Random feeding question

[gbrown37]

Hi everyone,

I have been a BP owner for about 7 months now and I have loved every second of it. I've never had any issues with my 6-year-old snake.

When I feed him, however, he is usually very passive (but never skips a meal or refuses to eat, which is good) and when striking at the prey, he generally only makes one wrap around the body of his meal. I've seen youtube videos where the snakes wrap their entire body up around the mouse/rat, and my snake just doesn't seem to want to do this. Only once has it become anywhere near troublesome, the time when the one revolution wasn't enough to kill the rat and the rat tried clawing at my snake's skin.

A) is this normal? If not, is there any way to get him to wrap up a little better so that he doesn't run the risk of getting clawed? Here is a picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gbrown3...7623325850672/

B) in the future, if a rat or mouse starts clawing at my snake before my snake has the opportunity to kill it, what should i do? Is it a bad idea to try to interrupt the feeding? For the record, my snake absolutely refuses dead prey and loooves live prey, so feeding him pre-killed rats doesn't really fix the issue.


Thanks everyone

[singingtothewheat]

A) is this normal? If not, is there any way to get him to wrap up a little better so that he doesn't run the risk of getting clawed?
Hmmm, I thought maybe you were feeding f/t's but I see your not. I wouldn't worry a lot about it but I would be sure you are giving prey items that can't harm him. You can do a quick cervical dislocation and that should keep the prey item from hurting your snake.
B) in the future, if a rat or mouse starts clawing at my snake before my snake has the opportunity to kill it, what should i do? Is it a bad idea to try to interrupt the feeding? For the record, my snake absolutely refuses dead prey and loooves live prey, so feeding him pre-killed rats doesn't really fix the issue.
once they have it, it's pretty hard to get it away from them. Just last night I had my pastel strike so hard and so fast that he pulled back and ripped off the arm and shoulder. It was pretty shocking. Sol (my pastel) has an unreal feeding response

[mpkeelee]

my snake only wraps a lil bit too but when i fed live i never had a problem. as for trying to get them wrap better, i have no idea, good question. if the rat is clawing ur snake u can use some hemostats or something and hold the legs still without interruting to much. i would try stunning the rat and then feeding if it wont take f/t.

[gbrown37]

Thanks for the responses. Thankfully it isn't a problem, just something I thought could be improved. What does f/t mean?

[Kaorte]

Thanks for the responses. Thankfully it isn't a problem, just something I thought could be improved. What does f/t mean?

Frozen/thawed.

I feed f/t and if they don't wrap enough, I just wiggle the rat by the tail. You could try doing that with the rat if you think he isn't constricting enough. He will tighten up.

[kc261]

I would not worry in the least about the rat clawing your snake during the brief time it is alive once it has been constricted. As I am sure you have observed, even one coil around the rodent usually kills it pretty quickly. A rodent's claws just aren't going to do any damage to a snake in that time.

Biting is a different issue, and sometimes a live prey item will get in a really lucky bite that will be able to break through the snake's protective scales. Even that is pretty rare. I have about 25 BPs, and I feed all of them live, and I cannot recall a time when the prey damaged the snake enough to draw blood. There have been a couple of times where slight scale damage was visible, that went away with the next shed.

Most of the horror stories you hear about feeding live have to do with leaving the live rodent in with the snake for an extended time. That should NEVER be done, and it can result in the rodent starting to eat the snake while the snake is still alive.

Supposedly if you use tongs, that makes live feeding safer. I've seen it done 2 ways, and tried both, and didn't really like the results of either. The first is to dangle the rodent by the tail, which ends up with the claws and teeth of an agitated rodent aimed right at your snake. If they hit it quickly, it isn't much of an issue, but if they want to sniff and think about it, I could see a problem occurring. The second is to grab the rodent by the scruff of the neck. In my experience, this results in a lot of snakes banging their noses into the tongs. Maybe I just didn't quite get the technique right. In any event, I didn't see either of those methods eliminating the possibility of the rodent biting the snake after the snake hits it and you let go.

So I've gone back to just dropping the rodent in the snake's enclosure. The snake usually strikes and constricts very quickly, as long as they have been properly pre-scented so they know food is coming and they are waiting for it. If they don't strike pretty soon, I remove the mouse.

[gbrown37]

Casey you're the man. Thank you very much.

g

[kc261]

Casey you're the man. Thank you very much.

g

Actually, I'm a woman, but you are welcome.

I've gotten pretty used to having my gender misidentified since I've been using this androgynous nickname online since '92.

[gbrown37]

Actually, I'm a woman, but you are welcome.

I've gotten pretty used to having my gender misidentified since I've been using this androgynous nickname online since '92.

Shoot, I'm so sorry. My sister's name is Jordan so I can empathize with you. Also I dated a girl named Kacey too haha.