Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today I went to give my little guy his weekly feeding. He is a 2008 Normal, who has been eating well since I got him in January. Something very strange happened when I introduced the prey earlier today. He struck and missed once, and the second time struck and tried to coil himself! After afew seconds of nervousness, he uncoiled, and balled up. I then picked the mouse up with the tongs and re-introduced. Although he struck and coiled the mouse the second time, he didnt seem to know what to do with it. I then had to pick up the mouse for a third time, which he struck, coiled, and ate normally. Has this happened to anyone before? Can anyone shed some light on this behavior? I feed F/T, in a tupperware tub w/ cover. Is this anything I should worry about? Thank You in advance for all of your help.

I've seen it happen a few times. Just a couple weeks ago my pastel took his rat, coiled, then cruised the cage for about a half hour before he finaly ate the damn thing. It happens, sometimes they're just dumb.

I have noticed that a few of my younger balls will do that when they are really close to going into their shed cycle. I mean right before (a day or two) they turn "dusty" looking. That's the only time I've noticed it too. And my adults and juvies don't, no matter how close to or deep in shed they may be. Maybe they are just in a little discomfort because of the changes happening in their skin and it intterrupts their feeding skills. The next feeding after they've shed they feed just fine. I don't know....just what I've noticed with some of mine.
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Cheers,
Jessica
10.15 Ball Pythons; 8.9 Corn Snakes; 0.0.1 Green Tree Python
2.2 Jungle Carpet Pythons
1.0 Cay Caulker
1.0 Nic, 0.1 Tpos Nic
1.0 Hypo Het Albino BCI, 0.1 Albino BCI
0.0.1 BCC (almost 20 yrs old)
3.0 Crazy Dogs and 2.0 cats
Some Tropical Fish
...........and growing!