Too big?

[Kathy]

I fed my BP today, and she has never refused a meal before and always eats really well. Anyways, she got her rat almost all the way down (just his hips and tail left) and I guess she changed her mind and out cane the rat. Do you think the rat was too big? He was about the right width but he was longer than what I usually give her.

[krrc]

I dont think the leanth of the prey should matter. check you husbandry (temps, humity ect.) and see if their is a problem there. did you possably handle the snake prior to feeding? or disturb it wile eating? any of these things could be the problem but try feeding her in a few days and see what happens.

hope it helps

Matt

[Kathy]

Last I handled her was yesterday morning, maybe it was that my sister and her friend came down and practically glued their faces to the side of her enclosure while she was eating. They have never seen a snake eat before so maybe that was it.

[jason h]

that was prolly it when a snake eats it is valnerable to attacks andwith them right there would maybe scared her enough to get the rat out of her mouth incase she needed to defend herself,imo

[Dom]

I aggree with Jason - Probably got somehow spooked...

The hardest part to swallow is the front legs.. once those are through the rest is easy kids play so I doubt it was too big..

[Weather1]

My ball will only eat after she has been handled for about 10 minutes first. Then as I put her into her feeding box she strikes at the mouse.

Also she will not eat untill she has pooped, from her last meal. That is how I know it is feeding time.

[RPlank]

I had exactly the same situation a month ago. The only things different from normal feedings were the rat was a little bigger, and the kids were running around like banshees in the same room. I think it just stressed her out. She had never done it before, and never since.

[andrea]

my burm has done sort of the same thing. He had his mouth on his rat and my kids ran into the room hollering and laughing about something and we had a couple over who had their first snake and wanted to watch us handle some of ours, and he just gave up and started nosing around at us. He held onto the rat though, and when we turned out the lights and left the room, he ate it with no problem.
I agree with what everyone else here has said. Probably nothing to worry about. take some pics of it feeding or have the guests sit a few feet back.

[Kathy]

Thanks all. She has eaten fine since (gave her 3 mice instead of a rat just in case it was the size) and she had no problems at all. This jsut gives me a definate reason to refuse my sister to enter my room, lol

[andrea]

ya know, our JCP refuses rats. no matter what we do. he will NOT eat them even when we scent them with mice. but he will eat four mice. i know this isnt good for him but the only sizes we can get he has to have four to fill him up. we have been trying to get him on rats desperately. that is probly your problem too. probly not the size, just that rats are different from mice, and might taste diff too, and i know they smell diff to me, and might to the snakes as well.
was she only eating mice before?

[Kathy]

She has eaten rats before, no a whole lot of them as she is still just young and I'm switching her over. I think I've been giving her rats since December. This particular rat had horrible coat texture, really coarse and I didnt like the feel of it. Maybe it bugged her, too

[Linds]

Alot of my feeders are rex-coated (the curly, thick, wirey coat) and it hasn't presented any problems. It wasn't the size either I'm sure, length has no effect (some snakes eat other snakes the same length as themselves :eek:), and snakes can swallow prey MUCH wider than itself (ever seen a rock python swallow a gazelle?), its just a little more stressful on their digestive system.

I agree with everyone else in that she jsut got a bit spooked. That's usually the case when a snake spits their meal back out halfway into it ;)