snakes that hold one mouse and search for another...

cat001 · 07-15-14, 05:33 PM

Anyone else experience this with their snake? My female corn has the habit of striking at her mouse and wrapping around it and then letting go with her mouth but staying tightly coiled around it so she can look for a second mouse. She's a greedy little snakey bless her but was wondering if she's unusual in her little food hoarding habit.

marvelfreak · 07-15-14, 05:42 PM

My very first Jungle Carpet would strike and wrap. One day i drop a second one in on accident and he use his tail to wrap it up. So the next time i fed i dropped one in he nail it. Then i drop a second and he used his tail to wrap it. So after that, that's is how i would feed him. Nobody would believe me till they saw. It was sweet as heck until one bit him. Then that was the end of feeding him two at once.

FWK · 07-15-14, 06:08 PM

Yeah many of my critters will "kill" (I only feed F/T) multiple prey items before eating them one at a time. All but one of my Ball Pythons will, the one that wont is a very shy eater. My Speckled King and Emory's Rat will as well. The BP's will constrict the first rodent until satisfied it's dead then grab and constrict the next, the Rat Snake will hold a couple at a time. The King goes straight bonkers if I offer two at a time and violently thrashes them about until she is sure she has them both under control then gobbles them up as fast as she can. It's a great show but I always have to rearrange her enclosure when she is done lol.

franks · 07-15-14, 06:12 PM

My carpet kills and will hold the rat until she is satisfied it is "dead" (I only feed f/t) then she will hold it and spend some time looking around for another.

FWK that king sounds awesome. You should video it for us.

Kera · 07-15-14, 07:27 PM

My BCI does that, just fed him last night and he did it with f/t

FWK · 07-15-14, 08:48 PM

One of these days I'll get my hands on a video camera, I only got my first digital camera about six months ago lol.

Mikoh4792 · 07-15-14, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by franks

My carpet kills and will hold the rat until she is satisfied it is "dead" (I only feed f/t) then she will hold it and spend some time looking around for another.

FWK that king sounds awesome. You should video it for us.

Same here. Strikes, constricts, looks around for a bit and then starts eating.

drumcrush · 07-15-14, 08:59 PM

my king does this sometimes and will follow my hand thinking it's prey lol

Kera · 07-15-14, 09:20 PM

I just remembered my carpet does it too, I actually saw her eat last night for once. Lol I put the mouse on one of her branches and just leave it, and even though it's limp I actually saw her constrict, then look around for another one.

formica · 07-16-14, 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cat001

Anyone else experience this with their snake? My female corn has the habit of striking at her mouse and wrapping around it and then letting go with her mouth but staying tightly coiled around it so she can look for a second mouse. She's a greedy little snakey bless her but was wondering if she's unusual in her little food hoarding habit.

all of mine spend 5-10 minutes after constriction, holding onto the mouse and nosing around the area, I dont think they are looking for something else to grab however, i think they are just trying to figure out the best way to position themselves and start swallowing....its far too dangerous for a snake to try and hold onto prey an then try to catch another one, not only do they risk loosing what they caught, but their restricted movement means they risk injury trying to tackle a second one

of course many snakes will eat more than one at a time in captivity, but i dont think they actively try to do so

SSSSnakes · 07-16-14, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FWK

One of these days I'll get my hands on a video camera, I only got my first digital camera about six months ago lol.

Most digital cameras and cell phones can take videos.

Quote:

Originally Posted by formica

all of mine spend 5-10 minutes after constriction, holding onto the mouse and nosing around the area, I dont think they are looking for something else to grab however, i think they are just trying to figure out the best way to position themselves and start swallowing....its far too dangerous for a snake to try and hold onto prey an then try to catch another one, not only do they risk loosing what they caught, but their restricted movement means they risk injury trying to tackle a second one

of course many snakes will eat more than one at a time in captivity, but i dont think they actively try to do so

I agree. I think them going after the second rodent is to protect themselves from being attacked.

FWK · 07-16-14, 09:23 AM

Many years ago, when I was just a kid and the The Discovery Channel & Animal Planet actually had shows about animals, I watched a couple documentaries that mentioned snakes taking down multiple prey. One was a Viper, I can't remember for sure but I want to say it was an Adder, that had been observed sitting at the entrance to a rodents burrow. The snake would envenomate rodents as they left the burrow then track them down and eat them. The other reported Woma Pythons were known to enter rodent tunnels and kill multiple rodents simultaneously by pinning them against the walls of the tunnel. It makes sense really, think of a King Snake finding a field mouse nest and eating a few fuzzys or a Rat Snake eating baby birds in a nest. When I started keeping I saw my animals doing basically what cat001 mentioned and I remembered I had seen something about it years ago and decided to see if I could stimulate similar behavior from my critters. I will say there needs to be some trust there, I have a few snakes including the BP that I mentioned that do not trust me enough to take more than one prey at a time. Although they will finish the first then look for the next. Most of them don't mind me watching them eat and even moving around to get a better view or feed another snake.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

Most digital cameras and cell phones can take videos.

I have an old flip phone, no video capabilities there. My camera does take video but the quality is low and the interface is cumbersome to say the least. I'd also have to order another cable to transfer video. The cable is on my list but my snake budget is currently being consumed (and will be for some time) in building materials for new enclosures. One of these days though.

cat001 · 07-16-14, 11:44 AM

Interesting! So the behaviour transcends species. Really fascinating stuff!

toddnbecka · 11-08-14, 01:18 AM

Back in the 80's when I was in college I kept a WC adult black rat snake for a couple weeks. Dropped several mice into the cage at the same time, and it got really excited. After a minute or two of nosing around a couple of the mice (would actually stick its nose right on them as they walked away, then draw back when they turned to look) it grabbed one and wrapped it. While it was holding that one it also wrapped another in a few coils further down its length. Then it released the first mouse after a minute or so and grabbed another. The first mouse got up and staggered around a bit until the snake actually wrapped it again. Then it started swallowing the 3rd one before it was dead, quickly followed by the other two, though they weren't still moving when they went down. Obviously it would never have encountered a similar situation in the wild, but instinctively grabbed everything it could while food was available.

charlesc84 · 11-08-14, 02:51 AM

Someone I know sent me a pic of their baby corn snake killing three fuzzies at once. Until then, I'd only seen elephant trunk snakes do that.