Goldie is a little bit special. Some would call her touched. In a money-driven society, people will breed brothers against the sisters in order to get the awesome coloring that Goldie has. That is her handicap.
But she suffers in a couple different ways because of all that that happened to her during her conception.
Due to her size, seven feet long, it is tough to find food for her at the pet stores. And I always buy frozen animals to feed her because I don't like killing.
Also due to her impediment, it's dangerous to feed her live animals that actually have skills as far as instinct and survival. Goldie doesn't really have those.
Take today, for example. I went to get a rat for her. For many months now the pet store does not have rats. I tried to feed her a mouse, but it's too small for her mouth and she ends up biting into her own body trying to push it into her mouth.
The man at the pet store brought out a mouse and something else that looked as big as a rat and he said, "I can sell you these." I told him I did not have much of a choice. So I paid for a frozen baby bunny and a frozen mouse. Then I brought them home.
The above photos tell the story of what happened next.
After thawing and putting the animals out in the sun, I gave Pancho his mouse and I dangled the face of the rabbit in front of Goldie's nose. And she struck and grabbed it.
As usual, she tried to constrict on it, but couldn't quite do that. That is why she can't have live prey. She would not be able to kill it. Then she lost her prey, I mean, she could not find it. She looked at me standing ten feet away as if I had taken it.
I left her alone to search for it on her own and she did not find it.
After about 20 minutes when she was looking toward the wall, I snuck up with some tongs and grabbed the animal. Again, as the first time, I grabbed it by the feet and hung it face down near Goldie, and this time she got it by the head.
She was finally able to eat it normally. But she usually needs this type of assistance, nine times out of ten, when feeding time comes.
You can see how close she comes to biting herself as she pushes her throat through a loop in her body to eat the prey.
She finally got it, although she wasn't really squeezing it like most constrictors do.
These last 3 photos were taken all within 10 or 15 seconds of each other. I had to work fast to get her to the bathtub.
Now, a normal boa constrictor or python would regurgitate their meal if you tried to lift them up while they're eating, but not Goldie.
This gives me an advantage because whenever she finishes eating one animal, everything that comes near her face is able to be eaten in her mind, including my hand or my arm. Her scent receptors are still going crazy and she will not stop to think about what she is eating.
Using a motorcycle jacket and thick leather gloves, I picked her up moments after the above photo was shot. And I carried her to the bathroom. And while I was in route down the hallway, she got the rest of the animal into her neck and had her mouth closed. She was ready to bite again.
If she had bitten, she would have gotten a mouth full of gloves, which has happened many times before. She did not bite though. I lucked out.
Yes, I had a warm bath all ready for her and I plopped her in before she could bite.
You can see her meal here in the picture of her right after I dropped her in the tub. You have her head, one bend, another bend, and then the part in which the rabbit is currently residing.
We can't call that her stomach because her stomach is another 25 inches further along her body. So it's still in her throat.
I have learned over the years how to feed her and what the easiest way to avoid being bitten is.
Once she is in the water for about 15 minutes, sometimes it takes 30, she remembers that she's a pet snake and that she's very attention starved, needing to be taken out and walked around the house on my shoulders.
Thirty years ago or so, I had another snake that was slightly larger than Goldie. She was a female boa constrictor, and she gave birth to over two hundred babies over the course of the years that I had her.
I could handle that snake right after she ate a rabbit, which was her favorite meal. Goldie, on the other hand, can smell blood or fur from 50 feet away easily. She doesn't know how to hunt. She knows that food is in the room and she'll strike at anything.
Maybe in a future post, I'll let you know what happens when I don't put her right into the bathtub after eating.
everyone asks: No, these snakes do not have poison and they do not have faings.