I don't think anyone is going to even believe me when I tell them this, but...

I am keeping this adult female Brazilian Rainbow Boa. She's accustomed to eating medium rats. Well, I went to buy one for her today but the pet store only had smalls and larges. I decided to get her two smalls. I feed live, and dropped the first one in, then continued to surf the net right beside her tub. I never really heard the strike or any struggle noises from the rat, so I checked on her some minutes later to see if she ate. There was no small rat there, so she obviously did. I put the second rat in with her and watched this time to make sure she wanted a second meal. Well, she stalked it a bit but didn't strike at it, so I was thinking maybe she didn't want it... then the rat walked on her mid body a bit, and she pinned it to the side of the tub. I thought that this was just a reaction to being touched, but she kept it pinned there. I watched the rat and it seemed like it was actually suffocating. Then she came over to investigate it, just as a snake investigates a rat it had just constricted. With the rat still pinned suspended to the side of the tub, she then found its head and proceded to swallow it. Turns out she had killed the rat just by pressing it up against the side of the tub? No strike, coil, constriction... it was just a strange thing to behold! :eek: