Failed Feeding Problems. Need help!!!

So about an hour and a half ago my BP struck and coiled his first small rat, and then he drug it back into his hide and attempted to eat it. It all seemed fine and dandy until about an hour and a half later he started rolling around like a crocodile would after it latches onto something, and he flung himself out of his hide. He failed to figure out how to properly eat the larger prey and I knew something was going very wrong, so I removed the small rat (50 gms) from the tank, and now I am waiting to see what I should do. I'm worried that he might be injured or get overly stressed and something bad might happen. Do I need to take him to a vet? I'm worried he might die or something... This hasn't happened in the 12 years I've had snakes... He's acting delusional and stuff.

Not sure what you mean. He constricted and tried to eat it for an hour and a half, then flung the rat out of the hide? It shouldn't take that long to swallow if he was trying. Perhaps your prey is too big?

You said 50 grams but how big is the snake?

And what do you mean he's being delusional?

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Originally Posted by hungba

Not sure what you mean. He constricted and tried to eat it for an hour and a half, then flung the rat out of the hide? It shouldn't take that long to swallow if he was trying. Perhaps your prey is too big?

You said 50 grams but how big is the snake?

And what do you mean he's being delusional?

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I meant that he constricted it for a little bit and then attempted to get his jaw around the rat for an hour and a half. My BP is 320 gms and the rat is of the same girth and my snake. And by "flung the rat" I mean't flung his body with the rat in his mouth outside the hide. I'm beginning to think that he started to eat it, and then regurgitated it for some reason, because I know that the prey wasn't overly large for him. Do you think that he just couldnt position the rat correctly to swallow it, and then got tired so he basically gave up and regurgitated what he had swallowed?

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Originally Posted by rgalanti21

I meant that he constricted it for a little bit and then attempted to get his jaw around the rat for an hour and a half. My BP is 320 gms and the rat is of the same girth and my snake. And by "flung the rat" I mean't flung his body with the rat in his mouth outside the hide. I'm beginning to think that he started to eat it, and then regurgitated it for some reason, because I know that the prey wasn't overly large for him. Do you think that he just couldnt position the rat correctly to swallow it, and then got tired so he basically gave up and regurgitated what he had swallowed?

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Perhaps more experienced people can chime in, but I don't see how he could have regurgitated it if he didn't take it down in the first place, right? He couldn't get it in his jaw, you said?

How's he acting now? You mentioned he was "delusional". Is he acting normal now?

It sounds like maybe your snake was trying to eat the rat from the backside, rather than head first, or from the side and couldn't get it turned. I would wait a week and try a smaller prey item.:snake:

Hi,

I'd heat the head up ( and only the head ) really well with a hairdrier and offer it to him again.


dr del

I'm pretty sure what R&DP said was what happened. It appeared as if he originally got part of it swallowed but then regirgitated it a little bit, and then attemped to eat it again. Because I examined the prey and noticed that the back half (tail end) visibly been swallowed. How long until I should offer food again? A week? Or 5 days like I have been doing.

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

I'd heat the head up ( and only the head ) really well with a hairdrier and offer it to him again.


dr del

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I second this. It isn't really a regurge if it never made it to his stomach.