Strange observation with feeding.

I have not had snakes long but always believed food was swallowed head first. Makes sense everything would just fold up and go down smoothly. Well, my two BP’s have both swallowed prey tail first. My Male has done it once each with live and F/T and my female just did it today with F/T. I do not use a hairdryer to get her to take it. She strikes it and coils around it. After a minute she checks it out head to tail and normally takes it from the head. It’s just really odd.

IMO it's a young snake thing...they're still figuring things out. they'll stay consistent eventually. :)

try using the hair dryer next time to get a strong heat signature on the head for the snake to see.

You might also use tongs or tweezers to pinch-damage the nose a little right before offering...that too will release a bit more scent.

Some snakes just didn't get the "talk" (or the manual) lol*....and practice (eating) helps. Some snakes actually have to spit it out & start over. I've also seen
some snakes with wider heads that just fold the rodent in the middle & down it goes anyway! :O (show-off rattlesnakes, lol...)

*Btw, this shows you how little they use their vision & that not much logic is involved either.

Did the hairdryer trick with my male but he ate backwards also. I was really glad he ate F/T so the direction it went in was strang but not as significant at the time. He wanted nothing to do with F/T before and literally would go to the other side of the enclosure. He ate a live backwards also, who knows. Probably just a young snake thing.
I’d never try and stop them and correct it that seems like the worst option. It’s really odd looking, I have seen some youtube video of bigger snakes doing it also.

Yeah my snake the last 2 feeds did this.and he is not young. And it was strange so I'd like to understand this as well. I warmed my rat up as well and the head was warmer I used a heat gun to make sure to check the temp. Idk he will spend like 5 mins checking the rat out up and down.

So here's what he has been doing... he strikes the rat and starts constricting and after I tug the rat slightly to make him feel it's alive (just tiny wiggles) and let go the grip of the tongs and after he feels he has "killed" the rat he then lets go of the rat and just starts checking the entire rat out from head to toe looking as if he's freaking out (my human feelings that don't belong on a snake he might not be freaking out idk he is breathing harder though that's for sure) I was literally about to start a topic on this behavior to see if anyone knew.

Just my luck someone started a similar one. What is this strange behavior?


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Originally Posted by Zuri Indigo

Yeah my snake the last 2 feeds did this.and he is not young. And it was strange so I'd like to understand this as well. I warmed my rat up as well and the head was warmer I used a heat gun to make sure to check the temp. Idk he will spend like 5 mins checking the rat out up and down.

So here's what he has been doing... he strikes the rat and starts constricting and after I tug the rat slightly to make him feel it's alive (just tiny wiggles) and let go the grip of the tongs and after he feels he has "killed" the rat he then lets go of the rat and just starts checking the entire rat out from head to toe looking as if he's freaking out (my human feelings that don't belong on a snake he might not be freaking out idk he is breathing harder though that's for sure) I was literally about to start a topic on this behavior to see if anyone knew.

Just my luck someone started a similar one. What is this strange behavior?


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Re breathing harder: he's just pumped up..."excited" for having made the kill. And remember that snakes in the wild (instinctively!) know to eat fast...they are more
vulnerable to predators while they are distracted by stuffing their faces, and slowed down (on their way back to a hiding place) when full of food.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Re breathing harder: he's just pumped up..."excited" for having made the kill. And remember that snakes in the wild (instinctively!) know to eat fast...they are more
vulnerable to predators while they are distracted by stuffing their faces, and slowed down (on their way back to a hiding place) when full of food.

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That's scary for them. But the pumped up part just had my head turning to his cage smiling a proud mommy. So cute. [emoji3] I love this little danger noodle. Snakes are amazing.


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