Snake update

[bladespark]

I fed Anthony today. He has finally stopped eating his mice butt first. Now he is attempting the futile task of eating them sideways. Yes, for both of his last two feedings he has tried to swallow the mouse starting with the center of the torso. Needless to say this has not gone well, as in its narrowest dimension the mouse is nearly as big around as Anthony's whole body, so length wise it is three or four times too big.

However! After several minutes of attempting to swallow and getting nowhere, both times he has given up and tried again from the head, so there's hope for him yet.

Sometimes though I swear he's slow even for a snake.

He's also had his first shed, which was sadly rather patchy. He's still got a tiny smidge of it still on. However I gather that patchy first sheds are not abnormal, and I didn't notice he was shedding until it was starting to peel off, so I wasn't keeping his tank especially moist, and it's been a dry week. I shall endeavor to be more alert next time! The thing I always read about as a sign of imminent shedding was a pink underbelly, which he never displayed as far as I can tell. His sign seems to be playing pet rock and refusing to come out and explore they way he usually does when he's done digesting. He's around 18 inches long now, and weighs 95 grams when not stuffed with a mouse. Measuring him is a pain, as he refuses to hold still or lie straight.

He also appears to have learned to teleport, as I catch him snoozing in one place or another, but never catch him moving between them, and he sometimes shifts from one end of the tank to the other when I've only been looking away for a minute or so, which is awfully fast. (His usual speed when not striking at food is "slow, awkward meander with lots of bumping into things.")

There's your snake news for the week.

Comments

aw...

[aazhie.livejournal.com]

cute! babies are dumb eaters! I love watching the babies figure out hwo to eat, it is really funny, I think they have to learn how to eat the hard way, the older the get, the faster they become at inhaling the food.
It also seems like babies are harder to catch shedding, i seem to notice the adults shedding much quicker than the young'uns. I wonder if the pick belly is less noticeable on the younger snakes. My male, the largest, has a BRIGHT pink belly when in shed, the others only have a faint tinge. As far as moistening goes, I like to make them take a bath or lukewarm sauna in a damp pillowcase for an hour XD it works like a charm!

I don't know how they do the teleporting, but they are pretty sneaky about it... :P

[harliquinnraver.livejournal.com]

yay hes learning! :D most snakes do.

[emirasan.livejournal.com]

I've never seen or even heard of the belly turning pink on snakes before they shed. I always looked to see if the eyes were getting milky colored as the spectacles form. Had to remove one that got stuck on the male's eye one time. Not a fun thing for me or the snake. >.<

[world-wanderer.livejournal.com]

He must have taken the ninja class that supervisors do. Seriously, you see your supervisor walk around the corner, and you go over, and he's gone! Both jobs I've had, there's never one around when you need them.