Alice the Bullsnake

Since the last dinner was a rather small rat for Alice, I will be trying to feed her again tomorrow. This time it is a mostly black rat weighing in at 121g. Also pay attention to your humidity in the winter where you are running a heater. I am having to supplement the moisture in the air for Alice again. Her habitat humidity dropped into the single digits when this cold spell hit and the rain slacked off.

Fed Alice a tri-colored medium rat today. She was hungry and a little grumpy. She pretty much kept letting our her little hisses while she was crawling around on my arms before putting her in the feeding bin. It’s pretty amusing since she does not even open her mouth. It’s much the same way we exhale loudly through our nose when we are getting impatient about something.

On Tuesday, Alice shed for the 13th time since I brought her home in January of 2009. I tried a 12″ saucer of sphagnum moss this time to increase the humidity in her habitat. It worked wonders. The humidity went from the low 30’s to the mid 40’s in a few hours. I had it in her habitat for about a week before she shed. I have tried other methods in the past however none were as effective or long lasting as the moss. The shed came off in one piece and in perfect condition. On Wednesday I fed the hungry girl a 153g f/t rat.

After mentioning that Alice looked like she was heading into another shed cycle, I could see the blue tinge in her eyes on Friday. She is curled up in one of her hides now. She will likely shed late this week or possibly early in the following week.

Also of note, I added links to a few of places I support on the left side of the page. Thanks, Jim

Alice is extra active considering she was fed yesterday. Noticing that her scales are rather dark right now and looking at the date of her last shed, I think she is going into another shed cycle. I will know for sure in a couple of days.

Fed Alice a 144g rat today. She had no problem with it as she is getting close to 6 foot long at approximately 2 years and 4 months of age. I also picked up my first order from Mice Direct. First impressions are that I am really going to enjoy using them as my feeder supplier. Even the way the rats are packed looks good. They were neatly lined up and frozen. Not just dumped into a bag and frozen all twisted together.

Had Alice out for a little while earlier today. I really wish my schedule allowed more time to handle her. Right now I have 2 or 3 days a week I can get her out and one of those days is a feeding day. At a little over 2 years old she is still a little nervous about handling. While I was working in her habitat yesterday she was rattling her tail a little bit. She was curious about what I was doing and at the same time a little nervous about approaching me. Today, while I had her out, she kept doing these low, closed mouth hisses. She never attempts to bite me though. She was just voicing her feelings that she would rather been left alone at that time. From my talks to breeders and what I have read, some members of the Pituophis family retain this behavior no matter how much they are handled.

I have found a new source for my frozen rats. At the last Repticon, I meet Heath from Mice Direct. I did not realize they were just a short drive from me. Yeah, I’ll give up an hour of my time yearly to pick up her tv dinners verses paying $30 – $40 in shipping. I will pick up my first order this week.

Sat down with Alice and watched the Matrix for a little while before feeding her tonight. Alice just sniffed around and patiently waited for me to place her into her feeding bin. She had a 125g rat last week. This next size up I had for her this week was 141g. She powered right through it. I can actually see a little bit of a lump in her this time.