45 Mins to Swallow Hopper; Ready for Bigger?

Our new snake's prior owner fed it hopper mice, which we've continued. We got it last Tuesday, it ate the next day, and again today (Monday). I've read here that a snake's meal should be 10%-15% of its weight (120g), which would be 12g-18g.

However, both times it took about 45 minutes to an hour to get the 8g f/t hopper mouse properly positioned in its mouth to swallow, going tail first. Each time there was a leg sticking out, making it difficult to get into the mouth. Today it struck IMMEDIATELY, but then struggled to position it. After swallowing, the bulge was visible in the front half, but was hard to see when the mouse reached past the halfway point. (Is that an indication that the mouse was too small?) So, my question:

Is 45 minutes a normal amount of time? If so, I'll happily get the next size up. But if this is an unsually long time of struggling, I'm hesitant to go bigger and make it even more difficult.

What do you folks recommend?

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Originally Posted by Patricia

Our new snake's prior owner fed it hopper mice, which we've continued. We got it last Tuesday, it ate the next day, and again today (Monday). I've read here that a snake's meal should be 10%-15% of its weight (120g), which would be 12g-18g.

However, both times it took about 45 minutes to an hour to get the 8g f/t hopper mouse properly positioned in its mouth to swallow, going tail first. Each time there was a leg sticking out, making it difficult to get into the mouth. Today it struck IMMEDIATELY, but then struggled to position it. After swallowing, the bulge was visible in the front half, but was hard to see when the mouse reached past the halfway point. (Is that an indication that the mouse was too small?) So, my question:

Is 45 minutes a normal amount of time? If so, I'll happily get the next size up. But if this is an unsually long time of struggling, I'm hesitant to go bigger and make it even more difficult.

What do you folks recommend?

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All snakes eat at their own pace. Feed something that is as thick as the biggest point on the snakes body. A hopper mouse sounds much too small. Positioning can take a while, but the initial swallowing shouldn't take too long.

I'd say he can easily down a small adult mouse at this point. Like Jess said positioning may take a while but swallowing an appropriate sized meal usually takes no more then 10 minutes.

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Originally Posted by Sarin

I'd say he can easily down a small adult mouse at this point. Like Jess said positioning may take a while but swallowing an appropriate sized meal usually takes no more then 10 minutes.

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I concur:)

Tail first? Sounds like he/she is a little confused!:confused: I do agree that you go by how long it takes to swallow it, not in the positioning.

Yeah I'd bump the snake up a size in the food department. Sounds like it's ready for something a tad bit bigger. Some snakes chow down on their prey item within minutes, some kill it and poke around on it for some time before eating, while others... just seems to like to eat them with their good old time moving the prey item in all sorts of directions before getting it down. He/she will learn over time. My one BP when he was a baby tried to eat his little rats sideways and it took him forever to get it right and down. He since has learned to hit them head on and gets them down correct now.

Thanks for the feedback. Today I offered a size up, medium mouse, and when it eventually found the head, it went down no problem. The size when it was inside looks about right.

Darn snake starts of clamping across the middle, though, doing this all 3 times we've fed it. Takes awhile to find its way to one end or the other. Today it even clamped down on itself... I'm assuming because the smell of the mouse was on its own body there. What's up with that? Is that normal or do we have a positionally challenged snake??? :weirdface