Is my BP striking incorrectly during feeding?

[bender29]

My BP of around 3 months old seems to incorrectly strike the prey I give him, assuming the "correct way" is going for the head/neck area. I have fed him 4 times now (an adult mouse); each and every time he has struck the prey in the lower half of it's body and then wrapped around it. This leaves the mouse's head wide open and flailing. I'm worried of a nasty bite due to this.

One time, the mouse's mouth was getting to close for comfort so I had to yank it back with tongs while my BP killed it.

I guess my real question is, is this normal for them to strike this way? I always thought they aimed for the neck area as to avoid getting bit. Maybe my Apollo is just a bad shot, lol.

[Tulljunkie]

Mine's only a few weeks older than yours and, though it's pretty clumsy with maneuvering the prey for swallowing, seems just fine with the strike.

I feed F/T, though, so it really doesn't matter where the strike is and I've no way to tell if the BP's "doing it right", by whatever standard.

I was wondering kind of the same thing, though, I guess; how sharp the feeding skill-set is in the young as an instinctive thing.

[frankykeno]

If I see a bit of a constriction mis-cue it's always in the youngest ones. Some quickly get the control the head, control the prey concept, others it takes awhile but none of them ever let the rodent chew them up. Some of them never do grab the head but coil so quickly right behind the head that the prey is safely held by them.

As long as your snake is eating an appropriately sized prey item and it's a healthy snake on a regular feeding schedule, it will figure it out.

[bender29]

If I see a bit of a constriction mis-cue it's always in the youngest ones. Some quickly get the control the head, control the prey concept, others it takes awhile but none of them ever let the rodent chew them up. Some of them never do grab the head but coil so quickly right behind the head that the prey is safely held by them.

As long as your snake is eating an appropriately sized prey item and it's a healthy snake on a regular feeding schedule, it will figure it out.

Hopefully he figures it out soon