First Feed - Questions

Hey Guys

So I fed sarge for the second time today - last week he wasn't interested in the mouse one bit. This week he showed no interested until I started wiggling the mouse with a pair of tongues and then he gobbled it up.

I have a couple of questions I was hoping you guys could help with.

Before he started eating he was chewing the rats tail end for 5 or so minutes. Is this normal?

When he finished eating he propped himself up vertically and started opening and closing his mouth like he was still chewing even tho the rat had disappeared into his belly already. Again, is this normal.

If he was going to regurgitate his food, what behaviour may he exhibit?

I am absolutely delighted that he has eaten for the first time as last week I was worried and this is the first time he has eaten for me.

Hope to hear from yas soon,
Kind Regards,

Dave and Sarge

Hi Dave,

Hopefully I can answer some of your questions. It's normal for a snake to get the tail end of a rodent, however it wasn't really chewing as snakes don't "chew". It probably felt different than it should as they expect to eat a rodent from the head, so it was probably trying to figure out what was wrong and how to handle a meal that felt strange in its mouth. They manage to eat them tail-first, though, so it's nothing to be concerned about.

After he ate, it's normal for them to realign their jaws. Their jaws get stretched out quite a bit while eating and they will open and close their mouths until their jaws move back into a normal position.

I can't answer the question about the regurge as I've never had a snake regurge on me, but I'm sure someone can give you more information about that.

BTW, Congrats on your new snake and your first feed!

First of all, every time I've fed my BP it has eaten a little bit differently. Someone times it takes 60 minutes, sometimes 5. Sometimes she "plays" with it, sometimes she gobbles it right down. In my (relatively little) experience, as long as your snake is healthy and eating, there is no "normal" behavior.

As for the regurge, I've never had my BP regurge. My cornsnake did once, and although I can say much concerning pre-regurge behavior, I can say you'll know it when you smell it. As long as the temperatures are right, the meals are appropriately sized and you don't handle your snake for a couple of days after feeding, you shouldn't have to worry much.

Good luck! Enjoy your new BP.

Regurges in normal healthy snakes really aren't all that common hon so as long as it's got the right temps to thermoregulate and digest properly, the prey was the correct size and as long as you leave it be for 48 hours after eating it's likely to do just fine.

The stretching up and big yawns right after eating are just the jaws being realigned and is a perfectly normal post feeding activity. When a snake eats it's jaws open both vertically and laterally so it needs to pop everything back in place after having it's dinner. Here's a short write-up that may help explain this....

http://science.howstuffworks.com/snake4.htm

Some snakes mess about with their prey after they constrict it, others just slurp it right down. Younger snakes especially seem to need to practise a bit on which end is the one to start on LOL. Sometimes as well they will take awhile to eat if you are too close or hovering over them. It's a very vulnerable time for a snake when it's consuming whole prey as it can't fight or flee if a predator went for it right then so some will not settle down to eat if you are too close or moving about nearby.

yeah hes fine then I guess, hes been sitting in his hide since eating, i presume hes digesting his food.

When he was opening and closing his mouth i was wondering if that was a sign he was going to regurgitate, however now that youve cleared that up for me i know different!

Thanks for answering my questions, when i feed him next tuesday ill feel like a pro :)

Regards,
Dave and Sarge

No problem, glad to help. Feeding is a lot of fun. Even with our number of snakes and all the times we've fed I still get a huge kick out of seeing them all head for their hides after eating. I love me some happy, full of rodent snakes! LOL