butt first?

my baby snake just ate a rat fuzzie, i have always been told that eating head first is the way to go with feeding a snake. is it ok if they try to eat it butt first? and get it down? it wont hurt him right?

It happens from time to time no big deal.

i use to have a baby ball do it every time it ate then one day after he let go to get lined up for meal i moved mouse around so he ate it head first he never tried to eat it butt first again after that. but in general it happens from time to time with all species be it more heat from the butt or more scent who knows but something makes them all do it from time to time

but no it shouldn't hurt your snake

They all do it from time to time.

My sub adult male will do it when his meal is a little on the small size.

Like the others said, no need to worry.

Bowline (my Milk Snake) is a goofball when it comes to eating. She's so silly. Half the time she'll grab her mouse and try to eat it sideways which of course NEVER works...then she'll half the time eat it butt-first. :rolleyes: Hasn't hurt her yet...I'm of the opinion she's either insane or just stupid. ;) Very entertaining though!!!!

My boa spent about ten minutes trying to figure out why she couldn't get the mouse down butt first. Then another 5 mins trying to get it down sideways. Finally she found the head. It all depends on the snake I guess.

haha yup, nothing to worry about. My boyfriend's snake always tried to eat things sideways, and then it would give up and go for the rear. One day I had to go over and help him. We literally had to put the mouse's head in it's mouth, then it got the picture and started to eat things the right way from then on.

"Most of the time" when they eat backwards the prey item is too small.

I've had a couple of occasions when a large female ate a large asf backwards, but it's pretty rare.
I've never heard of an issue with them doing so.

I fed my girl today a she ate it butt first. First time for her.