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Do your snakes constrict ?

moreptiles

moreptiles

New member
I feed my snakes by dangling the f/t mouse and wiggling it to fake like it is live. About 90% of my snakes strike and grab the mouse and then constrict it before starting to eat it. This is healthy for the snakes to keep good muscle tone and to prevent egg binding in the females. Sometimes I even hold the tail of the mouse awhile, and this makes them constrict even harder.

I was curious to see exactly how others present the food to their snakes and whether or not they constrict the food.

Mark
 
Sometimes they do. I don't usually dangle mice, because it just seems to scare the snakes off instead of provoking them to strick and constrict. I've been sort of dangling the f/t mice for my okeetee the past couple times and he's been constricting them (he's just starting to eat regularly again). Also my hypo was constricting her pinkies and fuzzies (f/t) often (aggressive feeder).

Here's my okeetee putting a grip on his mouse dinner
 

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Some do, some don't

It's hard to find a pattern. If I had to set a specific pattern, then I would say more of my older snakes constrict their meals. Maybe that's because they usually strike before I can get the mouse all the way in the tank with them.
 
My snakes all act about the same way. If I put the f/t food down on a surface, they'll just stroll calmly up to it and start eating. If I dangle their prey in front of them and wiggle it a bit, they constrict.
 
I've got a couple who don't care for their food to lie there, cold and limp. Flying or dancing mice really do it for them, though. And yes, if any of mine grab a dancing and/or flying mouse, they constrict it, especially if that mouse tries to dance while they have a hold (i.e. I wiggle the mouse by the tail before letting go).

I don't dance mice for the little hatchlings, it scares them, but a nice hovering mouse seems to go over well. :p

Of course, if I just leave thawed mousicles in the cages, most will eat them eventually.
 
With mine it seems to depend on how huungry she is! When she has been stomping aroung for a few days searching for food she strikes hard and constricts. But on other occasions she just sidles up to it and starts eating.

Ive also noticed that as soon as ive placed the three pinkies in the box she will devour the first one and then take a break of 2-3 minutes before eating the rest. I was under the impression that corns generally eat everything in sight as soon as they get started. I mean the other night she left about two hours between pinkies , but they had all gone by morning. Anyone else seen this?
 
Yes I seen, mine waits about 2 min. before strike at the second one. What I notice is that after the first one he opens the mouth to put the jaws together. This is a common behavior for snakes, since that their jaws can dislocate when eating.
 
4887MotleyFemaleMaleJune-01.jpg


Most of my corns will constrict thawed prey. I guess they are always hungry ;)
 
Constrict

This has been an interesting thread! My yearlings don't constrict at all. They just gobble thawed peach fuzzies down.
BTW, pinatamonkey, I like your website. I especialy like the Safari Barbie shot w/ snake under "'01 Okeetee Corn"! LOL!
 
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