help with feeding problemplease! ASAp

[Topaz]

My red sided garter was fed a pinky this morning, but it seems a combination of it being large and the silly snake trying to swallow it on an angle is preventing it from going down. Its all the way in his mouth now but he is resting... Its too far down for me to try and pull out if thats what is needed tobe done, but I am worried he will asphixiate or choke. Is there anything I can do or just hope he manages it and keep an eye on him?
I will be checking this board for teh next hour as I figure in that time I will know what to do, he will of swallowed it, or worse.
Thanks in advance for any help!

[Topaz]

ok, not sure if this was the right thing to do, but I couldn't stand to see this any longer, I took the feeding tongs and pulled on a limb and got the main blocking lump of flesh out of his mouth. After an hour from defrosting it came apart easily. Is this ok? I havent put him off food have I?

I figure I will let him rest and relax today on the heat pad and I will try a small tiny pinky this evening to make sure he can eatok.

[kpugh]

Was the pinky frozen when you offered it??? How long did you give the snake to try to swallow on its own?

[DataRipper]

Sounds to me if i am hearing correct "After an hour from defrosting" that you gave it a frozen mouse? or was it F/T?

[gonesnakee]

Tell us the story from the beginning with all the details & maybe some assistance can be offered once we understand what has been done, Mark
P.S. sounds to me like you pulled a big No No & fed a frozen unthawed prey item. Very dangerous & possibly deadly to your snake.

[Topaz]

god no, it was thawed and warm before being fed. I ment it was a FT not live. I gave it to him and he went for really well, like usual, but started trying to swallow it at an angle so the already large prey was now larger in diameter. After about an hour I was getting very worried as he kept taking long breaks then continuing trying to get this thing down, so I wrote this post then 15-20mins later pulled a big chunk off so he could finnish swallowing the bulk of the item without getting stuck. I know their mouths are supposed to be able to stretch but I think a large pinky is my snakes limit :S I am going to warm up another SMALLER pinky to give him tonight and make sure I didn't put him off feeding.

[zero&stich]

Most snakes can swallow larger prey, not all but most. Just remember, snakes are capable of unhookin' their jaw, that's basic physics. So in other words, they are capable of takin' larger prey, although it might not be the best senario sometimes. I would kinda think if your garter wasn't able to swallow it, it would have regurged. Snakes have a natural instinct and wouldn't allow themselves to choke or cause itself harm while swallowing. It would regurgitate the food. I've had my snakes lay on their side when I move them up to larger prey in the past. I feel it is because it was like you were feeding them a hamburger then just uped their value meal to a Big Mac! Just takes them a while to adjust to a larger prey item. :)

All in all, I haven't kept garters since I was 7 and I know times have changed but in the future I would try not to bother it while feeding unless of course if your feeding live. Be assisting in any way I would be more concern of adding stress. Also colubrids to my knowelge do not go on long fasts, so I wouldn't worry about putting it off feed as their metabolism in general is faster compaired to the boids. Best of luck.

[CamHanna]

Glad to hear things worked out alright. You may want to hold off for a few days before feeding again though, it sounds like this was a stressful event.

The opening of a snake’s trachea (windpipe) extends into the mouth and is very mobile; it can actually be pushed out of the mouth. This adaptation allows snakes to feed on large prey without a risk of choking. If your snake tries to swallow something that is too large it's probably best to just leave it alone. Either the snake will get it down or spit it out.

Cam

[sapphire_moon]

Snakes don't "unhook" their jaws, they have ligaments that stretch.

I agree with CamHanna.

[zero&stich]

Yup. My bad. "Unhook" was prolly the wrong word to use. Thank you.

[gonesnakee]

Mistook what ya meant by the way ya worded it, Good Luck Mark
P.S. I too would suggest waiting a few days before the next meal