Really worried about tonight's feeding. Weird things.

I went to feed my snow corn tonight, and a series of weird things have happened.

He has a branch that suctions to his tank.It''s his favorite place to hang out. I feed him in the viv, but I place magazine covers over the aspen so that it's entirely covered. (I save every single magazine I've ever read, so I have a ton. It prevents him from ingesting substrate, and it's kind of fun seeing a snake eat off of a celebs face. Tonight it was Heidi Klum, but I digress). Anyway, he was on his branch when I put the mice in. As soon as he saw them, he came slithering after.

The first thing that really bothered me was his reaction to the mice. He went up to it, poked it with his nose, then lurched back,as if scared/shocked. I'm assuming maybe they were hotter than he expected? I'd been thawing them for a while in warm water. I lost track of time, so I threw another cup of water in the microwave for a little so I could he could eat them warm. It wasn't boiling water, but there is a possibility the mice where a little warmer than normal when I plopped them in the viv. Has anyone observed this before? What if the mouse was too hot? Will this have any repercussions? I'm very concerned.

He attempted to bring the fuzzie up on the branch, but ended up eating it with half his body on the branch, and the other half on the floor of the viv. At one point, there was a huge gush of blood. It was all over his mouth. This startled me even more. I have not seen this before, and my first thought was that he was somehow bleeding. It really freaked me out. What's up with that? Is that normal? He looks fine, and his mouth does not have any lacerations, so clearly it was the mouse, but why such a huge gush of blood?

He came down from the branch, moved around his tank for about five minutes, located the other fuzzie, and is now starting on it.

I just want to clarify, I didn't intend on eating the mouse with my snake after warming it a bit, as it sounded. I had two margaritas tonight at Chilis, so that's my excuse. lol.

I've had several experiences where I thawed a mouse in scalding hot water, and after my snakes constricted them they burst at one place or another, causing mouse blood/guts to come out. Maybe that's what happened?

I think that must have been it, Vicky. It's the only explanation. He doesn't constrict, though, but I guess the pressure of being squeezed into his throat could have done it. He reminded me of the joker with all that red around his mouth. lol.

I've had that happen before too. Maybe because I had the mice in the freeze for awhile and they had degraded a bit. I wouldn't worry about it.

Originally Posted by Cassie16

I feed him in the viv, but I place magazine covers over the aspen so that it's entirely covered. (I save every single magazine I've ever read, so I have a ton. It prevents him from ingesting substrate, and it's kind of fun seeing a snake eat off of a celebs face. Tonight it was Heidi Klum, but I digress).

I lost track of time, so I threw another cup of water in the microwave for a little so I could he could eat them warm. It wasn't boiling water, but there is a possibility the mice where a little warmer than normal when I plopped them in the viv. Has anyone observed this before? What if the mouse was too hot? Will this have any repercussions? I'm very concerned.

Just to clarify, the mouse wasn't in the cup when you put it in the microwave...right? I use a Temp Gun to check the temp of the mice before I feed. I usually aim for somewhere in the 90's; that's the typical body temp of a living mouse anyways.

At one point, there was a huge gush of blood. It was all over his mouth. This startled me even more. I have not seen this before, and my first thought was that he was somehow bleeding.

This is not a regular occurrence to my knowledge, but its not uncommon either.

If you don't have a name picked out yet, may I suggest "BLOOD BATH!!!"(exclamation points must be included in his/her name if this name is adopted)?

But on a more serious note, your fine, and so is your little fella. If the mouse was in the microwave it could possibly explain the exploding mouse.

What Vicky said. The mouse was probably overheated (or frozen for too long), which caused the mouse to explode. I had it happen one time with a pinky, but it happened prior to the snake getting to it. It was disgusting, to say the least. Fortunately for us, they don't seem to care if their mice explode for the most part.

I would suggest just using the hottest tap water you can, instead of heating the water in the microwave. For a weaned or adult mouse, I usually just leave the mouse in hot tap water for 10 minutes or so, and 5 or so minutes for a single fuzzy or pinky. It really doesn't take long to thaw them in hot tap water.

To be honest, any mouse that goes down the hatch and stays down, is a Win!

I'd go for hot tap water next time as well.

Sounds like the mouse exploded in his mouth because it was so hot.

this is what I do: I take a bowl and put cold water in it.. then take a cup of water and put in microwave for two mins.. take it out and dump it in the cold water. I have the mice in a sandwich bag which I put into the bowl with the hot/cold water and thaw it out by submerging the mice and holding it down with the cup. I leave it there for about 10 mins and then go back.. take out the plastic bag with the mice in it and gentle squeeze to see if they are thawed out all the way through.. I then give it to the snakes. They are a little hotter than luke warm when I feed it to them.

This is what I do: put mice in a bowl, put bowl under barely-running hot water for a while, when the mice are completely thawed, remove, fluff with paper towel, feed. I want the mice to be about 100F when I feed them to the snakes.