How Big Is TOO Big??? 911!!!

[Lioness]

...as far as prey for Fendi?? my boyfriend went out to get a rat for her today and got one that I think was too big. It was a bit bigger than the thickest part of her. Like maybe one and a half of her, width wise. Fendi still struck at it..killed it..and then left it alone for a bit as she circled around the box looking for more. We left her in there alone for a second while i had something to take care of.. then when i came back she was trying to consume it. She is still trying now..and is having some trouble.. ok..alot of trouble. But im not sure how to get her to stop trying to eat it long enough to get her back in her enclosure and go get her another rat. HELP!

[JimiSnakes]

How big is she? The snake I mean. Once she's begun, it could be worse for her if you stopped her than if she ate it. She might not eat for awhile afterwards though and I would be much more careful next time.

[ladywhipple02]

This actually happened with our milksnake once. I got a mouse that was just slightly too large for him. He couldn't get his jaws wide enough to get around the hips. He spat up what he'd already swallowed and I treated it as a regurge... didn't give him anything else for another week. He ate fine, then, and hasn't had any problems since.

[snaker35]

I actually just fed my female about 15 min ago a rat that was little bigger than her. She killed it and then kinda took her time before starting to eat. She did get it down though without much problem.


I'm sure she'll get it down and you should may'be give her a little extra time b4 feeding her again if it is indeed a BIG meal.


On a side note, is anyone else finding it hard to find proper sized prey? I had to go to 4 different pet stores today to find an appropriate sized rat. I still couldn't find one, I had to get a small rat instead of a rat pup. I did find the smallest small rat there but it is annoying going all over the place looking for the right sized prey. I'm in Burlington, On. Canada.

Good Luck lioness I'm sure she'll get that big sucker down

[Lioness]

I actually just fed my female about 15 min ago a rat that was little bigger than her. She killed it and then kinda took her time before starting to eat. She did get it down though without much problem.


I'm sure she'll get it down and you should may'be give her a little extra time b4 feeding her again if it is indeed a BIG meal.


On a side note, is anyone else finding it hard to find proper sized prey? I had to go to 4 different pet stores today to find an appropriate sized rat. I still couldn't find one, I had to get a small rat instead of a rat pup. I did find the smallest small rat there but it is annoying going all over the place looking for the right sized prey. I'm in Burlington, On. Canada.

Good Luck lioness I'm sure she'll get that big sucker down

thanks for the advice!
she finally got it down..and she's kept it down so far. i put her in her tank after the meal..and she's been in her warm hide ever since. i think she'll be fine. im just gunna give her about 10 days til her next meal.

[4Khan]

Lola had a rat that was to large for her...took her a while to get it down. and she kinds lifted her head up after she struck at it and curled around it like "yeah ok!"


she got it down and since then we leave her alone longer and wait longer for the next feed. sometimes you get stuck with prey thats larger than you hope for. we all have that problem every now and then i think.

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

On a regular basis that is too big, but snakes can eat suprisingly large meals at times

How visible is the lump now that your snake has swallowed it?

[Lioness]

pretty visible... she looks like a fat little piggy now.. lol

she looks fine though.. only problem is that when she gets in her cave/hide..she curls up in it and lifts it up a bit.

[Lioness]

here are pics of how big her bulge was. I fed her last monday.. and Im hoping she's "gone" by now. Im going to check her tank out later tonight.

[recycling goddess]

that was her bulge? that's nothing to worry about at all.

my corn snake ate something too large and it looked like he swallowed a very large marble... and yes, he did a regurge. it was a HUGE lesson in "this is the wrong way to feed..."

i'll skip a feed rather than giving a prey item which is too large.