miss a beat.) Snakes are cool. I'm still trying to be able to handle her without her thinking I'M the food. I usually have better luck a couple of days after she's eaten. Then she's not hungry and is concentrating on getting out of the tank while the top's off. She really loved the christmas tree sitting next to her tank.
if you hold the mouse by the tail you should be safe. snakes are usually good at telling the difference between your hand and their food. boa constrictors primarily live in trees. therefore they do most of their hunting there. they usually eat birds and other small mamals that wander up the trees. so... you don't have to take her off the branch while she's eating... it'd be more like her natural enviornment if ya just let her dangle. if your snake is aggressive (sp?) try handling her a lot while wearing a thick pair of gloves. this will get her used to being handled by people, and you won't have a problem with getting bit. also, you shouldn't handle a snake for the first few days after they've eaten. if they get stressed out it can cause them to throw up... also, if there's a sharp bone that hasn't been digested all the way, there's a chance of it poking through and seriously hurting (or killing) the snake. just some words of advice. i'm not trying to sound an ass or anything, but i've been around snakes practically my whole life.