striking and missing

[mr~python]

well today i was feeding vanessa and she did her usual stalking the rat and striking but this time, for the firt time ever, she missed it!

once she missed it she backed up into her hide with her head party out and she was all S'ed up and ready to go but the rat never came over to her so i kinda nudged it over to her with my feeding tongs to where it was withing range, but the phone rang so i went to go get it and when i was done the rad had walked away and she was all the way in her hide coiling up and going back to sleep.

have any of you ever had a snake strike, then miss and not eat? i think ive read of this before but i wasnt sure. this has never happened to me.

i searched for this on the forums but didnt really come up with anything.

thanks, Marshall.

[jglass38]

It has happened to me a handful of times. I feel its probably because they are not planning on eating but strike out of instinct. I could be wrong though, its happened before!

[ddbjdealer]

Yep, has happened to me a hand full of times. It's almost like the strike and miss hurts their ego, and they decide... okay... I trid once... I ain't tryin again... screw it!

[JLC]

If at first you don't succeed.....remove all evidence of having tried in the first place!

[frankykeno]

Happens to us quite often if they miss (which they don't often do). I have this totally unproven theory but it just makes sense to me. In the wild if a snake struck and missed totally, wouldn't the prey pretty much take off immediately? So wouldn't it make a bit of sense that a snake's instinct is that if it misses, it's pretty much going to have to wait a bit for prey to either settle down or come back into the area? So being a predator it's likely to regroup for awhile not expecting that it's prey can't actually take off (being stuck in tub after all LOL)

Like I said, totally unproven, not a tad of science on this...it just makes sense to me.

[mr~python]

that sounds like a really good theory Jo. i think you're definitely on to something. thanks for all the replies guys, like i said.... its never happened to me so i didnt know what to think.

[rabernet]

I may be making this us in my head, but I believe that I read or saw somewhere that it takes a lot energy to strike, so maybe some recover better than others for a second strike?

[Cloud7659]

That theory makes sense, but it doesn't describe my snake whatsoever, If for some reason Stewie misses, he strikes again faster and faster until he gets it. Maybe its generations of captive breeding thats edging out the instict to not strike but my little guy has missed and even hit the glass once, he just keeps on goin.

[JLC]

I don't think there have been anywhere near enough generations of captive breeding to make snakes behave any differently than they would in the wild. They just come with a multitude of different "snakeonalities." Some will be aggressive feeders that want to eat that rat no matter how many times they have to attempt to bring it down....and others may seem more lazy to strike once and if they miss they simply go about what they were doing in the first place...which is usually napping. LOL

[frankykeno]

I agree with Judy there. I don't think there's been enough number of years in captivity to be great enough to over-ride natural instincts/behaviours. We have BP's that hunt in vastly different ways so I think as well that it's just that particular snake's way of doing stuff. Some of ours like Malachi and Rionach are pure ambush hunters while Kyna for instance will run (slither????) down her rats - no way is she patient enough to wait for it to wander by LOL. Brannagh will snatch prey out of your hands if you aren't fast or tricky enough to get it into her tub quickly enough. Saoirse has to eat in the dark.

Gosh BP's are fun LOL