The CRUSH Reflex?

[TimmyG]

Hi everyone, I just observed an unusual behaviour with my BP. I was feeding him and noticed he was trying to eat the mouse back end first. He was doing this for a long time and seemed to be having alot of trouble, he kept spitting it out and trying to find a better start point on the back end. I decided that he might need a little help so with the tongs i was going to try to turn the mouse around but when I went turn the mouse the snake felt it move and literally crushed the mouse. Thsi was not a normal constriction squeeze either, he literally crushed it, it made a very sick noise and even partialy evecerated the mouse. This makes sense for him to do becuase if a mouse wasnt really dead and only kocked out it could do the snake severe damage when it came to. Also, there was some loud construction in the basement of my apt woudl this have contributed to him crushing the mouse? For the record he did finish the mouse.

[hawaiianice99]

i assume he is just making sure its dead this time. oh, and dont worry about it eating it backwards, it will figure it out on its own.

[Jenn]

The construction probably had nothing to do with it. You should have just left it alone. Some BP's will take a rodent backwards. It's no big deal. Sooner or later they figure it out. Wait a week or so and try again. If he takes it backwards again just leave him alone and let him figure it out. If you're feeding FT zap the rodents head with a hair dryer just before feeding. If live, just let him be.

[pavlovk1025]

Im sure thats fine, but that is AWESOME. Your BPs new name should be overkill!

[Spaniard]

The behavior you witness is normal although we do not often see it in captivity. In the wild where bps live in termite mounds or rodent burrows crushing a prey item against the wall of a tunnel is another way to dispatch prey without having to strike and coil it.

[TimmyG]

Thanks! He crushed it using coils and I always feed frozen. Hes only eating them backwards because there smaller than his usual size. My pet store only has rat pups or adult mice at the moment so I'm feeding him multiple mice at the moment. Im considering becoming a rodent farmer just because it would fix my availability issue but I dont want to go that far...yet

[BeastMaster]

Take the step, rodent farming is easy. Then you always have the perfect size available.