My 2010 mojave male is always determined to eat his rats sideways, and usually manages to get them down butt first or sort of diagonally. I gave up on worrying about it after the first couple of times, and now it's just a given that it takes him a good 45 minutes to figure out how to mow down. I (lovingly) call him my short bus snakehe's definitely my friendliest! Kids love him, and my snake phobic sister