...about my racer post just below. Onementioned that it's good to have snakes that kill quickly so the prey does not suffer. I agree, and it's interesting to me that a skilled racer or coachwhip can actually kill faster than a constrictor.

Young racers and coachwhips are not experienced enough to do a clean job, but they soon learn how to dig their teeth in deep for a fast kill. I can see the seasoned hunters actually adjust their bite to drive their teeth into the skull or heart of a victim, killing it almost instantly. In the jaws of a veteran coachwhip, a mouse dies so fast it often does not even wiggle--boom! Gone.

My idea of a preferred captive snake eats defrosted food, and all but a few of mine accept defrosted mice. The baby Blue Racers eat defrosted pink mice off tongs, my female Southern Black racer, Ripper, eats defrosted adult mice, typically shaking them so hard she hits her head on the sides of her cage--a good trick since the cage is two feet across. Both Western Coachwhips eat defrosted mice and small rats, usually mock-killing them first. The shy Eastern Coachwhip still insists on live mice, but he's very good at killing them fast, and the annoying male Southern Black Racer still refuses defrosted mice, insisting on live small mice. The male Southern is the biggest nuisance, refusing mice in any size class except the narrow range he decides he likes, so anything much older or younger is ignored. He periscopes from a notch in his hide bark, waiting for me to add a mouse to the cage. Then he waits for the mouse to walk near his motionless extended neck. If I watch closely I can see his eyes follow the mouse but nothing else moves. Only if he gets the opportunity he's waiting for will he strike. He wants to hit the mouse on the back of the neck so he can bite into the spine and rib cage simultaneously for an instant kill.

I also have a hatchling Sonoran Whipsnake who eats anoles. She was eating defrosted mice off and on, but she started to lose weight so I've been giving her anoles for a while. I like anoles as pets but I have no choice other than to keep them around in large lots as food for my Arizona Vine Snakes. I'm committed to working with the Arizona Vine Snake--actually called the Mexican Brown Vine Snake, Oxybelis anaeus, and I get Brown Anoles to use as food. The anoles are also kept in very good conditions, and they occasionally breed while waiting to meet their destiny. Smaller ones are offered to the Sonoran Whipsnake.

This is part of a program to get snakes to eat what I want them to eat. If they don't eat my choice of food, I get them accepting food of their choice on a regular basis--this may take a month or two. The snakes get used to eating when they want to, and develop an expectation of having food offered regularly. I interrupt the feeding schedule long enough to see the snake start to hunt around the cage--usually a week will do. I then offer a preferred food item such as a defrosted mouse, which has been scented with the flavor of the snake's favorite food. This usually works within a week or two, but sometimes I have to go back to the snake's favorite choice for a feeding or two before locking it into my choice. After several feedings of scented food, I start offering unscented food. Once a snake accepts unscented food, that's it--the snake will never see scented food or the original food again. In time, I have gotten all sorts of snakes to eat what I wanted them to eat.

Except Brown Vine Snakes--just look at that lizard-eating grin.

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