Stop trying to eat the mouse butt first!!

Why can't my ball python eat the mouse from the proper direction? I have tried everything I know from warming the head specifically to presenting the mouse to him headfirst, and nothing seems to work. he always tries to eat it from the side or from the rear end. and generally whenever he squeezes the animal he ends up laying on top of the head so he wouldn't know it's there to begin with. He generally doesn't move off of the head until he's already given up on eating the animal.

this is really infuriating because it's not like he's refusing food, he just doesn't eat it right. I don't want to "punish him" by making him wait another week to get fed.

Your snake should not have an issue eating its meals from either end. Just guessing it sounds like the meals may be a bit to big. Try a smaller one and see how it goes.

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Originally Posted by runeasgar

Why can't my ball python eat the mouse from the proper direction? I have tried everything I know from warming the head specifically to presenting the mouse to him headfirst, and nothing seems to work. he always tries to eat it from the side or from the rear end. and generally whenever he squeezes the animal he ends up laying on top of the head so he wouldn't know it's there to begin with. He generally doesn't move off of the head until he's already given up on eating the animal.

this is really infuriating because it's not like he's refusing food, he just doesn't eat it right. I don't want to "punish him" by making him wait another week to get fed.

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My normal did that when I first got her. 3 of the first 4 meals were eaten in a...non-standard manner. Two she ate butt first. One from the very tip of the tail. Looked like some sort of weird spaghetti thing going on. One she tried eating from about three different places (rear left leg...middle of the body width-wise, etc). On all of them she took much longer to figure things out than the other snakes. She would sniff and sniff and sniff the body after she finished killing it for 15 minutes trying to find the head. She was either laying on it, or skipping over it, or it always seemed to be something. Then I think she got frustrated and just started eating wherever her head happened to be. It was simultaneously a bit frustrating and a bit amusing watching her.

She figured things out though. All meals go down head first now. Your's will figure it out, too.

Just out of curiosity, how big is the snake in question?

2' at this point.

Be patient...your snake will figure it out eventually.

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Originally Posted by runeasgar

2' at this point.

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Sorry. I meant weight (grams).

I don't get him weighed very frequently. Just pay attention to his other health indicators.