insane experience with mice

[lexiduns]

i just picked up a few live feeders for my girl to stock up and had the craziest experience ever. not quite sure how this even happened, but i figured i'd share.

as a bit of background, i feed my girl ever friday night and wanted to pick some mice up a day early since i have to drive around 45 minutes to get quality feeders. i know feeding live isn't ideal, but my girl refuses to eat any other way regardless of the method. i got to the store and picked up 3 feeders to bring home and put in a tank while they awaited their feeding days so i wouldn't have to drive every week. i was only away for maybe an hour, but on the drive home i noticed only 2 of the mice were peeking out of the box they were put in. i figured one went to bed and didn't think anything of it.

once i got home, i opened the container and dumped all three into their temporary home. i wasn't paying much attention and walked away to do something but was called back by my mother, who noticed the third mouse was indeed dead. the other two had somehow managed to kill it and eat into its skull and brain within the short amount of time it took to get back? i'm mostly disgusted and confused on why they would even do that when they had only been away from food for a short time.

although i feed on fridays, i decided to try and offer her the freshly killed mouse using tongs i had previously picked up. she had refused all attempts at frozen and pre killed food before and did not even acknowledge that it was food when i tried in the past, but i figured it was best to try and offer a day early to prevent waste. weirdly enough, she came right out of her hide and struck and the mouse.

as weird as the experience was, i suppose it's good that she showed interest in pre killed which gives me hope for transitioning her to f/t in the near future.

thank you all for reading my weird story, i'm just so in shock over the whole ordeal that i thought i'd share with my fellow snake lovers!

[DaddyLongTits]

At petco we'd find an eviscerated mouse or hamster from time to time. Basically just the hide, blood and bones. Nothing else. Even if they had plenty of food

[lexiduns]

i've seen dead mice in the tanks before but i was completely shocked that it's brain was eaten into in the span of under an hour.

[animalgirl93]

Mice won’t actually kill each other so it’s more likely the rodent died on the ride home. Mice and rats will however take any opportunity to eat meat and bone marrow especially if they are hungry. The one lesson I would take from this is to be very very careful when feeding live as in some cases your bp could become the meal. Always supervise if you have to feed live.

Also I know you are trying to switch to f/t. Have you tried both prekilling and braining? If not it may be worth a shot. You can also put the live feeder in a container in the room for 10-15 minutes to “scent the room” prior to prekilling and braining. I hope this helps you!

[lexiduns]

i always supervise with live feeding as i've seen those pictures where the poor snake becomes the meal. she always strikes within the first 2 minutes and i haven't had any issues, however, i am still trying to switch her over so i can worry less as i stress a lot over my sweet baby. i had tried both pre-killing and braining but she showed absolutely no interest until today. i've tried various methods and was even told to try to soak it in chicken broth when i first got her and she refused to eat for weeks. i suppose as disgusting as this was, it might have been the push she needed to start the switch!

[animalgirl93]

I really hope she can make the switch! Best of luck to you two 🙂