Weird hatchling behaviour.

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Not wishing to prolong this debate, but I didn't suggest you would kill your snake by unwrapping it, I suggested that many snakes die from continued interference by owners who don't have a clue about basic reptile husbandry, and this is because they know nothing about reptiles in the wild. I think that in 50+ years of keeping, this is the first case of a snake being unwrapped from its food item because it was taking "too long" to swallow it. I can't see what you hoped to achieve or avoid by doing this. I guess if they could, snakes would wear watches so they could time the process to fit what the keeper thinks is appropriate... but the damned watches keep slipping off :)! Snakes, even captive ones, do very well with minimum interference from humans. Your python would have swallowed its meal if you had left it in peace. Some snakes feed throughout the shedding process, some don't.

Just for your info - Antaresia babies (and most Oz pythons actually) start out eating reptiles (lizards) when thery are small. Reptiles often take quite some time to kill by asphyxiation, so it is NOT unusual for a small python to constrict a food item for a long period of time to ensure it is dead before they release pressure - to release pressure on a still alive prey item risks injury. Your snake was just doing what comes instinctively to a youngster not yet fully familiar with the routines of captivity and dead prey.

Jamie
 
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