IRGANT. help pl0z.

[Pet Corn Snake]

Hey! Well, im really Really worried..!

While feeding on a small adult mouse tonight, i thought i would get a few pics to share with you guys, because its been a while, just as i got the camera and took the 2 pictures, he struck, however he had half a mouse in his mauth, he then quickly slitherd into his hide, ME, Shocked.. Nearly having a heart attack.. seriously he can move when he stikes... WOW i mean he's Really fast, Anyways.. I tried to lift up his hide, but i couldnt he just kept striking, anyways, i had to watch him each through his hide entrance, just encase he swollwed any of the bedding that was currentally covering the whole wet mouse.. Luckly he was eating a small adult, therefor it was filling his mauth, so as each bit of bedding come close to his mauth, his lips were soo tight it just fell off.. now he's got his mauth (left side) on the grownd pushing.. and he keeps yawning.. now generally that would mean he's re-placing his jaw.. but the yawning could be a re-gurg.. when he stiked it might have also pushed the mouse down too fast.. i donno.. any adivse would be more then welcome!

sorry for spelling.. this is kinda too irgant so im typing extreamly fast.

[Plissken]

I know you're worried, but you're going to have to slow down. I'm not 100% sure what you're asking. Has the mouse actually gone down fully? Is he still trying to eat the mouse? If so just leave him to it, I've seen my snakes do some terribly alarming things with a mouse in their jaws but they always seem to get it down eventually.

[Pet Corn Snake]

the mouse went down great... what happend was.. (I'm calm now, just got worried for Damien) I was taking pictures and he struck and my phone, he hates the blue flashy thing that i have on my phone, i forgot totally.. so he struck.. but he already had half of his mouse down his mouth and the other half out, so i was thinking.. in striking he might have pushed down the mouse too fast... then he went into his hide.. i had to watch him eat from the whole (entrance to his hide) the mouse was coverd in the beach chippings (his bedding) when he stuck, he obversely moved from the paper i feed him on, luckily the mouse was big, so his mouth was that tight around the mouse, I'm 99.9% sure nothing went in.. Exept the mouse.. Anyways, he was yawning for abit, i thought he was about to re-gurg, but he's stopped now.. just worried encase theres any (inside) damage or stress..

I feel really useless, Ive owned him 5 months now.. i should know all this :/

[Plissken]

Ah, now I understand.

I wouldn't personally be too concerned. Perhaps the mouse gave him a jab in the mouth or something, but IMO I think it's unlikely that any real damage has been done. Leave him well alone and let him digest quietly, tempting though it is I would avoid keep lifting his hides up to see how he's doing.

By the way, the substrate ingestion is why it's recommended to feed in a seperate container. Some people feed in the vivs by putting down towel or something between the bedding and the food, but snakes will sometimes drag and fling their food all over the place (at least mine do) and it just isn't worth the risk IMO. Getting a small plastic tub to feed him in is a small price to pay for his future safety and your peace of mind. :)

[Pet Corn Snake]

thank you mate : ) I'm sure one day ill be giving advise to some Snake Noobs like myself!!

I really do love this site, great community, good help : )

In future if I'm worried, or if he strikes, i wont jump, but ya'know its kinda hard not too when your simply taking a nice picture and next min you see a snake coming towards you like.... Ummm... A snake? lol..

Anyways you have been a great help, and I'm sure in the while other things annoy snakes while there trying to eat and they strike them the same, he'll be fine I'm sure : )

Ill leave him alone for a few days : )

[dawnrenee2000]

Snakes are really vulnerable when they are eating, especcially large prey. So, any type of disturbance could cause them stress at that moment. Clearly he has let you know picture taking is not an option while he is eating, but hopefully he is fine. I also reccomend feeding somewhere where chips cannot attach to his wet food as he tries to eat it. Early on I had an animal die from impaction. It is a terrible lesson to learn the hard way.

[Jcapicy]

Also keep in mind that camera lenses look like eyes. they can easily be mistaken for a larger animal. it may have just startled your little guy.

[MegF.]

And the next time he strikes...you'll still jump! I jump every time and heaven knows I've been struck at more than once. I'm sure he'll be fine, but you might want to use a regular camera and take a picture in the feeding box instead of using the flashing phone. Mine never seemed to notice the camera when I took pictures of them eating.

[hartsock]

lol, I learned my lesson hard about feeding on substrate. Thankfully, I havent had anything impacted; but I have had a rough time or too. My corns and boas haven't given me trouble, but my ribbon snake eats fish from his water dish. But he likes to grab them and thrash them around in the cage for some reason. When I was using shredded aspen, he would end up looking like he was wearing a wig with all the bedding sticking to him and the fish. So I watched to make sure it all came off as he swallowed the fish. One day it didn't and he started to swallow a large piece of bedding with the fish. So I had to grab him, which caused him to panic, thrash around like crazy, musk all over the place, with this rosy minnow half swallowed (tail first for some reason) with it's head sticking out of the jaws and it was in panic too. It caused alot of stress for all involved, lol. After that I only feed out of the cage except for the ribbon. I switched his substrate to those reptile sheet type stuff. I would really recommend going with a feeding tub. let it eat, give it a little time to settle down before putting it back into viv.