Need advice- did snake stop eating halfway through meal?

[Pringles]

Do ball pythons ever take a break while they’re eating? I’m not really sure how else to describe what just happened with ours. We got him in late February, and he’s been a great eater every week, no problems so far. He was 226 grams when we got him on February 24, and he weighed 286 grams when we weighed him last week. He was born in August 2018.

Tonight he started to eat his adult mouse backwards, which is not unusual for him. This time he really got hung up on one of the back legs. By the time he managed to get around it, it’s almost like he ran out of energy. He got it about two-thirds of the way down and then went into one of his hides, which is not usual behavior for him when it comes to eating. He curled up into a ball with the mouse sticking out of his mouth, and it seemed like he stopped trying to eat it. I found this rather alarming, but since I’m still new to snakes I thought maybe other snakes do this too?

I had actually been planning on trying to feed him 2 mice tonight for the first time, just because the 2 I had left didn’t seem big enough on their own. The combined weight of the 2 mice was 30 grams, so I don’t think his prey was too big. We didn’t make it to number 2.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.


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[Bogertophis]

Sometimes snakes eat the wrong way & usually they spit it out...some will try again & get it right, others abandon the effort, & you're right, snakes are rather
lacking in stamina, especially those in captivity that aren't used to hunting their food (whereby they stay in better "shape"). BPs can be challenging to feed, &
trying for 2 items may not work...not saying to never try, but don't get too optimistic. Many kinds of snakes are far easier to feed: rat & corn snakes, king snakes,
bull snakes, boas...but BPs have their virtues too, their calm gentle nature & beautiful patterns. BTW, some snakes can just manage to eat backwards & bend
the legs in to swallow anyway, but it sounds like this predicament just threw yours a bit of a "curve"... "Practice makes perfect"

[Pringles]

Sometimes snakes eat the wrong way & usually they spit it out...some will try again & get it right, others abandon the effort, & you're right, snakes are rather
lacking in stamina, especially those in captivity that aren't used to hunting their food (whereby they stay in better "shape"). BPs can be challenging to feed, &
trying for 2 items may not work...not saying to never try, but don't get too optimistic. Many kinds of snakes are far easier to feed: rat & corn snakes, king snakes,
bull snakes, boas...but BPs have their virtues too, their calm gentle nature & beautiful patterns. BTW, some snakes can just manage to eat backwards & bend
the legs in to swallow anyway, but it sounds like this predicament just threw yours a bit of a "curve"... "Practice makes perfect"

Thanks for the response.

I feel like more of an idiot now, but I actually thought he was dying...I pulled the mouse out of his mouth. So now I have to worry about how I possibly hurt him. I guess I will wait until next Sunday to try and feed him again.

And for the record, after I did that he was looking around for his meal for a little while. So clearly he was NOT dying. Lesson learned...let the snake do his thing.


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[Sonny1318]

Thanks for the response.

I feel like more of an idiot now, but I actually thought he was dying...I pulled the mouse out of his mouth. So now I have to worry about how I possibly hurt him. I guess I will wait until next Sunday to try and feed him again.

And for the record, after I did that he was looking around for his meal for a little while. So clearly he was NOT dying. Lesson learned...let the snake do his thing.


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i know you already realized your error, I can understand your panic. But definitely pulling a prey item out of a snakes mouth is a very bad idea. Their teeth are not intended to allow things to easy back out. You could easy take or break one or more of their teeth. It’s kinda funny my best eater just ate the last couple backwards. It’s kinda like Craig’s post about his blood striking the tank. Same ball python of mine eating backwards has now even become more strike happy then ever at dinner time. Lol.

[FollowTheSun]

Funny you post this! My BP just ate a rat backwards a couple of days ago. It took him over an hour, and at one point it looked like he was hurting himself trying to get one of the back legs in. He's a goofy eater, and also tries to eat them sideways. The first couple of those I would try to get them free and set them so he could start over. Now I just let him be, and he usually will eat it eventually. A couple of times he gave up and I let him get hungry for another week. I guess after the winter feeding strike I have become more relaxed about him skipping a meal or two. I know he's not going to starve that easily.

[Zincubus]

I had a Dwarf Boa that always struck instantly, started to devour then seemingly went to sleep half way through !! I had to grab he tail and yank it a little to get the Boa to carry on eating


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[Bogertophis]

I had a Dwarf Boa that always struck instantly, started to devour then seemingly went to sleep half way through !! I had to grab he tail and yank it a little to get the Boa to carry on eating


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I've seen a few snakes like that too...might be an "elderly snake" thing. They don't forget where they put their dentures, they forget to swallow...

[Pringles]

Thanks again for the advice everyone. I was hesitant to ask, but I’m glad I did. My snake is more important than my ego. He’s a pretty neat little dude, I’m not sure how it took me 41 years to get a snake.

He seems okay today. I will post an update next Sunday after I attempt to feed him.

Here’s a picture of him.




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[Bogertophis]

... He’s a pretty neat little dude, I’m not sure how it took me 41 years to get a snake...

It's not how long it took, it's that you finally got there. That's a really cute photo of him, by the way...do keep us posted.

Snakes are different than most pets and we all had a lot to learn at first. Hey, you're lucky...there wasn't a forum to ask when I got started in snakes.

[Pringles]

Well, he took his mouse tonight no problem. He even ate it the correct way this time.


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