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

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Originally Posted by coldbloodaddict

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

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:rockon:

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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..

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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..!

no, i don't think so gin... my corns seldom kill their prey when they eat... until they get to larger prey.

i understand your experience though. my pacman frog took a mouse backwards and the mouse was freaking out. i had to kill the mouse while it was being eaten... it was the most horrid thing i had experienced up to that point. never ever gave that frog another live prey item again. :rainon:

Oh man being able to hear that other frog in the bigger frog would have really freaked me out.

As for the snake not killing it and get eating it alive, it happens. My JCP did that once and I freaked out too thinking it could really hurt him.

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Originally Posted by Blu Mongoose

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

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I wouldn't do that, i saw some pictures of SoCo and he's really beautifull! Wouldn't want that rodent to bite that snake. Never leave a live rodent alone with your snakes....

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Originally Posted by Nordinho

I wouldn't do that, i saw some pictures of SoCo and he's really beautifull! Wouldn't want that rodent to bite that snake. Never leave a live rodent alone with your snakes....

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From what I understood she was talking fuzzies. I've never had a fuzzy bite anything. As for what I feed the lrger snakes I use F/T.

Oh right, i misunderstood :eek:

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Originally Posted by ECLARK

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

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Well, I am not going to deny the "nuts" part. I am definately nuts about this snake! :D