Quote Originally Posted by Eric Alan View Post
Slow down just a bit there. It's likely that prey actually tends to die more often, and more quickly than expected, from circulatory failure than by asphyxiation. It's been shown that some snakes actually have the ability to sense their prey's heart beat and adjust constriction pressure and duration accordingly. Because constriction is energetically costly to snakes, rarely will they exert enough energy on a prey item to break bones. They're very efficient rodent killers to say the least.
I wasn't bad mouthing live feeding, I prefer it but you have to watch carefully as the prey can do serious damage. I had a mouse give my banana a good bite over the summer. I was just saying that a good single blow to the dome is quick and about as painless as you can make it. Personally that's the way I'd prefer to go if I was a rodent.