Baby bp can't position prey to swallow

[jlane0331]

Hey guys, the last two times I've fed her she tries to swallow rat sideways and get visibly frustrated to where I have to intervene. Has anyone had this experience before?

She weighs about 120 and I feed her live fuzzy and pinky rats.

[Inknsteel]

Just give them time and they'll figure it out. If the rat is already dead, no need to intervene.

[Rob]

Give it time, it should be able to find the nose after a while.

[satomi325]

Babies will sometime try more than once to position the rat. They may let go and try again in a better position.

[Raven01]

She'll figure it out soon enough as everyone has said.
The new YB female here isn't as adept an eater as the OG male yet, her first feeding her she swallowed her rat backwards. I feed F/T and will be trying warming the head more than the rest of the rat. If that doesn't work I'll have to brain the rat. I'm not sure if there are any tricks to help your snake learn with live other than time.

[Pythonfriend]

is this really such a big deal? i mean, as long as the rhodent ends up in the snake, what can go wrong?

just asking because i remember breeders in videos talking about it, coming to the conclusion that if the snake eats it backwards or folds it, you should move to a bigger food size next time.

[ericarditti]

mine did the same thing when i fed him, kept grabbing the mouse from behind the head, eventually he got it

[BPro927]

Walk away! Baby's do not walk out of a womb! They learn to walk later. Don't stress or you will stress the snake.

[rlditmars]

If your snake is 120 grams, pinks and fuzzys are probably a little small. You should bump up to rat pups and that may help the snake better determine the head. I've notice with smaller prey items they sometimes start on the front arms almost as if they are confusing it for the head. None the less as others here have said, they figure it out just as they would in the wild.

[gaiaeagle]

My female blood python once spent 30 mins trying to get a rat down sideways. Eventually she figured out how to eat it. Several of mine still eat their food backwards once in a while. I wouldn't worry about them doing silly things like that.