I`ve owned my snow corn, chione, for roughly a year now, and in all that time she has been a calm, relaxed, almost timid little creature, but todays events have changed that for sure!
Now, many of you out there have snakes of the same age as chione and are already feeding them on small mice, where as i have been feeding chione smaller prey all her life. Always seems to me that her head to small to cope with the "recommended" food size. The regular fuzzies i have been buying no longer leave a lump in her belly so its time to move a size.. sort of f/t "super-large" fuzzies, a little bit bigger than chione`s widest point.. should be fine...
SO, i take Chione out of her tank, put her on the table in front of me with the mouse ready for her..
Chione, meet the mouse. Mouse, meet your maker
Well, she wasn`t sure what to do.
She sniffed the mouse, sniffed my finger, sniffed the mouse, then struck out at me!
I went to the kitchen to wash the mouse smell off me, and returned to find chione struggling with the mouse... she couldn`t open her jaws enough to get a swallow going....
So of i go to the kitchen, mouse in hand..... CHOP!... returning with a somewhat slimmer mouse complete with all its nutritionally important innards..
this time, to avoid being bitten, i placed towels in the tank, put the bloody remains of the mouse on the towels then tried to put the snake in ... only she didnt want to.. no she wanted to try biting me again!
back to the kitchen.. more washing...
finally, i get chione n her tank and she starts cruising.. sniffing this , sniffing that so i give her a helpfull "nudge" in the right direction, only to get struck at again!
now starts a game.. with the bloody mouse making a great big stain on the towel right in front of her nose, she rises to a strike position, angling her head right towards my fingers.. so i move my fingers a little, her head follows, i move some more, she follows.. .. i withdrew b4 she bit me!
anyhow, she managed to eat her dinner in the end but boy, she made a fuss about it!
anyhow, thats the story, hope it amuses you all to read as much as it amused me to watch!
oh, and rachel, i`ve cleaned the table down afterwards and the knife is in the sink to be washed right after i`ve had my coffee, hope that suits you dear
Now, many of you out there have snakes of the same age as chione and are already feeding them on small mice, where as i have been feeding chione smaller prey all her life. Always seems to me that her head to small to cope with the "recommended" food size. The regular fuzzies i have been buying no longer leave a lump in her belly so its time to move a size.. sort of f/t "super-large" fuzzies, a little bit bigger than chione`s widest point.. should be fine...
SO, i take Chione out of her tank, put her on the table in front of me with the mouse ready for her..
Chione, meet the mouse. Mouse, meet your maker
Well, she wasn`t sure what to do.
She sniffed the mouse, sniffed my finger, sniffed the mouse, then struck out at me!
I went to the kitchen to wash the mouse smell off me, and returned to find chione struggling with the mouse... she couldn`t open her jaws enough to get a swallow going....
So of i go to the kitchen, mouse in hand..... CHOP!... returning with a somewhat slimmer mouse complete with all its nutritionally important innards..
this time, to avoid being bitten, i placed towels in the tank, put the bloody remains of the mouse on the towels then tried to put the snake in ... only she didnt want to.. no she wanted to try biting me again!
back to the kitchen.. more washing...
finally, i get chione n her tank and she starts cruising.. sniffing this , sniffing that so i give her a helpfull "nudge" in the right direction, only to get struck at again!
now starts a game.. with the bloody mouse making a great big stain on the towel right in front of her nose, she rises to a strike position, angling her head right towards my fingers.. so i move my fingers a little, her head follows, i move some more, she follows.. .. i withdrew b4 she bit me!
anyhow, she managed to eat her dinner in the end but boy, she made a fuss about it!
anyhow, thats the story, hope it amuses you all to read as much as it amused me to watch!
oh, and rachel, i`ve cleaned the table down afterwards and the knife is in the sink to be washed right after i`ve had my coffee, hope that suits you dear
