eating butt first

I am sure I read on here that snakes should eat the prey head first. It certainly makes sence. There is no doubt that the mouse would go in a lot easier. Unfortunately, my hatchling hasnt figured it out yet. Taking a good size fuzzy ass first seems like to much work. I try to pursuade her to take the head. nearly all the time, whether I lay the mouse down and let her come to it or I dangle it for her she bites the torso and manuevers the ass into her mouth and down it goes. She finally started striking 3 feeds ago, so that is neat. I am not concerned, but curious. Surely my snake is not the only one that hasnt figured it out yet, but dont you think they would know the easiest way to eat. Their whole life revolves around eating and mating! :headbang: kookoo kookoo

Fuzzies don't quite have enough fur for them to care to eat head first. Heck, Lotem regularly takes really furry rat pups buttfirst and she's almost 200 grams now.

Point is, it's not going to hurt them, it's not going to get stuck in their throat, it's not going to kill them. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a turd.

My 'babies' still buttmunch at times. LOL

You gotta love those buttmunchers!!

Doesn't matter much which way it goes down, but it's usually easier head first.

I did see one snake get food stuck, but I don't think it was going backwards. It was a gray banded kingsnake which was eating a lizard that apparently was pregnant. The lizard kept getting fatter and fatter as the snake got further along because all the eggs were getting pushed back. After a while we had to cut the lizard to get the eggs out.

We actually hatched one of the eggs, it was pretty cool. True story.

I wouldn't worry much about the direction unless it's a really large food item.

Point is, it's not going to hurt them, it's not going to get stuck in their throat, it's not going to kill them. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a turd.[/QUOTE]

thanx, thats great advise. I like the way you think. I was nt worried. I just thought that that was kinda odd.

cornsnakeforsale_com said:

Doesn't matter much which way it goes down, but it's usually easier head first.

I did see one snake get food stuck, but I don't think it was going backwards. It was a gray banded kingsnake which was eating a lizard that apparently was pregnant. The lizard kept getting fatter and fatter as the snake got further along because all the eggs were getting pushed back. After a while we had to cut the lizard to get the eggs out.

We actually hatched one of the eggs, it was pretty cool. True story.

I wouldn't worry much about the direction unless it's a really large food item.

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cool story. so you cut out the eggs and the snake then continued swallowing? These creatures are so amazing.

Some of my adults still do this, especially when they're hungrier than usual and don't take the time to figure out which direction to start. Takes them longer to swallow (more effort needed to fold the mouse legs into a comfortable position) but they all go down the hatch in the end.

anyway, good eating is everything!

My 13 year old rescue guy ate his last weanling butt first and it only took a few seconds. Of course he is coming off a spring hunger strike. Poor guy did not get any action lol. From time to time they all take them butt first and it has not mattered on the size. No clue why they do it but they do. Have not had any issues either.

NO worries with butt-munching. Every now and again one of mine grabs the prey at an odd angle - say, around the middle - and can't quite manage to get it all down. When that happens, s/he just backs off and tries again. The "backing off" usually involves wrapping a coil or two around the mouse and pulling away. It takes time, but as long as you leave the snake to its own devices, it's going to be fine.