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Interesting feeding
So last night was Sophia's weekly feeding. Usually I just drop the mouse (f/t) into the tank, and she strikes. Well last night wasn't like that. She "smelled" the mouse, then coiled back like she was going to strike, but instead just sat there and watched it. After about 10 minutes of this, I grabbed the tongs and started dragging the mouse around the bottom of the enclosure to mimic life, but she still just stared. After about 10 minutes of this, I started getting impatient, so I started teasing her with the mouse. I would bring it really close to her nose, then move it away quickly. I did this a few times, then touched her just behind her head with the nose of the mouse and BAM, she grabbed it, but this isn't the end of my story...
As soon as she was done constricting, she started trying to swallow the mouse butt first AGAIN (she did the same thing last week). This was a pretty big hopper, so this didn't make it any easier for her. After about 30 minutes of trying to swallow it, she started trying to spit it out, but her teeth were firmly stuck in the mouse's tail and hind leg. It was a mess, and the mouse was now starting to bleed all over her. So I tried to help her out, and get the mouse out of her mouth (I know I know...), and she proceeded to coil up the mouse again, and held it for like 2 minutes. I decided to not bother her anymore, and after about another 30 minutes, she finally got it down. Whew!
I guess my question out of all this is, how can I prepare these mice in case she ends up swallowing them backwards? The hardest part for her seems to be getting the tail pointed in the right direction for swallowing (tucked beside the mouse's body). Is there a certain way I can present the food to encourage her to swallow head first?
Thanks
Dave
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