I thought Alice was getting ready to shed. She was right at six weeks since the last shed. She had also been hiding since she was fed last Tuesday. When I got home from running errands today I went in the office to she what she was up to. She was out and about and did not look like she was searching for something rough to rub against. I decided to go ahead and feed her since she was acting hungry.
I held her for a little while before I placed her in the feeding bin. I thawed out her usual two large mice. The sides of her feeding bin are an opaque white and provide her with more security while I am working around her in the office after feeding time. On the downside, it makes it hard for me to tell where her head is when I open the bin. I had everything ready to go. The lid was loose and the mouse was completely thawed, a little warm and held securely in the tongs. When I could tell her head was on the other end of the bin, I opened the feeding end to put the mouse in where Alice would see it. She apparently saw the mouse as soon as I opened the lid. As I was lowering the mouse, she launched herself across the feeding bin at the mouse. She missed the mouse and landed halfway outside the feeding bin.
Now I have an issue. I have a hungry four foot long Bull Snake with half of her body hanging over the side of the bin and the hands that I would usually handle her with now smell like mouse from handling the dead rodent. She is tense, however she is not frantic at this point. That is good. She smells of the tongs that I am holding an looks back towards the feeding bin. I take my forearm (free of mouse aroma) and lift her back up into her feeding bin. At this point she has not seen the mouse laying on the floor of it. As I start to close the lid, she lets out a nice, long hiss. Kind of like saying “I am hungry, I want my dinner and I want to eat in peace”. Like a good waiter I comply with her request and bring her the second mouse about forty-five minutes after she ingests the first one. For some odd reason, I am much quicker in placing the second mouse inside for her 😉