Wierd feeding behavior

[kc261]

Last night was feeding night. I pre-scented and removed the water bowl/hide, which has become our feeding routine. When I came back 1/2 hour later, she was appeared ready to eat, at least according to my best guess based on about a month of observation.

I dropped the mouse in, and at first it wandered away from the snake. She sat and waited. When the mouse eventually wandered in her direction, BOOM! she struck and constricted it. Then she mouthed it a little bit and let go. She nosed it a lot but didn't seem to be making an effort to try to eat it.

I got worried that she wasn't going to eat it when she left the dead mouse and started exploring her cage, still apparently in hunting mode, but not the same sit and wait to ambush it mode. I could see that she was obviously checking out the scent trail the mouse had left before it wandered close enough for her to strike.

She finally went back to the dead mouse, grabbed it, dragged it halfway across the cage, and started nosing it again with maybe a little mouthing it but mostly just using her nose with her mouth closed. She went through another round of exploring her cage before she came back to the dead mouse again and finally ate it.

Any ideas why she would do this? This is only the 3rd successful feeding we've had since we got her, but both of the other 2 she swallowed immediately after killing them.

I have 2 ideas. The first is that I could see that somehow in the constricting process, the mouse's head got tucked down towards its chest, so finding its nose was probably somewhat more challenging than normal.

The second is that maybe the mouse was bigger than she wanted? The pet store was out of hopper mice, which is what she has been eating, so we got a weanling. To my eyes, it was only slightly bigger than the one we fed a week ago. That one I think was probably a weanling also going by the definitions on rodentpro, altho the store called the one a week ago a hopper. She ate the one a week ago without any hesitation. This was one still smaller than her girth and once she actually got the nose in her mouth and started swallowing it didn't seem like she was having to struggle an exceptional amount to swallow it. It left a noticeable but not huge bulge once she had swallowed it.

Is this part of normal feeding behavior? A sign of trouble? Should I do anything about it?

[2kdime]

Completely normal!!! They're vulnerable to attack while they're eating. At least that's what they think haha.

They'll kill and then check the area and make sure its safe to eat.

As far as the poking it around with they're noses. He/she was most likely just getting a feel/taste for it. And probably trying to locate the head of the animal.

Hope this helps

[JoshJP7]

Yea def normal... I got some that will take a F/T and not even constrict and just eat it... just so use to them already being dead... then I have others like yours that take forever to get started... my female spider will do the whole constricting thing then just stare up at me like "can i get another one please" I dunno why she thinks shes getting 2 bc ive only fed her 1 every week since i got her... Silly snakes

[Swingline0.0.1]

The record for mine for checking to see if the coast is clear was 45 minutes!!! I was a little worried, but he ate it just fine... sometimes they feel like they have to get things 'just right' before they'll start to swallow. That time he would start on it's butt, realize it was the wrong end, slither around for a few minutes, sniff it again, try on its hips or somewhere other than the head... until FINALLY getting the right end and feeling comfortable!

Btw, I believe the record-breaking time was on the third feeding after I got him.

Since then he's calmed down and gotten used to his environment, and usually snarfs them down in under 5 minutes including the constriction.

No worries as long as she's eating and healthy.

[kc261]

Thanks for the responses everyone! It is good to know this is fairly normal. Sounds like maybe she still doesn't feel 100% secure in her new home, but I'll take slow to swallow over a refusal!

I think it was bigger than before, by a larger margin than I thought just by looking at it. Or at least there is some reason why she has stayed in her hides even in the evening since she ate it. Usually I see her out & about in the late evening, but not these past couple of days. She is switching from one hide to the other though, so I assume all is well except a full tummy.

[MelissaFlipski]

Thanks for the responses everyone! It is good to know this is fairly normal. Sounds like maybe she still doesn't feel 100% secure in her new home, but I'll take slow to swallow over a refusal!

I think it was bigger than before, by a larger margin than I thought just by looking at it. Or at least there is some reason why she has stayed in her hides even in the evening since she ate it. Usually I see her out & about in the late evening, but not these past couple of days. She is switching from one hide to the other though, so I assume all is well except a full tummy.

If she ate recently, she'll likely hide for 2 to 3 days while digesting. Our snake has taught me what it means to be nocturnal - hiding all day and coming out at night to poke around when it's dark. But after he's eaten, he ONLY hides, even at times when he would normally slither about. This is normal.

Our funny feed story might tell more about my paranoid parenting than our snake, but seems comparable to yours.

We have only had Mr. Snake for about 2 months. He was eating fuzzies initially, then we moved up to adult mouse (F/T). Two weeks ago, after thawing the mouse I smelled it as I carried it to Mr. Snake's eating box. Peee-u! I was worried something was wrong with the mouse (too old, rancid, etc.) due to the smell. But, admittedly, I had never smelled one of the F/T's before, so I didn't know if it was normal or not.

I did the dead mouse dance with the tongs. Mr. Snake seemed intermittently interested, then not so interested. But after a few minutes, Mr. Snake took the mouse, constricted him, then seemed to lose interest, sort of going around the box. Well, I didn't know about the "check to see if it's safe" routine. So I got the mouse's tail with the tongs again and tried the dance again. Then, I realized the mouse must have cooled off somewhat, so I took it out and warmed it up with a blow dryer. Then I tried again, all the while wondering, "Is something wrong with this stinky mouse? Maybe I should give him a new one." He struck at the mouse and constricted it. After awhile, the snake seemed to be looking for the mouse's head, but also losing interest. He opened his coil and was loosely around the mouse, just hanging out.

So I was still worried the mouse was bad and decided to go thaw a new one. I got one out of the freezer, set it in warm water to thaw and went back to go get the mouse from Mr. Snake. When I reached in with the tongs to get the mouse, he knew it. He coiled tightly around it as if to say, "No! It's mine!" I left him alone again and went to check on the thawing, thinking he would "trade" me later.

When I came back a few minutes later, eating had begun and the mouse was 1/3 the way into his mouth! I shrugged and put the thawing in process back into the freezer. He's been fine ever since, so I guess some F/T mice just stink!

Last week, we were out of adult F/T mice, so we gave him two fuzzies. He took both right away, one after another. Our 3 yr old son was very happy since it was his first turn to feed the snake!

By the way, I learned a great trick to encourage him to eat. After the thaw, I hold the mouse near the CHE to warm its head. The heat signature on its head makes Mr. Snake crazed and he eats lickety split! (Mammals' heads are the warmest part of their bodies.)