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Speaking of King Snakes...

SkyChimp
05-18-2007, 09:23 PM
No pictures (not mine, at least), just a quick anecdote...

My new herping buddy told me that he's been flipping Eastern King Snakes at a local trash heap nearby our homes. He usually finds a few each trip. He also finds quite a few Brown Snakes, too. Last summer he caught a moderate sized Eastern King that regurged two headless Brown Snakes. Befuddled as to how the snake got headless Brown Snakes, he continued to flip at his favorite trash heap. A few trips later, he found out how the snake got headless Browns.

It appears the Kings there have developed a neat way of feeding. He found a King with a Brown in its coils. The King had coiled around the Brown's midsection and had gotten its mouth over the Brown's head. The King chewed and chewed all while stretching until the Brown's head came off. The King then ate the headless Brown.

I'm trying to find out where that heap is. He's been doing this a lot longer than I have and he's pretty tight lipped. But I've got to see this.

I'm trying to imagine what that must look like. I found a neat photo on th web that looks like the King is half way there:

Roy Munson
05-18-2007, 09:40 PM
Very interesting story. I've never heard of a snake intentionally "cutting up" its prey. That must be something to see. That's a cool photo too. I read an article some time ago that discussed kings' ability to eat snakes as large as themselves (and even larger, if I recall correctly). It had something to do with the kings compressing the vertebrae of the prey snakes. If I ever find it again, I'll post the article. The king in the pic doesn't look much, if any, bigger than that garter snake.