Today's events
Oct. 1st, 2007 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bladesparkToday I did two things which I haven't done before.
The first was to feed Anthony an adult mouse. He was on fuzzies when I got him (fuzzies are baby mice that have just barely grown fur, as opposed to pinkies, which are newborn mice that are still furless) and he's been eating them well for a while, but lately they've stopped making a lump, and the last two he didn't even sleep and digest, he was cruising around, looking for more food, immediately after finishing one. The size jump between fuzzies and adults worried me though. There is an intermediate size of juvenile mouse, called "hopper" that I've seen at some online feeder stores, but nobody local carries them. They say you can feed a ball python something that's slightly thicker around the middle than it is though, and Anthony's pretty thick these days, If you stretch the mouse out full length it's definitely no larger than he is, so I went ahead. I crossed my fingers, because I really would hate myself if I'd fed him something too big and he regurgitated, or even worse tore his throat skin. *shudder* I read a forum comment about that happening, and it just gives me the heebie jeebies. I don't know what I'd do if something like that happened to Anthony!
He worried me a bit, particularly when he got to the hind legs. He was going so slowly, and his throat skin was really stretched, and he stopped entirely for just a bit when he got to the back legs, which is the fattest part. But he got it down, and it didn't stretch his sides once it was in him. He's napping and digesting now, and after a meal that size he probably will sleep for several days.
Also, mice from the reptile store, where they breed their own in the back, never smelled like anything. This mouse reeked of dirty rodent. Ugh. I was so glad when the snake got it down and it stopped smelling so bad.
The other thing I did that was new today was I bought a bottle of whisky. I've bought more alcohol in the last month than in my entire life before. But this is easy to do because I've never bought alcohol at all before. But I got a bottle of cooking wine so I could make Pasta Fresca a few weeks back, and today I got whisky to make this Jack Daniels whisky sauce stuff. I stumbled on this recipe from a rather hilarious cooking site, here: http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/2007/06/bread_pudding_f.html I adore bread pudding, and this looked way too good not to try. So today I tried it, sauce and all. It was funny, because as I was stirring the sauce, I kept sniffing it, and of course it reeked of alcohol, 1/4 cup of 80 proof will do that, but then, rather quickly, it changed texture and stopped smelling like alcohol. And started smelling like butterscotch, which for just a second made me go "WTF?!" And then I laughed, because I realized that's exactly what it was, butter, and scotch! (Well, by some definitions I understand that Jack Daniels isn't scotch, but it's close enough.) It was rich, and did taste ever so slightly of alcohol, but I found it didn't bother me in this setting, which is interesting, given that usually the least trace of alcohol taste makes something totally inedible. I think it might be that some artificial butterscotch flavors try to have that hint of alcohol taste to them, and so it was a familiar taste, rather than being alien, like alcohol in chocolate fondue.
Anyhow, the whole experience was a success, and I have enough bread pudding with whisky sauce now to last a week or two.
The first was to feed Anthony an adult mouse. He was on fuzzies when I got him (fuzzies are baby mice that have just barely grown fur, as opposed to pinkies, which are newborn mice that are still furless) and he's been eating them well for a while, but lately they've stopped making a lump, and the last two he didn't even sleep and digest, he was cruising around, looking for more food, immediately after finishing one. The size jump between fuzzies and adults worried me though. There is an intermediate size of juvenile mouse, called "hopper" that I've seen at some online feeder stores, but nobody local carries them. They say you can feed a ball python something that's slightly thicker around the middle than it is though, and Anthony's pretty thick these days, If you stretch the mouse out full length it's definitely no larger than he is, so I went ahead. I crossed my fingers, because I really would hate myself if I'd fed him something too big and he regurgitated, or even worse tore his throat skin. *shudder* I read a forum comment about that happening, and it just gives me the heebie jeebies. I don't know what I'd do if something like that happened to Anthony!
He worried me a bit, particularly when he got to the hind legs. He was going so slowly, and his throat skin was really stretched, and he stopped entirely for just a bit when he got to the back legs, which is the fattest part. But he got it down, and it didn't stretch his sides once it was in him. He's napping and digesting now, and after a meal that size he probably will sleep for several days.
Also, mice from the reptile store, where they breed their own in the back, never smelled like anything. This mouse reeked of dirty rodent. Ugh. I was so glad when the snake got it down and it stopped smelling so bad.
