Feeding BIG food

[Magpie]

Just curious on everyones experience on this, I tend to feed my snakes about as big a food as I think they'll get down alright. Has anybody ever heard or known of a case of big food causing a problem for a snake? If it's too big, they can regurjitate it can't they? I have not had any problems, but would like to start trying even bigger food and was wanting to see if anyone had heard of a problem with this.

 

[grahamh]

Hi Mags

I think that if the snake gets to a point in the swallowing where the food is too big it would just reverse off. I also think that the constriction process would give the snake a prety good idea of how big the food is. I saw an episode of the Snake Wranglers on Foxtel a few weeks back where a large python (in India) had swallowed a prety larg prey item. The snake had to be moved and was put in a big sack. When they tipped the snake out of the sack it regurgetated (sp) its meal and it came out quite quick (like 2 seconds) and the snake moved off. I hope I'm right 'cos I sometimes wonder about what my little Snap! gets down.

rgds.G

 

[jonno]

hey
on my path around checking out things about snakes before i got my lil fella i did read somewhere that if a snake does attempt to take something larger then they can get their mouth around to swallow they will spit it out.
this is just what i have read...could be wrong.

 

[jonno]

hey
on my path around checking out things about snakes before i got my lil fella i did read somewhere that if a snake does attempt to take something larger then they can get their mouth around to swallow they will spit it out.
this is just what i have read...could be wrong.

 

[Alexahnder]

i saw that episode too i think a boa swallowed a green iguana

 

[Fangs]

As I understand it if a snake can get a feed down it will stay there.Apparently one of the main reasons a snake will regurgitate a meal is if its scared and wanting to get away(which it would have trouble doing with a huge lump in its stomach).Grahams story about that python supports that imho.

I do know one thing though.Big prey grows big snakes,as opposed to smaller items but more of them.

cheers M...........

 

[cyber_crimes]

What you have to remember when feeding large prey is that the snake wont move when full,it will bask untill digested.I have seen a documentary on a python that swallowed a possum and had too much weight to move so it stayed where it was on a dirt track with no shade,overheated and died.(not that much heat is in an enclosure so you are safe)Another problem with many herpers is they try to get there snakes onto rats ASAP.IMO id prefer to feed adult animals EG: 2 adult mice rather than 2 or 3 rat pinkies.The reason being that pinkies are milky and dont have the calcium etc that adults have,which is beneficial to the growth of healthy snakes.

 

[Fangs]

We alternate prey every meal for our juvies.2 day old rat pinkies one feed,3 week old mice the next.Every few feeds they get one of each.

cheers M..........

 

[Hawkeye]

Just thinking about it, the only reason I could think that a snake couldn't regurg a feed is if it took the rat/mouse head first and then after getting its front legs in, the legs then splayed out and acted like an anchor prevented the regurg.

Dunno if its ever happened but technically I suppose it could.

Cheers Hawkeye

 

[tony]

Not sure how helpful this is, But we have a jungle female that is about 5 1/2 feet long, or for you juniors, about 1.8. mtrs?. I feed her 3 - rats a time, large ones, and was advised to go onto half grown rabbits, to bulk her, and keep her fed longer, at a meal.
To date I haven't done this, only because my daughter, the other owner, would freak about "cute" rabbits going down the hatch as opposed to "vermin" rats
I am assured she would swallow them, no problem