Okay, so I'm extremely new to this - only had snake (Fang) one week. She arrived last Wednesday and wasn't fed until Thursday, as we had to defrost a mouse overnight after she arrived. She was actually due to have been fed on the Tuesday, but the previous owner hadn't done so as she knew she would have to handle the snake the next day to deliver her to us. Sooo, her dinner in effect was two days late, and when we fed her she didn't hang about!
At the time, I didn't know about feed bowls, so just placed the mouse on the substrate for her (not sure how the previous owner fed her). Having lurked around here since then though, I saw people mentioning feed bowls and it made sense, so I thought we should try it. I put the mouse in a large old (clean) ashtray (!), and put it in the vivarium but Fang didn't seem interested. My daughter suggested perhaps she didn't want to retrieve the mouse out of the *bowl*, so I then placed the mouse on a flat plate instead, but still no interest...
So, with my inexperience, what I'm wondering is this - could it be she simply isn't hungry again yet, dinner being a day earlier than last week? Or, is it possible she doesn't want to retrieve the mouse off a foreign object? Or something else?
Also - REALLY IMPORTANT, PLEASE! - the mouse has been out of the freezer for about 20 or so hours now - I'll leave it in the viv overnight, but how long can one safely leave a mouse from coming from the freezer, to having to discard it? I obviously don't want Fang to eat something that will make her sick, or will she reject it anyway if it isn't fresh enough?
Quick replies much appreciated, many thanks!
At the time, I didn't know about feed bowls, so just placed the mouse on the substrate for her (not sure how the previous owner fed her). Having lurked around here since then though, I saw people mentioning feed bowls and it made sense, so I thought we should try it. I put the mouse in a large old (clean) ashtray (!), and put it in the vivarium but Fang didn't seem interested. My daughter suggested perhaps she didn't want to retrieve the mouse out of the *bowl*, so I then placed the mouse on a flat plate instead, but still no interest...
So, with my inexperience, what I'm wondering is this - could it be she simply isn't hungry again yet, dinner being a day earlier than last week? Or, is it possible she doesn't want to retrieve the mouse off a foreign object? Or something else?
Also - REALLY IMPORTANT, PLEASE! - the mouse has been out of the freezer for about 20 or so hours now - I'll leave it in the viv overnight, but how long can one safely leave a mouse from coming from the freezer, to having to discard it? I obviously don't want Fang to eat something that will make her sick, or will she reject it anyway if it isn't fresh enough?
Quick replies much appreciated, many thanks!