Breathing while eating?

This is just a general question, purely my own curiosity.

I was watching Amber eat the other day, and something dawned on me. Do Bps and other snakes breathe while they are swallowing their prey? Same goes for blood flow and other processes like that. I would think that the channels for air and blood might become temporarily strained while swallowing something that stretches their neck to 4-5 times its normal size.

I really should do some research on snake anatomy.

Anyone know what's up with this?

If you've ever opened a BP's mouth, you'd see a tube coming up out of its throat. That's the trachea. It protrudes out that far so they can breathe while eating.

Here's some more information on the subject: http://137.222.110.150/calnet/irish_...%20system.html

Click on "Back to Snake Index" to see a couple more interesting topics.

they do breath as they eat. i cant remember what the little hole in their mouth is called bc i'm a moron, but they definitely use it while they eat.

btw, i have a cool example of this... from yesterday, when my older male that hadnt eaten in 6 months ate his gerbil... he pulled it into his water dish and began to devour it under water, and you could see bubbles coming out as well as him coming up for a breath. it was sweet.

And thats another thing, Amber usually starts to squirm after about 20 mins of handling or so, so I put her in after that. Sometimes she'll hide in her water dish, staying underwater for a minute or so. I can't help but sit there and watch as I see her not come up for a breath. Do snakes have that natural reflex to hold their breath under water like some other mammals do?

Isn't it called the glottus?

K