Thank you for all of your replies. I will try to address all the questions/comments.
Jackie, he is not my snake (I have been babysitting it for a very long time). I am hoping to be rid of him soon (the owner actually finally called the other day for the first time in a long time). Then you can come over and see my new chid setup when it is ready. The only reason I kept him is because I said I would!
The last time I fed him (when he bit me) was not the first time by any means. I used to help feed him alot before I took him in, and now I have had him for about a year and a half, so I have been feeding him by myself for most of that time. Initially my b/f helped, but he doesnt' live in the same state, so I can't rely on that.
As far as throwing the mouse (or in this case the rat) into his cage, that is not an option for me because supposedly then they associate any warm item of a simliar size coming into their cage with prey. After getting bit once I want to continue to do anything I can to keep him from thinking my hand is dinner! I also use the time he is eating to clean up his cage, wash his water dish, replace bedding, etc. So, that being said, I feed him in the bathtub and so the transfer of him from the cage to tub is the scary part. After he is fed, I am not as concerned to get him back into the cage since he is full.
Onto the pet rat. I knew a lady who kept rats for pets. They are extremely social and very sweet. She would take them out to play on her bed and they just loved her. So, they can really make a great pet if you can get past that tail...
And, yes, alot of snake owners will bang the rat against a wall (while still in the bag or box it came in) to stun the rat. I let my b/f do this once and it was not a pretty picture, so I switched over to frozen rats. That is much easier, you just thaw them out and feed. I know it grosses people out, but again the not have live prey is supposed to help them be less aggressive also.
If I missed any other comments, sorry!
As for snakey (name is Slithers and no I did not name him), he finally got fed last night. I decided against using gloves because I still wanted him to know I was handling him. I used a plastic coat hanger to kind of loop over his head and part of the way up his neck. Then I just grabbed the back end of him and carried his head area with the coat hanger and back end with my bare hand. I got him to the tub successfully. He did come up at my hand a bit when I was dropping in the rat, but I wiggled the rat a bit and he took it. So, that was that. I was pretty freaked out, but it worked out OK.
I am planning on returning him to his owner, so hopefully I won't have to deal with this again. If I do, at least I have a couple weeks to get my nerve back up!
Thank you for everyone's responses and concerns!
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