Can snakes be mentally handicapped?

I mean this in all seriousness. Not intending to offend anyone.

Ramses has always had HORRIBLE aim during feeding. It's rare that he gets it on the first try and uncommon that he gets it on the second try. Normally I don't think anything of it, because he does get the rat eventually, swallows it no problem, and is an otherwise perfectly healthy snake.

But last night made me wonder. I thawed a rat and went to feed it to him with tongs, just as I always do. The rat was the same as always, just solid white, nothing strange about it. I wiggled it a bit to get his attention, just as I always do. But for some reason, it took Ramses at least seven strikes (no exaggeration, but I didn't count) to land it, and he landed it on the tail. Not the rump, not the tail base, the tail. Like an inch down.

See here:
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...to10180048.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...to10180050.jpg

This isn't the first instance where he's missed multiple times. He accidentally nicked my finger once because he missed the rat. And he doesn't just barely miss, he's WAY off.

So I was wondering, is there something wrong with him? Does he have a mental disability? Is his vision/heat sensing impaired? Is his head-eye coordination hindered somehow?

And if he does have some sort of problem like this, is it something to worry about, and is it fixable?

Thanks in advance!

Maybe it's just not warm enough. I imagine it's possible for a snake to be "slow" but natural selection would wipe it out pretty quickly in the wild.

My spiders/bees sometimes strike wildly at food. I find it funny because my girl Kali will strike a few times and if she doesn't hit it she will get close to it and just bite it slowly. :P

I don't think it's an issue with temperature. His temps are a bit low right now, I admit. They always drop a few degrees during the winter months. But he does the same thing in the spring and summer when the temps are just right :/ He's a puzzle, alright.

I was talking about the temp of the rat. How are you warming it up?

May want to ensure your BP doesn't have a wobble, it's a neuro condition present more so in the Spider gene but it can rarely occur in others as well.

With that said, your BP could have problems with sight and relying heavily on heat and taste which would explain the off aim.

You can put the prey closer to the snake that way the chances of missing is decreased.

I think some snakes are just..weird. They learn to eat a certain way and by golly they eat that way.

My boa STILL forces her rats down SIDEWAYS!!! It is incredibly difficult looking. But she basically folds them in half and pushes them down. It is so weird to see the head and tail of a rat sticking out of the mouth of your snake at the same time. She looks ridiculous after she eats, her poor jaw is so stretched out! :rolleyes: Doesn't matter the size either..too small or the right size, she eats it like that.


I do actually have a mentally handicapped gecko I believe. Or at least physically handicapped. He is a normal who acts like he has severe enigma syndrome. He has to be fed by hand because he can't aim(he strikes a little to the left) and because he will always over eat. Leaving mealworms in his tank for him to munch on is NOT an option. Every time we tried he threw up the worms as he ate ALL OF THEM! No impactions or parasites. Seems to be some kind of birth defect. He has issues with quite a few things. He can thrive, it just takes a lot of extra help from us. He's just a little derpy is all. He's our special boy :)

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Originally Posted by purplemuffin

he threw up the worms as he ate ALL OF THEM!

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haha, my cat does this with her food, every time we give her some, she eats all of it, if its too much, she'll eat as much as she can, throw up, and eat the rest, and sometimes throw up again lol. weve gotten it down to where she wont throw up usually though.

to OP: im inclined to say yes, a snake can be mentaly handicapped, just like any other animal. either that, or it gets way too excited at the thought of food and forgets to think about what its doing lol

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Originally Posted by Kinra

Maybe it's just not warm enough. I imagine it's possible for a snake to be "slow" but natural selection would wipe it out pretty quickly in the wild.

My spiders/bees sometimes strike wildly at food. I find it funny because my girl Kali will strike a few times and if she doesn't hit it she will get close to it and just bite it slowly. :P

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Wow, I used to have a corn snake that did that. Once he even came up to the tongs and stretched out his jaw so he could swallow directly from the tongs!

Some snakes really have crummy aim some eat backwards and some are just normal. If this is not a change but just a worse day of a string of bad days it isn't something to worry about.I have two with really poor aim and one 99% of the time eats backwards. So much so that he gets light meals as he simply cannot eat anything close to 10% of his weight it gets stuck at the hind legs. :P He is dopey. Lucy our one eyed snake has got to hit the head or she will drop it she tries to start where she hits, period, no constriction just swallow it now. If it is in the middle she will carry it around like a dog with a bone for a bit before she drops it. They can be unique.

