Feeding Day...

It always impresses me how aware the snakes are of their surroundings... usually. Don't get me wrong, there are some days and times when they can sleep so soundly you can poke and prod them all you want and they will just push you off, cover their eyes, and go back to sleep. But there is one thing that will catch the attention of even the heaviest sleeping snake - feeding day.

At this point I am pretty sure the snakes count the days between regular meals as they seem to have a unified "poo" the day before they get fed. If shedding, many of them seem to try to finish shedding before the scheduled feeding day since we don't feed if the snakes are shedding.

Once, even, we were not planning on feeding Kiseki because he was in shed, but before the last snake got their rat, he was already peeling back his head piece and rushing through his shed. I don't think I've ever seen a snake shed quite so quickly before or since.

I guess I should probably mention that the reason I am blathering about feeding day is because yesterday we fed all of our snakelings.

The snakes usually know something's up because we clean all the cages and check everyone to do a head count before we thaw the rats. If more than one bin opens up in that room, you can guarantee that at least two of the snakes in that room will take notice... Shiva and Quetzalcoatl (although Shiva usually takes notice of people in the room whether it's feeding day or not). Rest assured, Quetzalcoatl's nose pokes out from under his paper and he starts flicking his tongue. It usually isn't long before he's got his nose pressed against the glass and he's watching our every movement... or more specifically Dave's every movement, as Dave is usually the one who brings the rats into the room.

I am always interested to see each snake's feeding behavior, as some of them have very distinct mannerisms. Quetzalcoatl, when hungry, strikes hard but has poor aim. His little albino eyes just don't see very well. When not quite as hungry, or in a particularly lazy mood, he will simply open his mouth and gently take the rat from your hand.

Some of the snakes expect you to just drop the carcass in and go away - like our little Rose. She's not a people snake and she would much rather just eat off the floor of the cage than have a rat dangled for her... and usually Carnival prefers this as well.

Shiva, on the other hand, seems to enjoy the "thrill of the hunt" and you can often find him constructing "caves" out of newspaper inconspicuously (in his opinion) placed next to the water bowl. After all, eventually prey will have to come to get a drink. Last night, he had this such design going for him and it was quite interesting to watch his behavior. We dropped the rat into his cage (we feed frozen thaw so they are already dead) and he sniffed it, grabbed it by the back, and drug it into his newspaper "cave".

At any rate, I guess most people don't realize that snakes all have different feeding behavior. I really need to start taking video of my odd-ball-eaters. :)