Normal Behavior?

[katach]

Normally when I offer food to Willow she snaps it right up. Today I was hand feeding her her favorite salmon snack and she was gingerly opening her mouth, and gently taking the food. Is that normal behavior? Or is she just still a little weak from having the babies? She is still very active in the enclosure and drinking water.

[kibakiba]

Sometimes when they notice your hands, they're more careful so they can grab the food, and not your fingers. Mama does it too, if I give her a treat between feedings.

[Starling96]

Mine did that to
But it wa his first time So he wasn't sure about what to think

[katach]

Ok. She's always been gentle to hold and interact with. She didn't even musk when she was caught. I've just never had her be so gentle eating. I was worried she was weak from the birthing.

[kibakiba]

She could be a little weak from it, but as long as she was healthy before birthing, she should be fine. Mama bounced back really quickly after having her litter.

[katach]

That makes me feel better. Our order of pinkies didn't come in today like it was supposed to, so worms and salmon for all. Hopefully it will be here Monday. They love their pinkies!

[kibakiba]

My snakes love them too. Thumbelina and the newer babies all think they can eat a whole pinky and try stealing it from Mama and Runt. They're about 5-10 times smaller than the pinkies :p

[katach]

Awww. So cute! :)

[ConcinusMan]

Big Bertha does that ever since she accidentally nailed me a couple times. Now if I use my fingers, she very carefully checks things out to make sure of what is food and what is fingers. Smart girl.

Of course, when it's rat pinks, all bets are off and she just violently nails it.:rolleyes:

[RedSidedSPR]

Big Bertha sounds a lot smarter than my adult in that sense.:D

[ConcinusMan]

She actually feels around using her "lips". I think she's checking for heat. If it's warm, she's careful not to bite it.

[RedSidedSPR]

Wow. I like Big Bertha.:D

I've noticed some very smart things about my snakes, but when there's food involved....

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, well like I said, if it's rat pinks, she turns into a vicious killer that doesn't give a damn about you or anything other than eating that pink. And if she nails you, you definitely feel it and bleed a lot.

[katach]

Yeah she's pretty snappy when pinkies are offered, but I'd just never had her be so gentle with her salmon treat before. I guess it's ok though, right?

[RedSidedSPR]

Right.

[katach]

Thanks!

[kibakiba]

Mama is like that with pinkies and salmon, she just nails it and doesn't give a crap if she makes my hand swell up with her bite. But, with little wormy treats between feeding she'll very slowly and gingerly take it from my fingers. Once her mouth hit my hand while she was doing this, and she actually opened her mouth wider and pulled away, like she was trying hard not to hurt me. It was cute.

[d_virginiana]

Houdini is really cautious when he takes food from my hands. He used to be pretty intense.. I think maybe his eyes aren't as good as they used to be though, and for about the last year or so he's been being really careful to avoid my fingers. He'll gently scrape Harley's leftover pinky bits off my thumb, it's really sweet.