Ok, when I feed my girl I leave the hide that she is in and her water bowl in her cage. She seems to feel more secure like that and usually makes a quicker kill.

Last time I fed her she struck and then coiled into her water bowl. There wasn't much water in it and her nose was out of the water so I didn't worry about it. She has also done that before and wiggled her way out of the water while coiled. Anyways, I was watching her and she shifted, and I couldn't tell if her nose was underwater or not. I didn't want to disturb her while she was constricting, so I just left her for a bit. I watched the whole time, and what seemed like long after she would have usually let go, she was still coiled. I got scared that she was drowning herself so I nudged her to see if she would jump....she didn't so I kinda freaked out. I lifted her hide (she was still half in her hide) and she was still breathing, so I nudged her again (good this time) and she finally uncoiled and started eating. Scared the life out of me.

That aside, later I was telling my b/f about it, and he was saying that to him, he thinks that an animal will let go of the food before they kill themselves like that. It just seems to me that if a snake were coiled around food, and was underwater, I don't know that they would let go. I agree with him that if it were a mammal, I can see it giving up the food and living, but I just don't know that I can see a reptile doing that....

What do you guys think? Any other experiences with this kind of thing with reptiles?