BP ate hopper backwards!!??

[reptilelove18]

i fed my female BP (bout 9-10 months old) a juvenille mouse on sunday and she ate it from the butt instead of from the head.. i've never had her do this and my boa has never done it either. i thought it would be okay because it was quite a bit smaller then the largest part of her body and she got it down just fine. is there any negative consquences for her doing it this way? will she have any problems with it since she ate it that way??

[3skulls]

It's fine. I have had a number of snakes eat them butt first. No problems at all.

Sometimes it's just harder for them to get their mouth around the legs when going backwards.

No worries.

[reptilelove18]

glad to hear that!!
since it was fairly small compared to the largest part of her body, she had no problem getting around its legs and munching it down.
thanks for the reply shes just been in her hide more then usual the last several days but i think that may have to do with all of her toys are out of the terrarium as she is getting treated with mites and all her stuff is being treated outside the terrarium. i think shes mad i havent put it all back in yet!

[DooLittle]

Backwards isn't a problem, she will be fine. I have had balls do that, and a boa that liked to eat them sideways for awhile. She is probably hiding and digesting. If she is hiding more or longer than normal, perhaps a shed is coming.

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[reptilelove18]

i thought maybe she was gonna be shedding soon but she shed less then a month ago, but im not sure how often they shed at this age either!

[Burzurk]

Yeah that's fine one of my ball pythons will always try to eat it from the sides first and then from behind kinda funny to watch but that is fine they usually figure it out after awhile

[reptilelove18]

she has definitely tried to eat them from the side a time or two! lol. my boa is famous for trying to eat them from the side, luckily she never has really done it.
i also have another question, how often do young ball pythons shed? i know that they generally grow 3 feet in their first three years and then grow slower after that. shes about 9 or 10 months old right now

[tipposan]

My Ball Python did that when he was smaller and I didn't see any reason to be concerned. He didn't seem to have any problems.

When he got bigger...meaning larger feeders, he took a couple of them sideways. One time he was not able to take it down and ended up throwing it up after about 3 hours of trying.

Now that we are feeding him rats, I get really concerned if he tries to take it backwards cause the nails seem to be quite a bit longer than on a mouse. I am just really careful to present the head to him. Even though I am careful with that, he has had one or two from the butt and no problems to date.