Why is my snake such a strange eater?

Ok so that's really a rhetorical question I guess. I've seen mine do stuff from killing and trying to eat a rat under water, to refusing to leave his hide to eat. He just sticks his head out and it looks like a turtle trying to swallow a rat. Not sure if my snake is just from the shallow end of the gene pool or if all ball pythons are such weirdos.

LOL, sounds normal to me! Alot of mine like to do the turtle eating a rat thing! One of my boas explodes out from under her hide when she strikes and throws her hide across the cage!

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Originally Posted by VooDooDoc

Ok so that's really a rhetorical question I guess. I've seen mine do stuff from killing and trying to eat a rat under water, to refusing to leave his hide to eat. He just sticks his head out and it looks like a turtle trying to swallow a rat. Not sure if my snake is just from the shallow end of the gene pool or if all ball pythons are such weirdos.

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I have a male that I ALWAYS remove the water dish now before feeding. He's extremely picky about positioning when swallowing and will drag the rat all over the place, including through the water, before he's satisfied enough to begin. His brilliant mind also decided that a wet rodent is not a tasty rodent. After having to toss out several soggy rats(100% his doing) he finally has me trained well enough that I remove all obstacles before feeding.

Two of my females are the same way, they eat in the craziest positions. My rescue male watches me feed the others in the room then gets on top of his hide and waits for me to drop them in and he strikes from above them. He refuses to eat any other way

I've heard of crazier things haha.

Seems pretty normal to me.

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Originally Posted by John1982

I have a male that I ALWAYS remove the water dish now before feeding. He's extremely picky about positioning when swallowing and will drag the rat all over the place, including through the water, before he's satisfied enough to begin. His brilliant mind also decided that a wet rodent is not a tasty rodent. After having to toss out several soggy rats(100% his doing) he finally has me trained well enough that I remove all obstacles before feeding.

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LOL! Not so dumb after all, are they?

Sounds perfectly normal to me. As long as your snake eats, I wouldn't worry too much about the method.