Weird eating habits

[Bella's human]

My ball python is about 15 months old and was purchased at a major chain. She eats 2 fuzzies every 3 days. The problem is that I dangle the mice by their tails into a separate feeding tank and when she lunges at the mice she almost always grabs them in the middle. Then struggles to reorient and eat them. Is this normal? Can I train her to eat properly?
thanks
Bella's human

[leylaraks]

They do some weird things when they eat...

But she's 15 months and only on fuzzies? My 8 week old is on rat pups and my 2.5 year old was already on small rats by 15 months...you may want to up your prey.


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[GregsMoko]

Yeah, I'd say you're feeding way too small for a 15 month old, I have a 10 month old and he's eating rat weanlings (next size up from pups). Feed accordingly to the biggest girth of the snake.

[Bella's human]

I have been feeding her arctic mice since that was what she was raised on and a live mouse attempt went poorly (bloated and lethargic and diarrhea ). What are the food size relative to snake size recommendations.

[Fidget]

You want to feed prey that's 10-15% of the snake's weight. But, my main message to you is: they get them turned around the right way eventually. Some of my guys have been so uncoordinated it's a wonder they don't starve - yet somehow, they always get it down.

[Thalasuchus]

My 8 month old eats rat weanlings. The prey should be about as big as the widest part of your snake's body.

If it makes you feel any better, it usually takes my BP 10-15 minutes to find her rat's head and start eating after she "kills" it, but she figures it out eventually. As long as your snake is eating, don't worry too much about it. Maybe some day she'll learn how to snake, maybe not