Overkill?

I feed my retic pre-killed. But for some reason he constricts it for a long long time. Right now he has been constricting an already dead medium rat for over 20 minutes! A new record for him!


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Sometimes my boas coil for about half hour before they eat, normally when I want to take photos, I then miss it, lol

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My boas always struck , constricted then seemed to fall asleep !!

After a short while I then started to give the mouse a quick shake and then they started to eat .. if I left them alone they sometimes just dropped it ..


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He ended up constricting for about 25 minutes. One second he was constricting it, perfectly still, the next second I look over and the rat is gone and he’s licking his lips, hoping I will forget I fed him and offer another!


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Two of my boas constrict for what seems forever! My Dwarf BC especially. I can't comment on Retics, but my boas, who are also food crazy, do it. My corns and carpet python and BP, not so much.

I read years ago that snakes do this with dead prey to ensure it is dead. When they take live prey they can feel the transition when the feeder's heart stops beating, which is one of the triggers they instinctively use to know that they prey is truly dead. I don't know how true it is, but I do know that my f/t feeders all constrict the prey for a very long time while the few that only eat live cut it loose as soon as it's dead.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I read years ago that snakes do this with dead prey to ensure it is dead. When they take live prey they can feel the transition when the feeder's heart stops beating, which is one of the triggers they instinctively use to know that they prey is truly dead. I don't know how true it is, but I do know that my f/t feeders all constrict the prey for a very long time while the few that only eat live cut it loose as soon as it's dead.

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Sounds feasible !


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The BCI that I used to have took her time constricting f/t prey too. I never timed her, but gee...:confusd: Most of my snakes decide rather quickly to just eat, but in any case,
they can't help it. They wouldn't survive & reproduce very well if they made such mistakes as swallowing a full-grown rodent that has merely fainted, allowing it to revive
& attack their internal organs before dying. And when I kept rattlesnakes, they pretty much all bit their prey first...even when all they ever saw was dead prey. ;)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

And when I kept rattlesnakes, they pretty much all bit their prey first...even when all they ever saw was dead prey. ;)

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Wow, so they envenomated their prey even though it was dead? I've read that producing venom takes quite a lot of resources but also is used to start the digestion process so I wonder if it's a conscious decision they make or just an instinct.

I find this thread really interesting because it seems that while some snakes take a long time to ensure their prey is dead (also something I have noticed is common for bigger constrictors from watching Youtube videos) there are also snakes who don't bother constricting at all and go straight to eating. I wonder if those ones have it more figured out realizing their food is already dead, or are they just more careless?

My bullsnakes waste no time with their food. They start gulping it down instantly. They're often finished eating before the others even start. My boas are pretty no nonsense eaters too especially the Argie. All of my pythons, especially the carpets, seem to constrict their f/t prey for a long while before eating. The scrub eats the fastest of the pythons.