Predation or what?

Hi, registered along time ago on this forum but do not post much. I did think maybe helpful to do a post about what happened last night since a lot of folks have both BP and retics. Last night was poop night with both my male BP and SD tiger male both rammy and wanting to get out. To expedite things I put the BP in a chest of drawers cuz he likes to crawl around in there and let the SD loose in the room as the super active guy. After the BP got put back in his cage, I stepped out of the room, came back and the SD was now in the drawer where the BP had been. The normally very tame guy was kind of twitchy too and wedging himself in. In trying get him out he proceeded to bite and constrict a stocking and when I tried to get him out of the drawer and keep him from swallowing it he proceeded to coil my arm really tight.

So has anyone ever seen evidence of one python species predating on another? Cuz the only scents in that chest are clothing, me and Ball python; the only rodent in this house are in the freezer. The other thing was how incredibly strong a 5 lb SD is! He did not bite me thank God, but it took like a half hour to get him to let go. A cold shower had no effect. It felt like my pinky was going to be dislocated since his coils yanked my fingers apart. Today he is back to his normal curious interactive self.

I've never heard of one being predatory for another snake but anything can happen I guess. I do know that SD's and dwarfs have a rep for having the strongest food response of the retics.

Years ago I had a beautiful white medium sized gold fish that went missing after a retic got out. Never found it dried up anywhere so maybe he got eaten.

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Originally Posted by o.r hill

Hi, registered along time ago on this forum but do not post much. I did think maybe helpful to do a post about what happened last night since a lot of folks have both BP and retics. Last night was poop night with both my male BP and SD tiger male both rammy and wanting to get out. To expedite things I put the BP in a chest of drawers cuz he likes to crawl around in there and let the SD loose in the room as the super active guy. After the BP got put back in his cage, I stepped out of the room, came back and the SD was now in the drawer where the BP had been. The normally very tame guy was kind of twitchy too and wedging himself in. In trying get him out he proceeded to bite and constrict a stocking and when I tried to get him out of the drawer and keep him from swallowing it he proceeded to coil my arm really tight.

So has anyone ever seen evidence of one python species predating on another? Cuz the only scents in that chest are clothing, me and Ball python; the only rodent in this house are in the freezer. The other thing was how incredibly strong a 5 lb SD is! He did not bite me thank God, but it took like a half hour to get him to let go. A cold shower had no effect. It felt like my pinky was going to be dislocated since his coils yanked my fingers apart. Today he is back to his normal curious interactive self.

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Black headed pythons eat other snakes as part of their diet.

A tip for next time your arm is being constricted; put a little rubbing alcohol on the tip of a paper towel and hold it a few inches from the snakes snout, he'll let go.

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

Black headed pythons eat other snakes as part of their diet.

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As does Apodora papuana and the genus Liasis as a whole.

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Originally Posted by DennisM

A tip for next time your arm is being constricted; put a little rubbing alcohol on the tip of a paper towel and hold it a few inches from the snakes snout, he'll let go.

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White vinegar also works. Keep a cotton ball soaked in it in a container like an empty pill bottle or plastic spice container in the snake room for incidents.

Also hold his head under water in a sink if you do not wish to use any alcohol based scents. Works fine.

Pythons have been known to eat one another - not a common thing except in those species where it is part of their natural diet. I've never had issues though with retics having an increased food drive being in close proximity to my ball pythons or carpet pythons. He may have just been experiencing some food drive, and thought it was feeding day and not cleaning day?