My Snake Ate Her Own Tail!!!!!!

jjaj02 · 09-03-04, 04:38 PM

Oh my goodness!! I aquired a baby garter the other day. She is sooo cute and so small. I let her settle in for a few days and then last night i fed her her first meal. I cut the legs off of some pinkie mice to feed to her (the pinkies were WAY too big for him). I put her in a little plastic container and put her in the cupboard so she could eat in peace and quiet. I went to check on her about 10 minutes later and found that not only had she eaten the pinkie legs but she also had downed her own tail. I freaked and picked her up and tried gently pulling her tail out of her mouth and that didn't work so i put her back in the container (and remembering that baby snakes tend to spit their food back out if scared) I started tapping on the container and sliding her back and forth from one end to another. When I did that she quickly spit her tail out. THANK GOD! I was just wondering how frequently this happens? I saw a picture of a baby snake that had died as a result of eating his own tail but I thought it was really REALLY rare for them to do that?? I have never had a problem with this before. Anyways, she ate and she is doing just fine. I was so relieved when she spit it out. Oh well I might have to change her name from Constance to F**kin Stupid.

Vanan · 09-03-04, 05:02 PM

Happens with greedy individuals of other species too. We owned a male albino calking who would chew on his tail (even when not feeding) and Marcel Poots had an adult female hognose who had started to down her tail during a feeding session. Good to hear that you got the tail out without any consequences.

jjaj02 · 09-03-04, 05:18 PM

Thanks. It was really scarry and I'm glad that I was able to get it out of his mouth. The first thing that popped into my head was the picture of that dead corn that had eaten its own tail. Really freaky tho. I didn't realize that it was so common.

Stockwell · 09-03-04, 05:26 PM

I had a mountain king(pyro) die after it tied itself in a tight knot while eating and presumably asphyxiated.
Snakes will do some suprisingly stupid things, like eating light bulbs, their own eggs and yes tails, cage mates and cage ornaments. But then "stupid" would imply they have brains capable of cognative thought, and I frankly think they are powered by 99% instinct. It generally serves them well, but there isn't much else upstairs that allows any reasoning.
If it smells like food, it is food, especially when moving..... a moving tail that has touched legitimate food on the cage floor meets that criteria quite nicely .
I once heard a story of a guy that had a cal king eat the branch the mouse had been layed against.
The branch was apparently almost as long as the snake.
It took over a week to pass it, inch by inch, but the snake reportedly was fine and went into opaque right after the huge meal..., which says alot about the importance of dietary fibre...LOL

Vanan · 09-03-04, 05:32 PM

Also Alice Cooper's boa who swallowed a heat pad. Got it surgically removed.

Jordan B · 09-03-04, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Also Alice Cooper's boa who swallowed a heat pad. Got it surgically removed.

LOL! Howed it do that?

gonesnakee · 09-03-04, 08:48 PM

I have owned a couple CKs that were not so smart. One Albino Female that was pretty old used to chew on herself nearly every feeding at the end. She was quite the mess because every time she shed it would reopen wounds & every time she fed she would create more. I pulled her off herself quite a few times while feeding. I have another one White widow another CK that has eaten another snake & has attempted to eat herself on a few occassions as well. I've had older male albino CKs eat the blue shop towels before as has one of my Womas due to blood from prey they ate. Had lots of CKs try to eat me too Mark

Kevin McRae · 09-03-04, 11:48 PM

There is a north american skink(lizard) thats will drop its own tail and eat it if there is no other food available...

thunder · 09-04-04, 06:35 AM

i had one ck, who, when placed with a male for breeding purposes, attempted to eat him and some how ended up grabbing her own body and (i am not making this up) attempted to constrict herself. i wonder if she would have managed to asphyxiate herself if i hadnt intervened.

stevesemerko · 09-04-04, 08:48 AM

Lol. A heat pad???? I had a female cal king that used to bite herself on a regular basis, she never downed her tail thought, she came close a couple times. She did however swallow my digits from time to time. Anyways congrats on getting the tail out.

Steve

Invictus · 09-04-04, 01:05 PM

Seems to be a theme here... we also have a cal king that likes to try and eat herself...

TexasAggie04 · 09-04-04, 01:12 PM

Doesn't surprise me about the cal kings.... don't kings eat other snakes in the wild?

jjaj02 · 09-07-04, 09:49 AM

Yikes. I guess its WAY more common than I would have ever expected. Remind me not to get a Cal King ok. LOL.

Kimbits · 09-07-04, 01:30 PM

i didn't think it was nearly this common. makes you wonder how on earth they've managed to survive. a baby corn at my store ate itself during the night quite some time ago.

Artemis · 09-09-04, 12:03 AM

wow, a quasi snake intelligence discussion! This does put a cramp in my "snakes are smarter than we think" theory! Im really glad your snake is ok though!

Artemis