Snake At Work and The Mouse

[Tcvancoops]

So for those of you who don't know, I work in a pet store, and one of my jobs is to feed the snakes.  Not my favorite thing to do; I don't like feeding live rodents to the snakes.  But they have to eat too so I do it, and I love my snakes.   One of our snakes is a beautiful female ball python that I've named Canaan.  (Don't ask.) 

 

Weirdest thing she did today.  She has never done this before.  I had to clean the snake tanks today.  So during tank cleaning day each snake gets a rat or mouse, and then I can safely clean their tanks while they eat.  Canaan was asleep when I put her mouse in her tank.  I had to pick her up to wake her up, and then out her back down in her tank.  It took her a while to full wake up and notice the mouse.  She took longer than usual to kill the mouse, but I didn't think anything of it.  I saw that she was smelling the mouse when it was alive but not biting.  Eventually she bit it and it died.  I waited for some time for her to start eating, and then when I went to go clean the tank but the mouse is still in the tank (dead).  I go away for a bit to see if she'll eat it, but she still didn't eat it.  But this is the weirdest part: she laid next to it the entire time and would use her nose to push on the mouse, then wait and look at it.  It looked like she was trying to revive the mouse.  I'm sure that wasn't what she was doing but she kept doing it and wouldn't leave the mouse.  I wasn't going to take the dead mouse out because even though Canaan has never bit me, a snake will more than always bite if there is food nearby and when they're in hunting mode.  I told my boss about what she did and he looked ats confused as I was.  It was so weird.  Maybe you guys have thlights, but regardless of whatever was going through Canaan's head it was out of her usual behavior.  I know she's more tired since it's winter time, but again I've fed her through all seasons and I've never seen this.  We'll see if the mouse is still in the tank next time I'm at work,

[Precision]

25 minutes ago, Tcvancoops said:

So for those of you who don't know, I work in a pet store, and one of my jobs is to feed the snakes.  Not my favorite thing to do; I don't like feeding live rodents to the snakes.  But they have to eat too so I do it, and I love my snakes.   One of our snakes is a beautiful female ball python that I've named Canaan.  (Don't ask.) 

 

Weirdest thing she did today.  She has never done this before.  I had to clean the snake tanks today.  So during tank cleaning day each snake gets a rat or mouse, and then I can safely clean their tanks while they eat.  Canaan was asleep when I put her mouse in her tank.  I had to pick her up to wake her up, and then out her back down in her tank.  It .  It was so weird.  Maybe you guys have thlights, but regardless of whatever was going through Canaan's head it was out of her usual behavior.  I know she's more tired since it's winter time, but again I've fed her through all seasons and I've never seen this.  We'll see if the mouse is still in the tank next time I'm at work,

I don't know Van...maybe the Canaanite is getting just a little finicky and wants a bigger meal, like one of those rats that love to devour pepperoni  pizzas  and drag them down the subway staircases!         Please don't let her bite you.    

[Friends just call me Ross]

How cool that you work in a Pet Shop.    

I would love to take care of the birds.

But snakes?  I'm outta there!!!

[Tcvancoops]

1 hour ago, Precision said:

I don't know Van...maybe the Canaanite is getting just a little finicky and wants a bigger meal, like one of those rats that love to devour pepperoni  pizzas  and drag them down the subway staircases!         Please don't let her bite you.    

Nah I know how to handle her.  I just gotta see if she eats the mouse later.  If not, just gotta wait until she goes back to sleep.  She prefers rats for dinner, but she'll eat a mouse if she sees I'm not giving her a rat.  She's never just killed her meal then leave it.  And especially doesn't keep nuzzling it to see if it'll move again.  My strange little girl

[Tcvancoops]

1 hour ago, Friends just call me Ross said:

How cool that you work in a Pet Shop.    

I would love to take care of the birds.

But snakes?  I'm outta there!!!

I love my snakes.  We recently lost one of our older ones.  He was the smallest but the oldest out of the bunch.  Now we have, Joker the corn snake, Canaan the ball python (my favorite), and Cranky the actual evil snake from the garden of Eden (and feeding him is mission impossible every time).

[Precision]

We mostly have Western Diamondbacks,  Mohaves and Side Winders here.   They don't care for the cages too much,  mostly just the front porch  Ramada and wait for you stealthily in the shade underneath the car.