Feeding Mis-strikes

Our BP has been a great eater for the last month, but tonight she was a bit strange. She was kind of vibrating when she came out of her hide and mis-struck at the prey item twice before taking it. The strikes didn't look defensive as the snake (as far as snakes can) looked kind of shocked that it had nothing in its mouth post strike. Is this the infamous spider wobble or a sign of undue stress during the feeding process? Either way, should we be concerned?

Thanks!

If it is indeed a spider, than that's certainly the likely culprit! Spiders can do all kinds of goofy things when they get excited about eating! Nothing to be concerned about as long as it's eating!

Totally could be a spider thing. But could she also be going into shed, and maybe couldn't see the rodent as well, hence the miss?

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It could be the spider gene or she could just be over excited. My spiders and bees aren't the only ones who miss from time to time but they seem to be the worst.

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Yup, my normal never misses, but my Spider misses at least once almost every time lol. But he loves food and eats the shiznit out of it!!!

The main thing (especially with a spider) is just to make sure he's still eating. Whether or not a Ball python is eating is a big sign of health and comfort. If it's a spider then a wobble -plus a few misses on some mice or rats- is something not to worry about at all

Ive got a 600 gram spider male myself, and he'll do all sorts of weird things before actually eating. He regularly will wobble quite a bit, and "miss" before actually catching prey, and beleive it or not, or has actually managed a sommersault, striking and contricting from a belly up position afterwards haha. The spider morph is closeley linked to the nervous system as im sure you already know, and the wobble varies in intensity snake by snake. He may have a more problematic wobble than you originally thought, but as the others stated, as long as she is eating the quality of life shouldnt be effected much, and therefor nothing to worry about. One of my normal girls have "rattled" before feeding which consiists of slapping their tail against the ground, or aimply moving it quickly, like a kingsnake would, but im not sure im getting what you mean entirely by the term vibrate. Could you describe it in more detail?

All depends, sometimes my normal will do some strange things.. He will vibrate while eating lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bellatrix_LeSnake

Our BP has been a great eater for the last month, but tonight she was a bit strange. She was kind of vibrating when she came out of her hide and mis-struck at the prey item twice before taking it. The strikes didn't look defensive as the snake (as far as snakes can) looked kind of shocked that it had nothing in its mouth post strike. Is this the infamous spider wobble or a sign of undue stress during the feeding process? Either way, should we be concerned?

Thanks!

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Welcome to the weird world of Spiders.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-he-was-dead!


:D

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Riv

Ive got a 600 gram spider male myself, and he'll do all sorts of weird things before actually eating. He regularly will wobble quite a bit, and "miss" before actually catching prey, and beleive it or not, or has actually managed a sommersault, striking and contricting from a belly up position afterwards haha. The spider morph is closeley linked to the nervous system as im sure you already know, and the wobble varies in intensity snake by snake. He may have a more problematic wobble than you originally thought, but as the others stated, as long as she is eating the quality of life shouldnt be effected much, and therefor nothing to worry about. One of my normal girls have "rattled" before feeding which consiists of slapping their tail against the ground, or aimply moving it quickly, like a kingsnake would, but im not sure im getting what you mean entirely by the term vibrate. Could you describe it in more detail?

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Probably that crazy "quivering" thing they do when they're hyped up about something.

Thanks to everyone who replied to this thread. I've been trying to relax about it. We've fed her twice more since I posted this and both times with much less discernible wobble. I think the craziness may have been caused by the added excitement of moving up a prey size, which we did with our August 8 feed. But now that's she's firmly established on Rat weaners, she's chilled out a bit again.

If she's a spider then yes, that's definitely the spider wobble. They are definitely the oddball of the ball python morphs.