Tuesday, April 16, 2013

And Once Again All is Well

As per the title, all is now right with the world.

To address the issue of least concern, Sarah's shed was taken care of.  I gave her a week to get it off herself, but when that failed I put her in a pillowcase with a damp washcloth, and placed the entire assembly half on and half off her UTH inside her enclosure.  30 minutes later it had softened beautifully and the Gum Zombie and I were able to peel it off her head in one piece, including eyecaps.

Next up, Scales ate last week.  He not only ate, but it only took offering him his meal twice (as opposed to the boy's more standard 4-5 time requirement).  Hooray for cinny boy!

And finally, there's Slither, the most beloved snake extant.  We got him mouse pinks this week as opposed to the ASFs he so clearly loathed.  I was just positive he'd leap on the mouse.

I was so wrong. Once again, he moved away from rather than toward his food.  But I did notice he didn't display as much of an aversion to it, so after offering a bit failed I instead closed him in his feeding container (a Gladware tub with lid and ventilation in the sides and top) and placed that on top of the substrate inside his enclosure.  I then threw one of the Gum Zombie's jackets on top of the tank and left for 30 minutes.

When Choreboy and I returned, presto!  No more pink and a distinct bulge in Slither's little midsection.

Whew.  Maybe he just needs privacy, or maybe he needed a little time to realize this is the food he likes.  Regardless, it's such a relief.  I hope he'll take his food the normal way this week, but if not at least I've got a backup method.

Oh, on a final note, I caught Lucy in the act of shedding on Saturday!  I'd gone in to do the weekly scrub-down of the ball python bins, and saw her using her warm hide to help pull off her shed.  She didn't really like the fact that I came into the room, though, so I left MY bedroom in the metaphorical hands of my snake and came back a little later.  It was a perfect shed, and she's gorgeous.

It all works out.  Eventually :)