Stupid Feeding Errors

Stupid Feeding Errors

Sometimes reptile keepers make stupid mistakes whilst feeding their animals. These are known as SFE's. Here are mine.

On feeding day, I went to get my very large female stimsoni out of her cage to eat. She was inside her log, and showed no signs of coming out. I wriggled my fingers at her, to encourage her to move. She moved alright - straight at my hand like lightening. Ouch!

Don't forget to wash your hands between feeding animals - my hand smelt of rat.

While feeding my male stimsoni a mouse, I had my hand laid on the floor near him. Talking to my niece, I didn't notice him finish his mouse and slither over to my hand, where he very delicately proceeded to try and swallow my little finger. It didn't hurt, but felt very strange. He got as far as the first joint, then decided I wasn't worth the effort......

On a couple of occasions, whilst putting snakes back into their cages, I've been constricted, as they considered they hadn't had a full meal. My fault again, for not washing my hands after handling food. Most SFE's are the fault of the keeper, not the reptile. Now I keep a bottle of hand cleanser next to the cages for use between feeds.