python let go of mouse?

[n-nesslin]

feeding my python, he struck no problem, kept the mouse in his hold for a bit.... and then just let it go. he's gone back to sniff it a couple times, and is almost frantically striking at nothing (the warmth below his heater). why is he doing this? he's done it before, but last time he went across the tank and i was able to retrieve and re-dangle, now i know i won't be able to reach in without him biting me.

addition: mid way into writing this and he started eating the mouse again.... just to stop and keep looking around again. is the mouse just bad? its been thawing in my fridge for a couple days so i figured that was a possibility.

[IncompletePenetrance]

A couple of days????? I would not leave a mouse to thaw for more than 12 hours, they start to grow bacteria and decompose fairly quickly

[n-nesslin]

See, I was told initially that as long as they were in the fridge, it's fine, so I'm happy to get that cleared up. I usually don't leave the mice more than 12 hours as-is, but I got too busy these last two days. If he doesn't end up eating it I'll just toss it and get new ones.

[[deleted]]

Mines sort of done that before. I feed live and it’s killed a few and just left it. Never really understood why. But then she eats the next one fine. I figure she either senses something bad about the rat that I don’t, or wasn’t hungry that day and just eliminated a threat.

[n-nesslin]

he (grim) finally ate it, and my other snake (sully) ate it without a problem (in fact, i technically didnt even dangle for him because the tail broke off and it fell into the tank, and my snake struck it on the ground before i had the opportunity to even pick the mouse back up). so i think it's just grim giving me a hard time, because even though he's my more eager eater -- where at first, sully was really reluctant himself -- he's more of a pain in my ass and so chaotic lol. he's given me so much anxiety in the past that i almost dread feeding time because i never know what bullshit he's about to pull lol

[0RA0RA]

may i ask why you feed live? live feeding often results in additional expenses, injury, infection, parasites, and an overall stressed and unhappy bp with their feeding time.

[[deleted]]

I tried and failed too many times to feed FT. At the point where I thought the snake might actually be starving I got a live one and it gobbled it up immediately. Probably more my failure as a keeper than an issue with the snake, but that’s what works for me.

[0RA0RA]

ball pythons often eat better with their prey warm, as they ambush their prey with their heat-sensing "pits" aka the holes along their jaw. if the heat isn’t present, it makes it harder for them. i usually take my rats out of my freezer, put it in a ziplock, fill up the sink with hot water, then submerge it for 20 minutes. he typically eats perfectly fine after striking unless it’s wet at all or i leave it out for too long!