Has anyone dealt with a bp choking on its meal?

[Rusky]

Last night I fed her a rat that was a bit too big. The fit was so tight that the side of her mouth sheered the front arm of the rat off. I got a little worried when she stopped moving and it looked like she wasn't breathing either. She eventually rallied and got it down but it got me thinking, would bp's display any signs if they can't breath?

[aldebono]

They have a jacobson's organ that the use in order to breathe while eating. May have been taking a little break if it was a large meal. Sometimes you can see it, it looks like a little tube sticking out from the bottom of their mouth.

If I remember correctly, snakes have a large and a small lung. The large lung they will shut down while eating a large prey item and use the small lung to breathe.

Lesson learned. That size prey item was a little too big.

[wolfy-hound]

If the snake got to the point of not being able to swallow it, it would most likely spit it out/regurge it.

The airway/tube is made so that they can breathe while swallowing prey items. I wouldn't worry overmuch about it.

The jacobson's organ is actually not part of the airway, it's a sensory organ.

[aldebono]

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ve-my-eyes!!!!

On the same topic...

[Rusky]

Thanks for the info all