Constricting prey - what's normal?

[DragnDrop]

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/321snake_n_mouse-med.jpg

I'm still relatively new to snakes, so this might sound like a really stupid question, but do snakes ever constrict themselves and cause damage?

The snake in the picture is Lo'ihi, my volcano corn. She's always just grabbed the pinky and eaten it. Yesterday was the firt time she's constricted? coiled? around one. Since I've never seen a snake doing that before, I have no idea of what's the proper way for them to coil around their prey, and what's not. At one point she had her head and neck buried two coils down, but didn't seem to be in distress as far as I could tell. It seemed to worry me more than it worried her. By the time I got the camera out, she'd already started to unwind, so I can't show what I'm talking about. I'd always pictured them coiling up around the prey, not themselves. Is it normal to just knot yourself up like that, or should I worry?

[vanderkm]

We have found that young snakes go through lots of crazy contortions when they start contricting, and none of ours have ever hurt themselves. Our kingsnakes are much worse than our corns, but even some corns get pretty excited at times and bite themselves, coil around themselves and literally tie themselves in knots. They always seem to get out of it, and get the mouse down. I swear some of them enjoy playing with their food. We have an albino king that has to throw his mouse all over the place and try eating it from every angle before he finally gets it right (frozen thawed prey for anyone worried we would let that happen with a live mouse).

I'm sure you have no need to worry, it is pretty normal.

Mary v.

[Jeff_Favelle]

There is no proper way. Constricting snakes do whatever is necessary to get their prey into a position where it doesn't hurt them anymore. If they don't, then bad things happen.

[asphyxia]

I supose whatever works, there still with us so they must know

B

[Ace]

I'd think if they constricted themselves to the point of "passing out", their muscles would relax at that point and they would recover after that. Just guessing though. ;)

[Lisa]

Some times our colubrids constrict, sometimes they mow down and other times they grab it and run.
as for any proper way.... I've found our colubrids are a little messier in constricting then our pythons. Btw that's a fantastic pic.

[Hope_H]

I have one Anery that has constricted since the first day I got him. He has always had f/t too. He and my BP are the only ones. I call him my little bad a##...He really thinks he's "all That"

[gonesnakee]

I'M NOT SURE WHERE I GOT THIS PICTURE FROM, BUT THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE A REALLY DUMB CORNSNAKE. ON OCCASSION SNAKES (USUALLY "YOUNGER" KINGS) BITE & YES SOMETIMES EVEN TRY TO EAT THEMSELVES. I'M NOT SURE ABOUT THE SNAKE PICTURED, BUT I MYSELF HAVE HAD AN ADULT FEMALE ALBINO CAL-KING TRY TO EAT HERSELF ONCE. SHE'S ONE OF THOSE SNAKES THAT TRIES TO EAT "EVERYTHING" ANYWAY. SHE ACTUALLY HAD HERSELF BY THE TAIL, JAW "UNLOCKED' & HAD A FEW INCHES "DOWN" BEFORE I REALIZED WHAT SHE WAS DOING (I WAS FEEDING 60 DIFFERENT SNAKES AT THE TIME). I HAD TOO FORCE HER MOUTH OPEN & FIGHT HER TO GET HER TAIL BACK OUT. ONCE I HAD IT OUT I JUST SHOVED THE MOUSE IN THERE TO ELIMINATE ANY MORE "CONFUSION" (L.O.L.) ON THE SNAKES PART. ANYHOW HER'S THE PIC FOR EVERYONES ENTERTAINMENT. Mark IsBell - GONE SNAKEE!
<center><img src="http://members.shaw.ca/gonesnakee/EATME.JPG"width="600">

[Lisa]

I've seen that pic before, it's apparently something that kings and corns do once in a while.

[MidnightIris]

The picture of the rather hungry amel comes from Kathy Love's site, lol. It comes with this caption:

"Hoop snake? Ring rat? Infinity Corn? The Last Supper? #&%$@! happens! I'll call this the 'Cannibal Corn', though since it's dead and frozen, naming it is hardly a concern. I found this baby amelanistic corn this way in its individual shoebox cage, so it was not due to a struggle with a cagemate. I didn't fed it recently either, so the centrally located lump is not a mouse. Maybe that's where its own rear end is curled (doubled over), because its tail is obviously folded over. Why did it do it? Definitely an enigma!"

All three of my corns have a unique way of constricting/eating, always have. Once, my amel female caught a fuzzie in mid-air, and the male has actually banged the side of his head into the tank in his excitement. The ghost is generally more calm...eccept for the one time that she practically catapulted herself, mouse and all, out of the deli cup before I had a chance to put the lid on. I had to catch her in mid-air, lol!

[DragnDrop]

Thanks for all the input, everyone.
It would seem that anything is okay as long as they don't injure themselves or eat themselves :)
I was just worried about her getting hurt, partly because I have seen that cannibal corn picture, as well as a few others like it.
The only thing to do now, is to let her be the judge of how to do the coiling, and hope she is the brightest bulb on the string, and not a pinky short of a picnic. :)