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First Feeding!

Vegas

Vegas

New member
First feeding went succesful! I got him home saturday and fed him today, he gulped it down smoothly. At first he tried to swallow it sideways instead of with the head first but he quickly changed tactics. :)
Took a few seconds before he noticed the pinky, he cruized around looking for the exitsign at first. ;)

I was gonna take a picture at first but I decided not to, let him eat without any stressing factors. Now lets just hope it stays down, how fast do they usually regurge if they're going to? I got it pretty hot in the viv so hopefully the digestion will work just fine.

Just wanted to share the very first feed. /Jimmy
 
Great news! As far as the regurges, it usually happens within the first two days unless, the snake has a really slow digestive system. Generally, after two days you should be in the clear!
 
Congratulions! Isn't it great?

Spirit said:
I told you not to worry! LOL Hooray for successful first feeds!
Click to expand...

LOL... Spirit telling someone not to worry? Wait until you move to fuzzies, she can tell you how to sit nearby with needle and thread :laugh: (like I don't worry!)
 
SHUSH!! That was with my python. Big head, big body, big meal, skinny neck... SCARY! :laugh:
 
Woohoo! glad the feeding was a success! Hopefully many more will follow. :)

We'd love to see pics next time if you feel comfortable taking them.

Congrats on getting that first feeding under your belt. It should be easier from here on out.:)
 
Yeah, had a few minor problems though, first of all the thawing. The plasticbag with the pinky wouldn't stay under the water (doh!), I tried to get all the air out of it. How do you thaw in the easiest way? ;)
And when he's on his way gulping down the pinky, will it disturb him and cause him to stop eating if I lift the lid on the feedingbox? I had to put a lid on since he wouldn't stay in there otherwise. :)
I noticed this morning also that the temp was quite low, 76-77 degrees. Hope that isn't too cold?
 
Yeah, the bag floating up can be a bit of a problem, I use the tips of the scissors that I use to "snip" the mice to hold the bag underwater.

Also, those temps are a bit to the low side, it seems. I would do what I could to get the temps closer to 83 or 85 during digestion - wouldn't want to risk a regurge.
 
i just thaw mine on a covered plate on top of my frige. it takes about 30 min or so, though i am waiting to hear that one of my family has stuck their hand in it!
My little ones often grab their pinkies by the back, then work their way around to either the head or the bum. They both get very excited about eating, and i guess grab whatever part of the mouse they see first. what i do when i feed is i have a couple small flat plasic containers, i put the mouse in, put the snake in, and sit and watch them eat. they dont seem to care weather i'm there or not.
 
KatieL: That's the nighttemp, daytime I have 77-82 degrees. Ordered a UTH today and some aspen bedding from an onlineshop.
I need to pin the viv up like 1 cm when I'm going to use a UTH right? put some small wooden planks on each shortside, heard glassvivs can crack if you place it right against the glass. I've got the viv on a woodenbench, will I need to put something underneath the UTH? or can I place it right on the bench. It's a low-wattage UTH, 7 watts.

I think I'll have to remove the big cave, since I need to look for regurged food/**** and then I gotta tear the place apart to do so. since I've got some stuff on the cave, skull, plants etc. I think I'll just replace it with a pot or something like that, more functional.
 
Vegas said:
Yeah, had a few minor problems though, first of all the thawing. The plasticbag with the pinky wouldn't stay under the water (doh!), I tried to get all the air out of it. How do you thaw in the easiest way? ;)
And when he's on his way gulping down the pinky, will it disturb him and cause him to stop eating if I lift the lid on the feedingbox? I had to put a lid on since he wouldn't stay in there otherwise. :)
I noticed this morning also that the temp was quite low, 76-77 degrees. Hope that isn't too cold?
Click to expand...

Is that 76-77 on the warm or cool side??

CAV told me a couple of days ago that regurges and other problems don't usually happen until the temps get to the mid to low 70's, so you're right on the border (if those are your warm temps) but probably okay from what he said.