Make sure the rat is hot enough. Let it thaw in the fridge and then put it in hot water until its warm all the way through. Make sure ur using tongs so he doesn't get confused with the heat of ur hand or any body heat. Has he ever been exposed to high temps or any chemicals? Does he show any signs neurological issues outside of feeding time. When u have him out flip him upside down and see if he can right himself. But I think its just prey not being hot enough

Well as far as a real answer goes, anything with a brain could be defective theoretically. But realistically I would agree with everyone else for now, just try getting the rat a little warmer a couple times.

I had a boa that used to headbutt her rats. Literally. The first couple of strikes she wouldn't even open her mouth, just smack them with her snout. Then the fourth or fifth time, she'd actually grab it. lol. My vet said she was special. :P

Thanks for this subject, just what I needed. I'm working with my Clown right now, trying to get him to eat. He'll strike wildly a few times, then just give up. One time he even hit the tongs. I usually warm prey to 90-100 degrees. Maybe I'll try warmer next time.

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Originally Posted by SpartaDog

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...to10180050.jpg
!

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Daaaaah cuteness overload!






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by mpkeelee

Make sure the rat is hot enough. Let it thaw in the fridge and then put it in hot water until its warm all the way through. Make sure ur using tongs so he doesn't get confused with the heat of ur hand or any body heat. Has he ever been exposed to high temps or any chemicals? Does he show any signs neurological issues outside of feeding time. When u have him out flip him upside down and see if he can right himself. But I think its just prey not being hot enough

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Ah, okay. It is probably the rat's temp, then, seeing as how I've just been leaving it out in a warm spot instead of heating it with hot water (there are so many theories on why some methods do or don't work, I figured I'd just keep trying til I find something that works). So back to hot water it is.

As far as I know, his temps have never gotten above about 95 - 97F on really hot days, and he's never been exposed to chemicals. I always feed him with tongs, and other than this, he's a perfectly happy, healthy, normal ball. So it must be the rat.

Thanks, everybody!

I've got a special snake too. My blind normal Athena won't take F/T, she likes live. I was really hesitant about going from mice to rats with her, rats are a lot bigger and more dangerous. But the whole 3-4 mice at a feeding was tiring both of us out.

So, we tried the experiment. Now, she's never once had a problem striking, constricting and then swallowing a mouse or four. But now that's she getting rats, she attempts to constrict them before she strikes. Of course that doesn't work very well, the rat can easily get away, but she still tries it two or three times before she strikes and coils properly.

Give her a mouse, and it's strike, coil, eat. With a rat it's coil [escape], coil [escape], coil and lay on the rat [escape], strike, coil, eat.

Gale

Its possible but i think it probably just gets a little over excited. I have a female ball that closes her mouth when she strikes and almost tries to club the mouse to death against the side of her tub with her head. She eates great and hasnt had anything else abnormal about her. Different snakes have different quirks. Just like people.

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Originally Posted by Bill T

Its possible but i think it probably just gets a little over excited. I have a female ball that closes her mouth when she strikes and almost tries to club the mouse to death against the side of her tub with her head. She eates great and hasnt had anything else abnormal about her. Different snakes have different quirks. Just like people.

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I know it's not really funny but you guys have me LMAO........:clap:

I thought Iggy was an oddball for eating her mouse babies backwards and always making sure to swing her head towards me so I'd have a nice, clear view of the poor baby mouse's face staring at me from inside her mouth, just before it disappeared forever.

[it looked like some sort of "veiled threat"]

Now that she eats adult mice, she's being [somewhat] more "normal".



:D

sorry, duplicate post.

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Originally Posted by SpartaDog

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...to10180050.jpg

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Sorry, this picture is just hysterically funny.

...yeah, some of mine are dumber than others. But it's probably also got to do with the heat pits. The snake smells the mouse, which get his appetite going. But he won't strike until the heat pits detect a warm target. If your finger is warmer than the thawed mouse, he'll strike towards the back, or even nick your finger.

Try warming the nose of the mouse under a heat lamp or with a hair dryer for 60 seconds or so. Or let the head of the mouse sit under hot water for 30 seconds and then dry it off. I think you'll see his aim improve.

I'm not ruling out the possibility that he's a few cards short of a full deck! But at least this'll give him a clearer target to aim at.

HAHAHA I had this once and I do have pictures of it! I believe it was my mistake though, I dropped the rat as he struck at it. But its amazing that they still can a firm grip on the body which looks pretty safe without getting it right. I doubt its mentally handicapped, moreover it managed to recover and hold on to the tail to keep its meal and still find and constrict the body. Cool stuff.

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Originally Posted by Kinra

Maybe it's just not warm enough.

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Pythons in general, and ball pythons in particular, do not rely on their eyesight for hunting nearly as much as you might think. In general predators are thought of as relying on eyesight as their primary sense.

