eating backwards !!!??

[spotnick]

last night i was feeding my ball and it ate the mouse back wards
is this bad he didn't have much of a problem doing it but it concerns me so any info is much apriciated

----rick---

[Scotty Allen]

.....nothing to worry about at all. The old tale that snakes only eat head first is exactly that, "an urban legend". Snakes will often swallow a meal backwards or even from the centre of the prey item's body, particularly if it is a small meal.

[lostwithin]

.....nothing to worry about at all.

It's true no big deal if a snake swallows something backward, I had a python swallow a fairly large meal sideways once and it left one heck of a lump in him.


The old tale that snakes only eat head first is exactly that, "an urban legend".

That is not true at all, snakes do try to swallow headfirst, yes the will make mistakes, but anyone who has ever seen a snake eat would have seen the snake looking for the head to swallow. it is the easiest way to swallow an animal whole.

Devon

[Artemis]

If your snake can eat his food butt first or sideways, you can move up to a larger prey item. Try the next size up from your distributor and see how he does with it. If he cant get it down (which im sure he can), then feed him more frequent meals of the smaller prey item.

Wont hurt them to eat any end :)

Artemis

[nita]

I've also noticed that my live feeders never eat backwards. :) They nail them on the head when they strike to kill and just continue on. If the FT eaters eat it backwards or sideways I know it is time to give them something bigger!

[HumphreyBoagart]

I've got ones that have eaten backwards, sideways, upside down (them AND/OR the rat), they don't give a crap which way it goes down, they just care about getting it down. Snakes usually eat head first because the front legs go easily against the rats body making it easier to swallow. When they eat them backwards, their front legs don't fold in nicely and the snake has troubles getting past them. I have seen them spit the rat back out after swallowing the whole thing except the front legs and the head because the snake couldn't get past the front legs.
Craig

[spotnick]

thanks for the info guys/girls was worried for a bit

[Princess Erica]

Mine swallowed one sideways and had a hell of a time getting one of the legs to fold in. I thought for sure he'd spit it out and try again, but he just kept plugging away at it for probably an hour and finally got it down. It was good for a laugh though, for sure. :)