Hi everyone,

Question 1: How long does it generally take for a BP to strike, coil and kill a rat before swallowing?

Question 2: If the BP has the rat's head mostly in his mouth while coiling, and it is still alive enough to squeak and squirm, can the rat bite or hurt the snake's mouth, tongue, etc?

The back-story (for those with some extra time or interest in what prompted this question)

I just fed Salzedo his first live rat-fuzzy (he was raised on them, but this is his first with me, his first meal was a mouse due to lack of live rats of appropriate size) and I’m happy to report that he ate it with gusto. While the mouse took him a few minutes to take, he struck at the rat within about 30 seconds – maybe less.

However… I’m not sure if he got a bad hold or what, but the rat seemed to struggle and ‘squeak’ for a little while – maybe about 3 or 4 minutes. When Salzedo struck he didn’t immediately curl fully around the rat because it was against the glass at the time, and it took him a while too maneuver into a position he could properly coil in. The whole time the rat was squeaking (with its head mostly in his mouth) and struggling a little. Not enough to escape, but its legs were kicking and it was moving a bit.

The mouse he ate went down almost immediately, so this display of defiance in the young rat concerned me greatly while I watched! I was like, “Stop moving! Stop struggling! Surrender to the tenebrous embrace of sweet mother oblivion… damn you!” (Second time feeding live, so please cut me some n00b slack )

In the end the rat stopped moving and Salzedo swallowed it, since its head was already mostly in his mouth. I tried to look inside his mouth while he was realigning his jaw to check for any damage but I don’t think I saw anything. He drank some water after swallowing, so I assume everything is okay.

Thanks a bunch!

PS: Salzedo is 2 1/2 m/o, and the rat was a fuzzy.