Pythons rely on heat pits first. Jacobson's organ second. Eyes third.

This is why feeding reaction strikes occur. Little baby BP things your hand is a rat? Kingsnake tries to swallow your finger? They sure aren't using their eyes very well.

It'd be like you closing your eyes and using your hearing to try to punch someone in the face while they're jumping up and down. Sure you'll have a good idea of where they are, and very well may hit them in the chest or somewhere else, but you won't be accurate, and you may miss or just get glancing blows.

I believe that python eyes are pretty good in a physical sense, but that their minds don't interpret the images very well and use the input to the best of their ability.

My bet is that your feeder was thawed to room temperature, and your BP couldn't use its heat pits to aim.

I dont know i got one that tries to bite me through his glass constantly no matter how many times he bounces off of it when i am working with the others. I wouldnt consider him one of the smarter ones thats for sure, and if he wasnt slow before he is now.... poor guy

My big girl is funny in away but it does show a sign of intelligence. When I fed love (which is most of the time) she will brutely strike sn constrict. How ever on thr couple times she has had a FT she just bites it and eats it no striking no constricting.

I honestly dont believe there is any thing wrong here to wory about. Just enjoy the entertainment you get from it...

Kenny the tiger with down syndrome says:

http://files.sharenator.com/murley_a...x587-41582.jpg

I wouldn't worry about your ball being a little derpy. You can try heating the rats up a little more like they said, but worst comes to worst, you said he still eats like a champ and is on f/t, so you don't need to worry about him getting hurt.

BTW, that second pic is great! You should enter it in the photo contest. :D

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Originally Posted by AK907

BTW, that second pic is great! You should enter it in the photo contest. :D

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Lol, everyone seems to love it, so I just might. I might clean it up a little better first, but yeah, I think I will.

Thanks for all your help, guys!

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Originally Posted by loonunit

Sorry, this picture is just hysterically funny.

...yeah, some of mine are dumber than others. But it's probably also got to do with the heat pits. The snake smells the mouse, which get his appetite going. But he won't strike until the heat pits detect a warm target. If your finger is warmer than the thawed mouse, he'll strike towards the back, or even nick your finger.

Try warming the nose of the mouse under a heat lamp or with a hair dryer for 60 seconds or so. Or let the head of the mouse sit under hot water for 30 seconds and then dry it off. I think you'll see his aim improve.

I'm not ruling out the possibility that he's a few cards short of a full deck! But at least this'll give him a clearer target to aim at.

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Well, Iggy just made the Village Idiot BP list tonight.

She literally swallowed her mouse sideways.

She always has a lousy aim and grabs it "wrong" but up 'til now, has always managed to get it longways, whether butt or head first.

She had a really tough "bar room brawl" with this particular dead mouse [maybe it really was a Zombie] and before I could do anything about it, she slooooowly, agonizingly [for me, anyway] started swallowing it 'wrong'.

I was freaking out the whole ten minutes it took her to get it down.

I considered running into the living room to post an emergency "OMG! MY SNAKE IS EATING HER MOUSE SIDEWAYS!!!!" thread for advice but was too afraid to leave her alone in case she needed help.
[although what kind of help I could've offered, I have no clue...moral support? holding her hand? the Heimlich maneuver? a rousing "EAT! EAT! EAT!" sorority chant?]

Anyway, afterward, she took a long sip of water and went back to bed like nothing had happened.

[I took a Valium]......:rolleyes:

And there you have it...my dear little Iggy is "spayshul", too.

(and just to be on the safe side, I'm keeping her away from any roving sheep]

http://www.funnypicturesfree.com/ima...ry/python1.jpg

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Originally Posted by Salamander

Well, Iggy just made the Village Idiot BP list tonight.

She literally swallowed her mouse sideways.

She always has a lousy aim and grabs it "wrong" but up 'til now, has always managed to get it longways, whether butt or head first.

She had a really tough "bar room brawl" with this particular dead mouse [maybe it really was a Zombie] and before I could do anything about it, she slooooowly, agonizingly [for me, anyway] started swallowing it 'wrong'.

I was freaking out the whole ten minutes it took her to get it down.

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O_O Ten minutes? Damn. Ramses has taken them down sideways and it takes him a LOT longer than ten minutes. Hell, when he gets it down right it takes him at least fifteen to twenty minutes. If he gets it backwards or sideways, it's just longer.

Mine has pretty bad aim every now and then. Sometimes he'll get it on the first time, sometimes he'll do what Kinra said and try a few times and then bite it slowly, and several times he's tried 2 or 3 times and then gives up completely and goes back to his hide.