The other thing I did that was new today was I bought a bottle of whisky. I've bought more alcohol in the last month than in my entire life before. But this is easy to do because I've never bought alcohol at all before. But I got a bottle of cooking wine so I could make Pasta Fresca a few weeks back, and today I got whisky to make this Jack Daniels whisky sauce stuff. I stumbled on this recipe from a rather hilarious cooking site, here: http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/2007/06/bread_pudding_f.html I adore bread pudding, and this looked way too good not to try. So today I tried it, sauce and all. It was funny, because as I was stirring the sauce, I kept sniffing it, and of course it reeked of alcohol, 1/4 cup of 80 proof will do that, but then, rather quickly, it changed texture and stopped smelling like alcohol. And started smelling like butterscotch, which for just a second made me go "WTF?!" And then I laughed, because I realized that's exactly what it was, butter, and scotch! (Well, by some definitions I understand that Jack Daniels isn't scotch, but it's close enough.) It was rich, and did taste ever so slightly of alcohol, but I found it didn't bother me in this setting, which is interesting, given that usually the least trace of alcohol taste makes something totally inedible. I think it might be that some artificial butterscotch flavors try to have that hint of alcohol taste to them, and so it was a familiar taste, rather than being alien, like alcohol in chocolate fondue.
Anyhow, the whole experience was a success, and I have enough bread pudding with whisky sauce now to last a week or two.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 05:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 05:41 am (UTC)but im glad he got it down with no problem. :) we need new Anthony pics.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 05:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:28 am (UTC)I wish more snake owners were conscientious about other animals as well. I feel roo to my dogs, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't give a shit if they hunted one down and tore it apart while it was still alive. I wish more snake owners felt that way.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:34 am (UTC)I care about rats. You care about snakes. I don't care as long as you aren't live feeding, which you aren't.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:40 am (UTC)Or let me put this another way. Why do you think "I think people who refuse to eat meat so they can save the animals are deluded" but letting snakes kill rats is evil? YOU are sounding exactly like every bleeding heart, save the chickens PETA loon I've ever talked to. You "care" about the rats. Why does this give you any better of a moral high ground than people who "care" about cows?
WHY do you care about the rats? Why is it any of your business if I live feed or not? The only reason to not live feed is to avoid hurting the snake, the rodent is just as dead either way, after all. Have you ever SEEN a snake eat live? Does it look like the mouse is suffering? It's over awfully fast, and I'm pretty sure that the way they're killed at the feeder store isn't much more humane, when it comes right down to it.
What's the difference between slaughter for food and... slaughter for food? That's all it is. So why do you care? And why, exactly, did you feel the need to come preach at a stranger about it?
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:45 am (UTC)I care about rats because they are my pets and I love them for their characters, their little faces and how much personality they have. I care about live feeding because I feel its a cruel practice and I'd like to see it stopped one day and have more reptile owners educated on the dangers of live feeding, particularly in regards to rats.
I wasn't 'preaching', merely having a discussion. I don't know what you have up your ass right now, perhaps your tampon got jammed in sideways this morning.
Either way I have no interest in handing over hundreds of dollars for a commission to a self important git who can't value a friendly discussion on the internet without accusing someone of being a PETA lover and all airy fairy and fluffy bunny because they dislike live feeding practises (which i have stated I admire you for not supporting!).
I hope your ass is glued to that saddle, because it seems to be a long way down off that high horse, or perhaps theres a butt plug attached to the saddle, hrm?
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:54 am (UTC)no one is feeding rats. no one is live feeding. what the fuck are you going on and on about? your opinions are clearly not welcome here. if she wants your views on rats and free feeding she would ASK.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 07:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:51 am (UTC)she feeds her rats frozen so dont get worked up about it. ive had to kill a mouse once by knocking it out before feeding my snake because they were out of frozen. ive owned both rats and mice. am i being a bleeding heart about it? no. its fucking nature. and i wouldnt live feed my snake either only for the simple fact that live mice/rats can really do harm to a snake, even cause death. if its a question of a mouse that was born to be dinner or my snake, id choose my snake. that doesnt mean its wrong.
debating it in a strangers journal is not cool.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 03:44 pm (UTC)I figure the snake does a far more efficient job of it than I would, and the rat would have less of a bloody headache.
Don't assume because someone feeds live that we're all morons. Some of us just don't have the option of feeding already dead animals.
By the way, dead is dead. The frozen rats didn't die of old age. They were killed in their prime (or sooner) by gassing, which is basically *strangling*. You know. That thing the snake does when it eats.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 06:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 03:52 pm (UTC)Unless her python were to attempt eating a jumbo rat (and believe me, I've seen small snakes attempt some really dumb things), he's unlikely to be harmed in this way. More likely, he would give up on the animal by the time he got to the nape of the rat's neck, since he would not be able to get any farther.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 01:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 05:01 pm (UTC)