Head first

[Meghan]

How do snakes know to eat their prey head first? And since they cannot "see" how do they locate the head? These are questions I've been pondering for a long time now. Our snakes usually try to go shoulder first. Sometimes they get so frustrated they just give up.

[coldblooded]

I'm a bit confused at what you mean. Snakes can see (well, most snakes anyway.).

They don't always eat them head first, either. One of my boas seems to prefer his backwards .

[Moofins07]

Snakes can see. But my best guess is they use their heat pits to form a profile of the animal, and they can judge where the head is by looking for that typical heat signature. It's either the head or the butt. Those are the best looking places, I guess.

[j_h_smith]

I've always believed it was the Carbon Dioxide from the breath of the prey.

Jim Smith

[Oxylepy]

They dont know? They just find a decent point to start eating it out. You know, line up so the prey is thinnest and try and eat.

Also CO2 would have nothing to do with it, we're talking about a corpse. Its probably not the heat either. Simply a ball will usually go for anything that sticks in a way that will make it easy to consume. I've had snakes eat prey backwards, and I've seen threads where people are worried about this behavior.

[NathanV]

i read somewhere that they rub against the rat/mouse and go with the hair growth

[j_h_smith]

I've never had any of my snakes eat a freshly killed prey any way but head first. However, I have had snakes eat F/T backwards. I have heard from people with much more knowledge than me, talk about CO2. Everyone is intitled to their opinion, but I'm going with CO2.

[Oxylepy]

CO2 is an oderless colourless gas, these are animals that crush their prey's internal organs t kill them, pressing all the air out of their lungs, when the heart stops pumping and the muscles stop contracting to bring blood in the veins back to the heart, there will be no addition of CO2 in the lungs, the CO2 will build in the cells and quite possibly cause cell death as they form carbonic acid.

I'd love to see information supporting your statement, because it seems quite interesting, and I'll ask my Biology Professor about all this on Monday, but in all my reading and class time, I've not heard anything to support this.

[singingtothewheat]

I've always believed it was the Carbon Dioxide from the breath of the prey.

Jim Smith

I think this has something to do with it too, however..... I often have snakes that take the prey rear first. This happened more with f/t's and I think it's because they do not get the heat from the animals breathing at the head of the prey item.

[Quiet Tempest]

I believe it's primarily the heat signature that draws attention to the head but some of my snakes eat their f/k rodents backwards and even sideways from time to time..

It's probably silly but ever since I first read about and tried "braining" pinks or fuzzies for non-feeder snakes, I've wondered if that scent was one of the factors involved.