Weird Feeding

[jjsnakedude]

I fed my butter today and he did a totally weird attack. First i was moving around the rat and he pounced on it. He was constricting for 5 min. and then let go. But he didnt eat it. A couple min. later I moved the rat around again. he again struck it, constricted for 5 min. and let go. For the third time I moved it around and he didnt even strike, he just started to swallow it.

I dont think its any thing, i just wanted to share.

[kc261]

If they don't feel secure, they won't eat the rat, even if they have already constricted and killed it. Eating is a very vulnerable time for them, and their instincts tell them not to do it if they don't feel safe. So it isn't unusual for a snake to take its time before swallowing its meal. If it happens frequently, I'd look for ways to make my snake feel more secure, but for a one time thing, I wouldn't worry at all.

[Kaorte]

How long had he let go before you removed it?

A lot of the time they release their prey, find the head, and then eat it. They sometimes spend 30 minutes trying to bite different places of the prey item before actually swallowing it.

[BPelizabeth]

Mine will strike...constrict it...then let go. One takes a tour around her cage and gets in the right position to take the head. The other one wants to rub on it for a while....then eats it. Let him do his thing next time ....he was probably just getting in position and when you moved it...he was probably like....what the.........I thought I killed it.

[Bundu Boy]

Some of my balls do a similar things. They constrict then let go and then eye up the prey before attempting to swallow.

When i feed FT, i get the ball to strike and constrict, i then close the tub and leave the ball alone to do its business......

[BallsUnlimited]

Some of my balls do a similar things. They constrict then let go and then eye up the prey before attempting to swallow.

When i feed FT, i get the ball to strike and constrict, i then close the tub and leave the ball alone to do its business......

do the same thing. take out tub feed and close tub and back to the rack. Ive only had one time so far where i had to pick the rat up and dangle it in from of the snake for the snake to constrict and eat it. My albino female takes the longest out of all of them after shes done constricting to find hte head and eat.