Naja Kaouthia Eating

reptar · 10-03-12, 10:49 PM

My 9 month old female Monocled is the weirdest eater I have ever owned. I feed her live consistently every 6 days around noon and hardly ever eats in front of me. I will throw the mouse in her enclosure around noon then within an hour or so, she will kill it yet wait a few hours then come eat it. This has been true for a few months, EVERY time she eats. Yet the last feeding time I threw the mouse in and went to feed my others, come back ten minutes later and the mouse is dead and she is eating it. Just a little confusing to me, never had a snake eating like so. I actually took a video of her eating, she is a very strange snake. I was just wondering if anyone else has had a Kaouthia eater like mine. Thanks.

Monocled Cobra eating Mouse - YouTube

h3h · 10-04-12, 05:33 AM

Hey why don't you introduce yourself to the community:

--> New to the forum? - sSNAKESs : Reptile Forum <--

Monocled/Leucistic, and Spitting Cobras are some of my favorite snakes that I will probably never own. I think it's awesome you have a Mono. Is it WC? And if not did you breed it, or where did you get it? If you have them, I'd love to see shots of the parents. Is this snake venomoid? I'd also like to see more shots of the hood from a birds eye view - could get a few shots? And I don't know if that is a feeding tank or not, but if it isn't I don't think a little more cover for the snake would hurt anything. Sorry for all the questions, but I really think these are gorgeous snakes.

- h3

Skumbo · 10-04-12, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h3h

Hey why don't you introduce yourself to the community:

--> New to the forum? - sSNAKESs : Reptile Forum <--

Monocled/Leucistic, and Spitting Cobras are some of my favorite snakes that I will probably never own. I think it's awesome you have a Mono. Is it WC? And if not did you breed it, or where did you get it? If you have them, I'd love to see shots of the parents. Is this snake venomoid? I'd also like to see more shots of the hood from a birds eye view - could get a few shots? And I don't know if that is a feeding tank or not, but if it isn't I don't think a little more cover for the snake would hurt anything. Sorry for all the questions, but I really think these are gorgeous snakes.

- h3

Looks like he has a good setup in the back of the tank, plus we're only seeing the closest corner. Who knows? :P

reptar · 10-04-12, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h3h

Hey why don't you introduce yourself to the community:

--> New to the forum? - sSNAKESs : Reptile Forum <--

Monocled/Leucistic, and Spitting Cobras are some of my favorite snakes that I will probably never own. I think it's awesome you have a Mono. Is it WC? And if not did you breed it, or where did you get it? If you have them, I'd love to see shots of the parents. Is this snake venomoid? I'd also like to see more shots of the hood from a birds eye view - could get a few shots? And I don't know if that is a feeding tank or not, but if it isn't I don't think a little more cover for the snake would hurt anything. Sorry for all the questions, but I really think these are gorgeous snakes.

- h3

She is not WC, she is the product of last years captive breeding, born 1/12. I actually bought her at a show from a breeder I've known for a little while here in TX. I am going to start up a few breeding projects next year, possibly trying to start a leucistic line. She is not venomoid, to be honest I am not a huge fan of extracting the venom glands. It's not a feeding tank but it is a temp tank. I am in the process of setting up a bigger tank for her though. As for giving her more room to hide, she has two hides and I see that being adequate. I don't want her to hide too often, that means shes uncomfortable and scared while she should be the opposite. When she wants to, she has plenty of room to hide, when she wants to explore, she has room for that as well. That is just my personal opinion though.

Gungirl · 10-04-12, 09:08 AM

Nice video..

h3- if you look on youtube he has other videos of the same snake. You can see more of the snake and more of the set up.

Jrcook · 10-04-12, 09:18 AM

My monocled cobra does the same thing,it kinda weird because my other snakes have never done that

Snakeman8 · 10-04-12, 09:46 AM

Awesome cobra! My python is almost the same way.

SSSSnakes · 10-04-12, 10:34 AM

My Monocle Cobra eats F/T. I offer it to him on forceps and he smells it first and then takes it gently from me. He will eat it right away. He is only about 3' , but will eat 3 mice with no problem.

RandyRhoads · 10-04-12, 02:43 PM

Beautiful snake. It's amazing how cute and harmless they look until they rise up and hood.

h3h · 10-04-12, 05:00 PM

First of all thanks for posting that picture, these snakes look like the emperor of the dark side when hooded up and viewed from behind. Sinister almost IMO. I'm not a fan of removing the venom glands either...Hell I won't even de-claw my cat.

