Mouse eaten while still alive?!

[Kateesaurus]

So third feed happened tonight, I figure my guy is a baby still so he's still sorta figuring things out but I'm pretty sure the mouse he ate today(very small fuzzy) was still alive as he was swallowing it! Should I be worried?

[2kdime]

Kickin and screamin!

It happens sometimes

[Adam Chandler]

yeah it happens, especially when they are young. Won't hurt your snake, just the mouse

Back when my Lesser was a baby he used to do it all the time, even got a video from back when it used to freak me out:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwvsWeeK9jg

[Kateesaurus]

Ok phew, good to know. He literally was squeaking all the way down! There was also some weird squirming in my bp's neck, poor guy.

[BbyBoa]

its not gonna hurt him, but that mouse is WAY to small for him, and that is prob why it didn't kill it first. He can take full grown mice without problem at that size. Bump the size up and he will start killing his food .

[mainbutter]

My first snake (a corn) would sometimes just eat pinkies live without killing 'em.

It just happens sometimes.

[Kateesaurus]

Oh I know he can take larger ones but he was recently dehydrated and not eating properly so the vet suggested feeding him small fuzzies every few days. I'm moving the size up slowly.

[CoolioTiffany]

Judging from a snake's stomach acid, that rodent probably wasn't alive for very long anyway. Happens sometimes, but no harm done.

[Matt K]

I remember how stunned I was when the first happened with one of my snakes. Definitely not the easiest thing to see, and it definitely is worrying that first time. As everyone has stated though, it's pretty normal to see this every now and again, especially with inexperienced feeders. A good way to encourage them to constrict is to tug a little bit on the tail of the prey item (or whatever part is more tug-able) after they strike at it and have it securely in their mouths. If they think it's putting up more of a struggle, they'll put in the extra effort to subdue it.

Cheers,
-Matt