ArvadaLanee
New member
Recently, Nightmare, had his first shed (since he has been with us) and it went very well. He rubbed it off on his driftwood tree, and it came off in one complete piece, including eye caps, and the tip of his tail. Once he shed, I knew it was time for his first complete viv cleaning. His viv did not smell bad, and there was not a single poo in sight, but I still felt it was time. (I had spot cleaned, but not done a full clean yet.) Today seemed like a good day to try the first feeding outside the viv. Previously, I was feeding in the viv, just to establish a feeding pattern without causing any stress. Now that he has been eating quite well, and had such an easy shed, I figured we could try it out, since he would be in his little critter keeper any way, while I cleaned his home. I waited until late, so he would be feeling active, and then moved him to his critter keeper, and started warming up his pinkie. Then I got to work on the viv. Cleaning it out was a breeze! By the time I was done, the pinkie was ready. I made 3 slits in it. (I had to have my sweet little boy look away because he didn't want to see it.) Then I dropped it in the critter keeper, and we covered it with a towel and left the room....but we were a bit impatient, and after 10 minutes we had to check! Nightmare is normally quite quick to find his food, so when we saw that he hadn't started eating yet, I decided to try using the tongs for the first time, to see if I could get him interested. IT WAS AWESOME! I picked up the mouse by the base of the tail, and slowly moved it towards Nightmare's face, and immediately he started flicking his tongue like crazy, and then BOOM! First ever strike feed! My son and I were amazed. We also noticed that he ate it more quickly. Idk if this was because he was extra hungry from skipping meals during his shed, or if the strike feeding just got him excited. Either way, it was very cool to watch! After eating, I gave him a bit to relax, and then put his critter keeper into his viv, and let him crawl out. So far, I feel like we are doing well in our care of Nightmare. We love him so much, and only want to see him thrive. It makes me so happy to see my kids take such an interest, and want to help with his care, and read books about corn snakes. I have the best kids, and the best pets, in the world!
