I hate the Jaguar!

Last night I fed my IJJ het granite male, and this happened. I feel so bad! By far this is the worst thing caused by the jaguar gene. He was biting himself quite long, 5-10 miniutes, before releasing and eating the rat. Did you ever experienced something like this? I regret that decided to get a jaguar because of prettiness. The breeder told me his animals not showing any sympthoms, so I was hopeful. My IJJs were totally normal as young, but getting adult they started to show neurological issues. The female, when go out of the terrarium, moves always with her head upside down. Its so sad to see. I intended to breed them, but I will not. I don't want them to give further this misery.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9694d72054.jpg

Tapatalkkal küldve az én Nokia 6.1 eszközömről

I have had several reticulated pythons do that when they struck at the feeder, missed, and grabbed themselves. Most of them figured out pretty quickly what happened and let themselves go, but I do have one female that held onto herself and made a big ball-o-python for about ten minutes and she has no neurological problems.

Fortunately their teeth are pretty short for their overall size, so even when they do bite themselves they don't do a lot of damage.

While I am not a fan of Jags, I have to say that some of my snakes; Boas, Carpets, and my BP and Olive have gotten so excited at feeding time that they have bitten themselves. Now they don’t stay clamped down but for a few seconds.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...8b39bf21d8.jpg

Zooming in for the strike.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bcr229

I have had several reticulated pythons do that when they struck at the feeder, missed, and grabbed themselves. Most of them figured out pretty quickly what happened and let themselves go, but I do have one female that held onto herself and made a big ball-o-python for about ten minutes and she has no neurological problems.

Fortunately their teeth are pretty short for their overall size, so even when they do bite themselves they don't do a lot of damage.

---

The behavior is not necessarily the result of the JAG gene, I'm not a fan of JAGs but I've had a retic that has done the exact same thing that BCR has described.

An overly aggressive feeding response isn't due to a defect. Jitters, corkscrewing and inability to self right are the typical signs.

Retics are known to miss their prey and bite themselves or the next closest thing during intense feeding moments.

My coastal carpet has never done it however I think an active carpet with a strong will to feed could "self bite" if it misses the prey.

I have seen non jag carpets do this too. Mostly just a crazy feeding response.

I've seen this before too, in other kinds of snakes. The worst was a very old (senile?) albino California king snake that actually tried hard to eat her own tail. :D

Some snakes (without neurological issues) just miss their target & are too stubborn to let go...probably because they aren't feeling much of any pain thanks to their
scales, & when they move a little, they're even more convinced it's struggling prey?