wont ever do that again...

i was feeding one of my adult balls a live rat and once it striked and coiled up around it i closed up his tank and put the cover back on top which must've make too much noise (vibration) and he stopped constricting and the poor rat was suffering because the snake didnt kill him all the way :( he later then finished up but i just wanted to give a heads up to people that didnt know that that would happen if you accidently disturb them in the process.

Thanks for the heads up!

When snakes are constricting and consuming prey it's a very vulnerable time for them. They can't really fight back or flee from a predator all that efficiently while busy dealing with a prey item themselves. Some are very sensitive and will break off from the hunting/feeding process if you disturb them during this time. Others could care less if you did a tango by their cage while they are snarfing down their rat or mouse. We have both types of BP's in our collection and have just gotten to know which ones are which. A couple of our females must be fed last because any movement in the snake room and they will refuse to hunt.