Dont know whats happening

[royal constrictor]

Tonight i tried for the first time to feed my boy a rat pup... the rat is just a tad bit wider than the snake, shouldnt be a big deal ... and so he strikes and constricts ... waits until he thinks its dead then unravels and he starts moving his jaws like hes trying to draw the rat deeper into his mouth, then realizes that hes bitten the middle of the rat. he lets go, looks for the face, finds it and then crawls all over the dead rat and goes back into his hide... i gave him about 20 minutes but still he didnt swallow it. is this normal ... should i have left the rat in the cage longer?

[I-KandyReptiles]

Mine do that sometimes. I'll pick up the now dead rodent and dangle in front of them. Sometimes they'll just loose interest or theyll stike. Not sure why they'll kill it then not eat it >_>

[royal constrictor]

ok thanks ill try again in several hours.... if he doesnt take it then ill give him a day

[Valentine Pirate]

Some snakes will eat it if you leave the rat in there. My mojave male will strike and almost always hit the middle, constrict it for 10+ minutes, and then spend 5 to 30 minutes (or longer!) figuring out how he's going to try and eat it. A lot of the time he eats them backwards or at an angle, but if I just leave it with him overnight he'll take care of it 90% of the time

[royal constrictor]

ill keep that in mind .... thanks

[Sama]

My pastel is easily distracted and does that, after I see her strike I can't open her tub for at least 20 mins or I might mess her up and she will forget it, its about 50/50 if she will remember it later, if I check back 30-40 mins later and its still there I usually dangle it in front of her to try to get her to strike, if she does we are usually good.

[royal constrictor]

so after 5 strikes and constrictions in one night he finally swallowed it.... im guessing it was just cause it was the largest size feeder he has had so far... he didnt know go for the nose because on the 5th and final strike he caught the rat right on the nose and then it took him a little over half hour to swallow the rat... i think next week ill drop down a size .... btw hes 95g and he just swallowed a 27g rat pup... the pup was about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 the width of my boy... left a pretty good size lump in him

- - - Updated - - -

so after 5 strikes and constrictions in one night he finally swallowed it.... im guessing it was just cause it was the largest size feeder he has had so far... he didnt know go for the nose because on the 5th and final strike he caught the rat right on the nose and then it took him a little over half hour to swallow the rat... i think next week ill drop down a size .... btw hes 95g and he just swallowed a 27g rat pup... the pup was about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 the width of my boy... left a pretty good size lump in him

[Coleslaw007]

Not sure why they'll kill it then not eat it >_>

Because they're evil killing machines that hate life and live only to destroy it! Muwhahaha!