The way I thaw is just putting it in a bottle of warm water and leaving it for 10-15 minutes. It's a little wet after it thaws obviously, so I dry it off with a paper towel. I'm not sure what the mindset is behind people using bags or whatever else so the mouse doesn't get wet, but this is the way we do it at work too and we've never had a problem with it (plus it doesn't stay floating the whole time like your bag) :)

Edit: I just fed mine the night before last and he's spent the whole time since then under the cool hide (~78 degrees). That kinda surprised me because he almost always stayed in his warm hide (~84 degrees) other than the time since I fed him. So as long as you have the gradient there, they'll decide where they want to be.
 
Trpnbills: It was 77-78 on the warm side and 76 on the cold side this morning, but the temp during the day is about 77-78 on the cold side and 82+ on the warm side. Yeah my snake is also on the cold side now after I've fed him, but I think it might have something to do with his favourite hide, the big cave which I will have to replace soon since it's a b*tch to check underneath it, need to remove alot of stuff to get a peak underneath it.
Yeah probably should be ok to thaw without a bag, don't know why I used one in the first place. I was thinking that the scent of a defenceless pinky should be preserved. :)
I was told that I have to small gradient between cool and warm side, I've got 77-78 on the cool and 82+ on the warm side as I wrote before, what do you think of those temps? tomorrow I'm getting my UTH so I'm gonna try it out then to see if I can get a bigger gradient.
 
Oh okay, I thought you had a UTH...are you using a light? Also, what size viv are you using?

I have minimal experience, but the temps sound okay to me. If you're using a small-ish viv like I am (10 gallons), it's hard to get a big gradient anyway. I think most of the reason why people use a bag or something with thawing mice is because they don't necessarily find the idea of a soggy, dead rodent very attractive... :laugh: Go with what works for you though!

Also, have you considered how you're going to mount your UTH? If you stick it directly on the viv, you might end up needing a dimmer of some kind (especially if your viv is glass or plastic) to keep it from getting TOO warm. What I did was put mine on a ceramic tile and then just prop the viv up an inch or so...that way you can adjust the height (to vary the temperatures) and it still gives the UTH room to breathe. Also, this method makes the UTH portable if you decide to start using a bigger/different viv after time. All without a potentially expensive dimmer or thermostat...
 
Naw, as I wrote before I'm going to mount the UTH so it has no direct contact to the viv, I'm gonna pin the viv up about 1 cm, or something. And then place the UTH underneath.
I'm a bit worried about the temps. They dropped to 74-75 on the cold side and 76 on the warm side tonight. It's when I shut down the hood for the night the temps drop. But I'm getting one of those exo-terra ceramic heatemitters today, bought one that was broken so the guy is sending me a new one which should arrive today. I'll use that til the UTH gets here.
 
Woooohoo! seems like he kept it down, no regurge... it's now been about 48 hours since I fed him and I checked all around the viv, including the cave, nothing... the UTH will arrive tomorrow, called the petshop about the ceramic heatlamp today, but it seems all of the exo-terra lamps were broken, so he's going to send me some pinkys/fuzzies and full refund, really great guy, easy to deal with.
I'm thinking of maybe trying a doublefeed next time. Since I think he's a little small to be a -04 Sept. hatchling. I'll prolly move onto fuzzies anytime now too.
 
Congratulations...
I just had a pair of new ball pythons eat for the first time with me last night.

Great feeling...

Personally...I skip the plastic bag...I just throw my feeders right into fairly warm water...not too warm to 'cook' the extremities (legs, ears, tail) but warm enough to thaw in 5 - 10 minutes...
I thaw upwards of 20-25 mice of various sizes at the same time, in the same container...never had a problem feeding them to any of my snakes...and the added moisture can't hurt...
 
So, just fed him for the second time and it went great again! at first he didn't see the mouse but then as soon as he smelled it, WHAM! he was done in 60 seconds or so... amazing to watch, and this time I got some pics too! ;)
I think he has gotten used to my smell now aswell, first couple of times he pinned away real fast as soon as I touched him, now he doesn't mind me picking him up. don't even try to run from me. And sits around really calm in my hand chilling.
Well here's the picture!

mat.jpg
 
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