This weeks feeding was rather odd.....

[PufferManMike]

Well I am not having a feeding issue but this week was definitely a strange one. My albino male will usually strike the thawed mouse within 5 minutes of it being in the tank . Well this time after 20 minutes of it being in the tank he just say there eye-balling it. Then to my surprise he just starts to eat it. No striking or constricting the prey at all. I thought that was rather odd / funny to do that . So does anyone else's ball do that? Or is mine just a weirdo

[ROACH]

Id say Weirdo for sure! LOL just kidding! Ive heard of some that will do that. I only feed live so all of mine strike, but I am taking care of a Red Tail right now and she eats live but I fed her a PK rat and she took it out of my tongs really slow and didnt even strike or coil it.

[lilnash0]

My feeding for my female normal was weird this week too, normally she strikes the live mouse and eats it in like 5-7 minutes. Last night she struck it and constricted it right when I put her in where the mouse was. she killed it and left it there. I picked it up and hung it in front of her and she struck the head. Then she tried to eat it tail first for about 25 minutes. Then I took it from her and dangled it in front of her and she ate it fine.

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[Phantomtip]

If I feed live all of mine strike and eat right. My first girl if I feed F/T she'll look at it then just eat. No strike no coil nothing. It's like she knows it's already dead so why expend the extra energy. She's a trash can though. She'll eat anything and everything.

[PufferManMike]

If I feed live all of mine strike and eat right. My first girl if I feed F/T she'll look at it then just eat. No strike no coil nothing. It's like she knows it's already dead so why expend the extra energy. She's a trash can though. She'll eat anything and everything.

That was exactly what was going thru my mind . I think he is smarter than I thought originally .

[Phantomtip]

Oh they are. They're programmed by centuries in the wild, but ALL animals are smarter, and more efficient than humans. I mean think about it. They have their food hand delivered, and their waste cleaned by us. We don't have a system like that. They don't have to hhunt, and they don't get injured like they would in the wild. Unless a careless person throws a badly cared for, or leaves a live prey in with them. So yeah they have it good. That's why I think dogs and cats put up with us lol.

[RockNRollProcelain]

Several of mine have been known to do this. It's normal. In the wild, Ball Pythons will eat carrion that they stumble across. So they do have the capability to distinguish live prey from dead prey. If they realize it's dead food, they don't need to constrict it to kill it and will simply eat. My boy Asher did that his first feed, and all of us were so puzzled (he was my first snake and I didn't know it was normal). He literally just slithered up to where I was dangling his food, touched it with his nose, then slowly (and very lazily, I might add) opened his mouth and began to eat. We were too surprised to even video it, though we should have because it was one of the most entertaining feeds we've had as far as lazy snakes go.

[NH93]

That's fun
My corn does this. She is NOT a striker (of food!). Just opens her mouth and starts om-nomming.
Thanks for sharing!