I was in a hurry earlier, and only watched about half the video, because I wanted to comment before running out. From head on it appeared to me that the hide, rocks, shrub, ect were on the outside of the tank. Upon watching the video in its entirety I now can see when you moved the camera's angle there is more in there than just substrate.

(sorry) Either way these snakes excite me, welcome to the forum, and if you do decide to breed keep us updated. I'm excited for you.

- h3

reptar · 10-04-12, 09:11 PM

It really is funny how innocent they look until they hood up. I really enjoy how majestic Cobras of all kinds are. I either want to breed or get another Naja of some kind. There is another hot show hear in Texas this month, so possibly soon!

Rogue628 · 10-04-12, 11:04 PM

Welcome to our zoo! (I saw your intro thread but decided to post once instead of twice

)

I love hots and would love to learn how to handle them, but I don't want to keep them, so I live precariously through others that have them so thanks for sharing your pics and experiences.

Monocled cobras very regal looking, IMO. Yours is no exception.

As far as the weird eating habits, I think we've all had a weird eater at one time or another, regardless if it's venomous or not. As long as she eats and is healthy, I wouldn't worry. It's just fascinating how there are some that prefer their food a certain way....kind of like us humans. There are those that like to mix all their stuff together and others who are very methodical, usually eating one thing at a time (and one thing better not touch another! lol). I have a picky burm...she thinks she's a royal...and I have two royals who eat like burms....go figure

But as long as they're eating and healthy, I wouldn't worry

reptar · 10-05-12, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogue628

Welcome to our zoo! (I saw your intro thread but decided to post once instead of twice

)

I love hots and would love to learn how to handle them, but I don't want to keep them, so I live precariously through others that have them so thanks for sharing your pics and experiences.

Monocled cobras very regal looking, IMO. Yours is no exception.

As far as the weird eating habits, I think we've all had a weird eater at one time or another, regardless if it's venomous or not. As long as she eats and is healthy, I wouldn't worry. It's just fascinating how there are some that prefer their food a certain way....kind of like us humans. There are those that like to mix all their stuff together and others who are very methodical, usually eating one thing at a time (and one thing better not touch another! lol). I have a picky burm...she thinks she's a royal...and I have two royals who eat like burms....go figure

But as long as they're eating and healthy, I wouldn't worry

I will upload a few more videos and post a few on me handling. I have messed with a few different species of hots and I without any doubt think the Cobras are one of the less difficult when it comes to handling. Thank you for the kind words, I shall let her know what the forum thinks of her when she comes out of the den.

I guess that is very true, different snakes eat differently, I was just unsure if this was a Monocled thing or a random eating habit she possessed.

I think I would rather have a difficult-to-feed Royal as opposed to a Burm to be honest, so I feel your pain there. I used to be very interested in the bigger snake species but decided against getting anything over 10' after reading some horror stories and doing some handling of a few of my friends burms. Just ridiculously strong and I feel like I may be lulled asleep by how well they handle being around people. Ironically, contradicting that whole paragraph, I own a hot snake.

Rogue628 · 10-05-12, 01:27 AM

lol I want to learn and be mentored properly on how to handle hots, but I don't want to keep them because I feel I'm too clumsy for them. Maybe once I actually have an aggressive snake and how well I handle it will make a difference in my opinions of handling and owning hots myself.

As far as your girl's eating habits, we have several hot keepers on the forum and quite a few have Monocled cobras so hopefully they'll chime in with their feeding experiences with them.

By the way, feel free to post pics of your other animals. We love pictures here. Also feel free to ask questions. We have a variety of keepers here with tons of experience who are more than happy to help in any way we can.

Will0W783 · 10-05-12, 08:21 AM

Very nice monocled! I have an albino male monocled, and he's one of the most interesting snakes I've ever owned; they really have such personality!
If your monocled is waiting for hours to kill her prey, I'd honestly suggest switching her over to f/t. ...it's much safer. Unless you can sit and watch the snake until she kills her food, it's not safe to leave a live mouse in with her. Yes, she will bite and kill the mouse if it hurts her, but you don't want to take the chance of her being bitten back. My Shelby pounds down frozen/thawed...he's never been fed live and he's happy and healthy as an ox.
I will say that my cobra is a very strange fellow with his dining habits...when I first got him he was very small, only about 8 inches long. He grew very rapidly, and was soon able to take a rat pup. The first time I switched him to a rat pup, he tore all the legs off of it and ate the legs before eating the body. Then another time the rat's guts fell out when he bit it so he sucked them out like spaghetti and ate them first, then came back for the body. He would dismember or eviscerate his food in one way or another for several months...then he just started eating normally again. I have no idea why....just strange.