Oh man...

I just fed most of my snakes. I gave SoCo two rat fuzzies; small ones, from a large litter. The first one was as uneventful as a feeding gets. I dropped the second one in, he coils, I walk away.
Then when he should be about ready to swallow it, I hear Squeeeek..! I run over, and he has this rat pup butt-first, three-quarters of the way into his mouth; the thing is still alive. There is no way I could have removed it without being afraid of injuring my snake's jaws. It really is harmless; only two inches long, but I am scared now.. have I done something horrible? Can it harm SoCo?
I remember Bela doing this years ago, when she was small and on rat fuzzies.. nothing bad came of it, but I am scared.. anyone have this happen before?

I had to do something very disgusting. He was just ready to swallow the head, and the thing was just shrieking and not dying. I took a blunt pliers and crushed the fuzzie's head.. I was VERY careful not to involve SoCo's mouth into this.. the rat is Definately dead now. SoCo did not overly react to this; he recoiled but stayed pretty still, and I just peeked in again and he has swallowed the now-dead rat. Wow though, that was gross! I expect PETA will be at my door any second with a machine gun..

Your feeding him to small of a prey item...It's too hard for him to constrict it...

Jen, your nuts. put the rat in and leave them alone. the snake will do the rest. :P

Yep. :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by coldbloodaddict

Your feeding him to small of a prey item...It's too hard for him to constrict it...

---

:rockon:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ginevive

I had to do something very disgusting. He was just ready to swallow the head, and the thing was just shrieking and not dying. I took a blunt pliers and crushed the fuzzie's head.. I was VERY careful not to involve SoCo's mouth into this.. the rat is Definately dead now. SoCo did not overly react to this; he recoiled but stayed pretty still, and I just peeked in again and he has swallowed the now-dead rat. Wow though, that was gross! I expect PETA will be at my door any second with a machine gun..

---

Oh wow, I'm so sorry you had to go through that! Couldn't have been easy for you. Go have a glass of wine and a hot bubble bath! :hug:

It was just screaming.. not even squeaking, but going EEEeeeeeeee... I had to do something! I know that they were pretty small, that is why I was feeding two..

Great advice, Sarah.. sounds like a plan. :)

Of course, Mark took the camera.. no pics. :(

very natural for snakes to eat small prey without killing it first. if it bothers you just toss them in and leave the room.

I was afraid that the rat, although it was small, could potentially bite the insides of him.. I admit that I am not sure how big their teeth are at the fuzzie stage; and I have been breeding rats for awhile.. this makes me feel kinda dumb. :/ But I guess that, fi they are still nursing, their teeth can't be that bad, or the mom would be in some agony!
Weirdest thing ever was watching a wild bullfrog eat a small live leopard frog.. you could hear the frog chirping inside of him..!