Introduced the mouse early in the evening, and she showed a lot of interest, even flexing her jaws several times. So, I left her alone and quiet. Returned later in the evening to find her now ignoring the mouse again. I was now starting to get a little concerned - at her size, she should have been ready for a feed by now. Was she going to be difficult?

I opened the viv with the intent of ‘teasing’ her with the mouse to encourage a strike. However, as soon as I moved it (with feeding tongues), she struck hard and held it. After dragging it across the viv and back again (no attempt to coil up on it) she happily swallowed it without any trouble. That’s a relief! Now I’ll wait a couple more days before trying another one

Also new to report is that ‘she’ now has a name - ‘Victoria’. A fitting name for a ‘Royal’ Python! After a great many suggestions from friends and family (including from my grandchildren), Victoria seems to have stuck for the formal name, however, she is also known more informally as ‘miss Vicky’. Not sure anyone would have referred to Queen Victoria in quite that way!

Tags: Snakes, Royal Python, Feeding