Snake stomachs

[jayk_pix]

I've heard that feeding larger around prey items in lieu of multiple smaller prey is better because a snake's stomach can stretch in diameter, but not in length.

Is this species specific, or in general?

I ask, because I was watching videos of snakes eating other snakes, and in one of them, it looked like the python being eaten by the cobra was longer than the cobra was.

I feed my ballpython one prey item, and will probably always feed her one prey item instead of multiple smaller ones, but I got curious.

Any thoughts?

[kc261]

That's an interesting question, and I'll be interested to see what responses you get.

I'm pretty sure I remember reading that king snakes have the ability to sort of fold a snake that they eat into their stomach. Even if true, I don't know how much that would carry over to other species.

However, it seems to me that if you feed 2 mice that add up to the same weight as a rat that is the proper sized meal, that those 2 mice aren't going to sit nose to tail in the stomach. I'm sure there would be at least some overlapping, which would allow the stomach's ability to stretch in diameter to come in to play, so I think it would work out ok.

I regularly feed 3 or sometimes 4 mice to my bigger females, and it does not seem to cause any issues.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Sounds fishy to me. Never heard any such thing. It's better to feed one larger prey item than several smaller because ball pythons are sort of lazy, and often don't like to eat too many at once, because it's too much work.

[jayk_pix]

Sounds fishy to me. Never heard any such thing. It's better to feed one larger prey item than several smaller because ball pythons are sort of lazy, and often don't like to eat too many at once, because it's too much work.

It's not about what is best for my ball, because I will continue to feed her one prey item of appropriate size. I'm curious about the stomach of snakes, and if it stretches in only one direction, then how are cannibalistic snakes able to eat snakes longer then they are? And if they coil the other snake into their stomach, but the prey-snake was about the same girth, that means that the stomach stretches WAY more than the recommended prey item size.

One of the videos that made me start asking questions was on youtube. It was "cobra vs python" or something like that.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Well, the only reference you've given for that information is "I've heard".
I'm saying, I very much doubt it's true, but even if it were, small furry animals, and snakes, can be curled up and mashed into different positions, so I can't see why it would matter.

[jayk_pix]

Well, the only reference you've given for that information is "I've heard".

I have been on another forum for a few years, and the vast majority recommend feeding one prey item as opposed to multiple. A local breeder back in my hometown (in Kansas) also recommended one prey item instead of many. When I asked the keepers at the herpitarium at the zoo in Wichita, KS, they said one prey item was better than multiple.

The reasons I was given all had to do with how the stomach expanded in a snake.