Trouble Swallowing?

I fed my cornsnake penguin today (second feeding with me) and he grabbed at the pinky and tried eating him backwards. It was a very small pinky (smaller than the first one he ate) but it took him a while to get it down. His mouth is closed and all, but it seems like it's in his neck, not his belly.

Next time if he grabs it by the legs again, should I try getting it from him and turning it around? Wouldnt he ignore it after that?

Also, do corn snakes constrict their prey? It looked like he tried constricting it, but just gave up since it was already in it's mouth live.

Help :confused:

I'm not an expert on corns, but that all sounds very typical and normal to me. If you leave him alone for a little while and then go back to check on him, I'm sure he'll look perfectly normal. (No lump in the neck.) Sometimes it just takes a little while to work it all done...mostly just seems to when you're watching and worried. ;)

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Originally Posted by Rhapsody

I fed my cornsnake penguin today (second feeding with me) and he grabbed at the pinky and tried eating him backwards. It was a very small pinky (smaller than the first one he ate) but it took him a while to get it down. His mouth is closed and all, but it seems like it's in his neck, not his belly.

Next time if he grabs it by the legs again, should I try getting it from him and turning it around? Wouldnt he ignore it after that?

Also, do corn snakes constrict their prey? It looked like he tried constricting it, but just gave up since it was already in it's mouth live.

Help :confused:

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Rhapsody,sometimes little corns are confused as to how they should eat the rodent.I have had babies start eating the legs,midsection and rear first :eek: .Not all will constrict either and this includes adults.If you try to interfere while they are eating you could make them scared and they might refuse to eat.Think of it this way what would you do if you were eating and some big thing started messing with you and your food;) .Like JLC mentioned give him some alone time and then check on him and he should have the meal in the right area.

Ah, ok, just me being paranoid again :P Thanks guys!

Our corn snake seems to do that sometimes. I think its normal with corns.

my larger corn often doesnt constrict when it eats (its eating fuzzys to almost jumpys) It has taken several larger pinkies backwards, one of my babies took a pinky backwards today, i think 3 or 4 of our 12 baby black rat snakes ate backwards, and only a few of those constricted. I would say that as you start feeding mice that are big enough to put up a little bit of a struggle it will start constricting more often. Also, ive seen several different snakes at school constrict by just pushing them selfs against the wall of the cage with the mouse/rat pinned in the middle, and not actually coil around it.